My 18 month old has allergies...where to start?

DD has had constipation issues, on and off, for about 4 months now. I've posted a couple of threads about it but basically she suffered from a bad bout in November 2010 (where I had to manually remove a tennis ball sized poo from her :() and she's been up and down ever since.

We've been to our GP three times about this and they don't seem too worried at all. They said it's quite common in toddlers and one bout of constipation can be enough to create a real fear of pooing. So under doctors orders, DD has been on Parachoc (stool softener) for a few months now. It works most of the time but her general pattern is 5-7 good days followed by 2-3 bad days. Needless to say, it's causing both of us a lot of grief.

So I took DD to a chiro today. He was brilliant but suspects the whole issue is allergy related. He said my little girl is allergic to dairy AND is gluten intollerant :cry: We do have a history of allergies on both sides so it's no real surprise but I guess I'm just a bit miffed by it all. I sat in his office for about 5 minutes and BANG, like that, he'd diagnosed her. Everything he said made perfect sense but I just feel a bit floored. Why didn't our GP suggest anything like this? What if he's wrong? Should I get a second opinion? The chiro has put her on probiotics with every meal. I need to change her milk to the A2 (gold?) milk and take her off cheese for a while. I also have to remove all gluten from her diet. Far out. Where the hell do I start???

Any thoughts or advice would be really appreciated. I'm just a bit overwhelmed.

i would take her for allergy testing...
contact your GP for a referal

Gluten free isn't as bad as it used to be. There are now whole gluten free sections in the supermarket (although you do have to watch the sugar content), gluten and yeast free pre-made bread, and even Dominos pizza now have gluten-free options. Therefore these days it can be as simple as substitution. It is more expensive though. It will actually be the milk you'll have an issue with - it hides in places you never would guess to look for milk.

As Olive says your GP will be able to arrange allergy testing. As for her immediate diet, I would take her off dairy first and see if that makes a difference, and if it doesn't then try a gluten free diet. I was also advised by many other parents, and my chiro, to take my youngest off both gluten and dairy but I just took him off dairy to start with and his health has improved so much that we have not had to consider a gluten free diet. I admit I did it this way because a dairy free diet is easy, but gluten free requires a lot more work and money and I didn't want to do it unnecessarily. I also think it is quite hard to isolate if there is only one intolerance or allergy when you remove two foods groups at the same time.

If you do put her on a gluten free diet then do it in conjunction with a GP or peadiatrician who can monitor her and ensure that it is gluten intolerance, and not coeliacs disease.

Thanks so much for your replies. I will definitely get some tests done to be sure. This was our first visit to this particular chiro and as much as he was friendly and very informative, I just can't see how he can come to the conclusion so easily. We went for a realignment, not an allergy diagnosis!

I'm willing to take DD off dairy to see if that helps as what he said about that does make sense. The constipation bout (the tennis ball sized one in Nov) came a few months after DD started on cows milk fulltime - apparently that's roughly how long it takes for intollerances to become apparent. But his thoughts on gluten make no sense. DD has been eating bread, weetbix, rusks, etc for ages! Long before November last year and we never had any problems. I think that's a big call on his behalf.

Thanks again for your replies :hug:

Actually, there is some sense to it. Gluten and Milk Casein (particularly A1) when broken down both have leftover amino acids that join together to make peptides, and these particular peptides are a similar chemical makeup to heroin/morphine. In a normal working gut, these should be excreted out, but in a malfunctioning gut, usually effected by yeast overgrowth, they will slip through micro holes and into the bloodstream. The same yeast overgrowth also creates sluggish bowels, where the peptides can be absorbed int the bloodstream because they are sitting in there so long. Likewise, the digestive enzymes in a child that is intolerant/allergic to these substances will not break them down as effectively either, having the same result as yeast overgrowth. As these peptides are similar to each other, logically, if a person has an issue with one, they are also highly likely to have issues with the other. It might appear that by removing one, it meant they didn't have issues with the other, but this could be more a case of having lessened the load rather than them not actually having an issue with it.

That makes sense but why didn't my DD experience issues with gluten earlier than Nov? Is it likely that the introduction of cows milk highlighted it?

Most certainly could be a level/load thing, but you can always start on one and then go from there.

Just a quick update.

It looks as though DD doesn't have allergies at all (oh besides having a reaction to one of the sunscreens we had - I finally realised the cause of a red rash then eczema on her face) but a fissure next to her anus! Poor little poppet!!

We were going to give the gluten free diet a go but then we decided we would get a second opinion from our paed first. We had to go back to our GP for a referral (yesterday) and I mentioned that I was worried she may have a tear or a fissure so she examined her and voila, the culprit was right there!!

I'm taking her to my physio next week who specialise in women's health and we are going to try laser therapy on it - the same technique they use on cracked nipples from BF! Cross your fingers for me that it works!