Children Case Studies 1

Vomiting and Failure to Thrive

A 12 month old infant presented with the problem of recurrent vomiting and failure to thrive. Mother was desperate, having tried many different formulas and feeding schedules with no lasting success. The doctors she consulted had started to blame her for the feeding failures.  The infant started out on a cow's milk formula, which was associated with colic and vomiting. Several different brands were tried on doctors' advice. By 4 months, he had gained only 3 pounds and was switched to a Soya formula which he tolerated for 4 weeks, but then all his disturbances recurred. Powdered infant feedings, fruit juices, and infant vegetable foods were tried, with little success.  Nutramigen, a hypoallergenic milk formula, based on hydrolysed milk protein,  was accepted well, with the addition of squash and sweet potato, 2 ounces/day. He had generalized food allergy pattern and required a carefully supervised hypoallergenic diet for several years.

Infant Eczema

A 3 month old infant who was exclusively breast fed by a conscientious mother presented with severe eczema. His entire skin was red, blistering, and scaling.  He was understandably irritable, often crying, and slept poorly through the night. Mother had been applying steroid creams to his skin and giving him oral antibiotics with little benefit. Her diet was unrestrained and she drank extra milk and ate generous amounts of yogurt and cheese on her physician's advice, to supply nutrients for lactation. 

In view of the infant's extreme distress, I advised the mother to eat only foods on Phase 1 of Alpha Nutrition. All medication was discontinued.  Within two weeks of the mother's diet revision, the infant's skin was clearing dramatically, and he appeared to be much happier, sleeping through the night with only one brief wakening for feeding. Mother was able to slowly expand her diet but found that the baby reacted often severely when she deviated from her "safe diet". When the infant was six months old she began to slowly introduce the same phase 1 foods which he had tolerated in her diet.

Brief Note on Delayed Pattern Food Allergy

In this section we are discussing delayed food allergy, not the more obvious immediate food allergic reactions. Delayed patterns of food allergy are not so obvious and generally go unrecognized. Allergy skin tests do not show this problem nor do blood tests for antibodies  such as RAST or ELIZA.  Delayed patterns of food allergy are responsible for causing specific diseases such as asthma and eczema and also common but ill-defined illness patterns in children.

There are many ways for food problems to interfere with a child's normal functioning and to promote disease. We  assume that several problems interact in a complex manner to produce the symptoms and dysfunction that we seek to remedy.

It is always necessary, therefore, to correct nutritional problems by complete diet revision Using the Alpha Nutrition Program. A children's rescue starter pack combines this program with the book Feeding Children and a 500 Gram jar of Alpha ENF, our complete nutrition, food replacement formula.

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