Hi there. I thought about posting this in the "pre-diagnosis" board but decided I'd like people with more experience to read it. My baby, Tommy, is 9 months old and was finally tested for food allergies on Friday after months of waiting. He tested negative to everything. The allergist ordered a blood test for celiac and we're waiting for the results. I won't waste my time and yours going into to details, but I was absolutely certain that he was allergic to milk, plus wheat and oats make him vomit and Rice krispies and Rice Chex make him spit up and since they have barley malt in them we went gluten free (a month ago). He was a different baby over night! He still isn't sleeping very well at night, but he takes regular 2 or 3 hour naps like a normal baby for the first time in his life and he isn't throwing up ten times a day, though he does spit up once every two or three days. (He's crawling and who knows WHAT he finds on the floor to eat. ) Here's the weird part. Bananas used to give him hives but since going gluten-free they don't. Something used to make his nose stuffy and now his nose doesn't whistle any more. Is it possible that he USED to be allergic to bananas and now he isn't? Does anyone think I should try giving him some Lactaid milk? I'm a breastfeeding chocoholic who hasn't had MMs for six months! It sure would be nice to eat dairy again.

Also, he stopped babbling after his four month shots. He used to say "buh buh" and "da da" and when I tried to get him to say "ma ma" he would look at my lips and go "mmm." When I showed him his rubber ducky he would say "duh." ("Duck" was the first word spoken by both of my other kids, and they were 4 1/2 months when they began talking) He had also been trying to wave and stopped that after his shots. I wouldn't let his doc give him the six month shots. He started babbling again at seven months (two months ago) but still isn't as far as he was at four months. If he does has celiac and also LGS, could the shots have caused that to happen? He wasn't sick at the time of the shots and just happened to have a scheduled hearing test a few day after that, which he passed.

Thanks to anyone who responds. I'm at the end of my rope here with doctors who apparently think I'm mentally challenged and overprotective. I could use some friends! :-)

Welcome! Many of us have been through similar problems with doctors. I'm sorry you have to go through it, too.

There are several recent threads on vaccines here--if you do a quick search, you should be able to find out a lot.

You can also go to www.nvic.org and find out a lot of things that your doctor won't tell you about immunizations. It is YOUR choice to immunize, not the doctor's. If the doctor gives you grief, find another one.

Note: I am not anti-vaccine. I do believe that some of the vaccines are absolutely necessary, like the polio vaccine. However, there is no reason on this earth why infants should be given multiple vaccines against diseases for which they are not particularly at risk, such as hepatitis. Furthermore, there are no studies on the long-term safety of giving 26 vaccines by the age of 18 months.

My advice (and I am not a physician) would be to hold off on vaccines til you know exactly what health problems you are dealing with. Then, only permit one vaccine at a time, with months in between vaccines In the meantime, do as much research as possible.

Take into account who who has what to gain. The autism support groups who believe that vaccines are at least linked with autism have nothing to gain by your questioning vaccines. The pharmaceutical industry has quite a lot to gain ($$$) if everybody blindly accepts their recommended vaccine schedule.

If you are breastfeeding, there is no reason to give your child Lactaid, or any other kind of milk, especially if you are suspecting food allergies. A 9-month old doesn't exactly "need" Rice Krispies or Rice Chex, either. If you want to give him finger food, try soft avocado cubes, tofu cubes (UNLESS YOU SUSPECT SOY ALLERGY), and soft bits of plain grilled salmon (NOT tuna). I think tilapia is okay, too-someone correct me if I'm wrong.

I do think we just don't know enough to be able to say that vaccines are the only cause of anything. However, it does seem that many people are genetically predisposed to problems that vaccines could either exacerbate or set in motion, especially if there are food allergies involved. I suppose it could be possible that either the food allergies could cause leaky gut, which opens the door to the vaccine going places it shouldn't, or the vaccines might cause the leaky gut somehow, which opens the door to proteins going where they shouldn't.

Pardon my ignorance, but what is LGS?

Welcome and I am sorry you are going through this.

I am not currently dealing with this, but many years ago did when my babies were little--they are now adults. My allergist is also a pediatrician and a good one. What I understand is that:

• food sensitivities can change over time.
• food sensitivities can develop when you eat too much of a food and then go away if you don't eat it for awhile.
• foods take 4 days to go through your body completely. So a four day food rotation will minimize food sensitivity reactions.
• different food items can have differing levels of sensitivity and need longer periods between eating them; some can't be eaten at all

Also, if your baby has been gluten-free the celiac testing will likely be negative. I understand that babies heal much faster than adults.

Hope things go well and that you can find the medical support you need.

Hi! First of all, unless it's specifically M&Ms you crave, go get yourself some Enjoy Life chocolate chips to munch on! Enjoy Life chips are made without milk or soy, so they're a nice option for those on a restricted diet. I think you can either order them online or find a distributer through the Enjoy Life Foods website. I don't recommend all their foods (some don't taste so great), but the chocolate chips are a winner. I just weaned my sensitive one-year-old, Drew, and these chips have been a lifesaver . I think Lindt might also make a type of dark chocolate bar that does not contain milk - my dad eats one - but I avoid because Lindt is a "may contain" for peanut (my six-year-old is severely allergic and we have a peanut-free home).

Your story about having Tommy tested sounds similar to some of my experiences with Drew. I was convinced he had allergies (IgE type allergies like my six-year-old's peanut allergy). His blood work (allergen-specific RAST tests) came back negative for all that we tested - milk, egg, rice, soy, wheat, etc. His skin prick tests showed a positive for rice, but they thought it was a false result.

He had terrible bleeding facial eczema, bum rashes, tummy aches, etc. He had a bad vomiting reaction to oatmeal cereal shortly after I introduced it at 6 months, and also reacted more mildly to Rice Krispies and some other foods. I had cut many foods out of my diet already when we started implicating gluten.

All three of my boys were having health problems, and we decided to test for Celiac. Drew's 6-year-old brother (whom he resembles physically and developmentally) tested positive for Celiac, with serology positive on Antigliadin IgA, IgG, Reticulin and Endomysial antibodies. I tested positive for the IgA antigliadin only. We tested Drew and Joe (our 3-year-old) at the same time, and they came back negative. We then tested Joe (3-year-old) through Enterolab (private lab, different testing methodology, you can read about it on this forum) and he came back highly positive. We didn't bother testing Drew at Enterolab - we knew gluten was a culprit. Long story short, all three of my boys have had very good results off of gluten. Drew is a different baby - his skin is beautiful now, he sleeps well, and he's getting chubby again. With Drew, we have avoided all grains, as corn and rice still do not agree with him. I'm the type of person who likes answers, but the work to get to the bottom of this is EXHAUSTING, and I have decided to be content with knowing that we all need to stay off gluten. We also have some other intolerances. We currently do not use milk or soy, and I still have some mystery reactions to things.

I think at Tommy's age, it's quite possible that his tests could come back negative even if he has Celiac. His positive dietary response is really a very good sign.

Vaccines: Our six-year-old reacted to the MMR vaccine with a bad case of the "mini-measles". He got a high fever (above 104), stopped nursing for a day or so, and got a spotty rash that lasted for four weeks. Apparently I had the same reaction as a baby, according to my Mom. I held off vaccinating Joe until he was about 3 years old. He did get a moderately high fever for a day or so, but that was it. I have Drew on a slow schedule of vaccinations, and we will completely skip MMR until it becomes necessary for school.

We do have some Asperger's traits in the family, with some late talkers and late walkers, hyperfocused types and some mathematicians, LOL. All the more reason to go GFCF (gluten free, casein/dairy free)! I'm not sure vaccines are to blame, but it will be interesting to see if vaccines turn out to have a stronger or different effect on people with gut issues. I vaccinate cautiously (kids have to be healthy, not too many shots at one time, I decide when, etc.).

Good luck! Food intolerances can be maddening to figure out. It sounds like you have a good start with the gluten - I suspect it's frequently the "root" intolerance, with others helped along by zonulin (google it).

April