Dear Dr. Cox, I just read your Lactnet post (10/18/00) about the
4-month-old exclusively breastfed baby of a vegetarian OB-GYN mom.
Baby's bloody stools decreased with elimination of dairy, wheat, eggs.
Now bloody stools have returned, although Baby is on-target
developmentally. Mom has chosen to eliminate soy next. I think she is on
the right track, and I do not think bloody stools should just be
accepted, even though Baby seems otherwise well. The trial of hydrolyzed
formula would do two things: tell us if the baby is reacting to
something in mom's diet (she is), and also give the gut "a rest", which
may or may not be needed (yet). I have seen bloody stools resolve (or
other, less worrisome symptoms) many times with elimination of soy, and
one case stands out. A very motivated, educated, breastfeeding mom
(whose family included several health care professionals) came to me c/o
8-10 weeks (since birth, basically)  of severe "colic" and green,
blood-streaked stools. Her family urged her to wean to formula. I
recommended eliminating dairy. She did this, with good results, but the
symptoms returned (her family was still urging the formula). I suggested
we try to weed out the soy next. No difference, mom getting VERY
discouraged. I had her list her foods and read *everything* (labels) to
me. Soy-something was in the corn-based margarine she put on her rice.
(Yes, corn would have been next, she was already off of eggs.) Vwalah!
Resolution of symptoms and living happily ever after! (Until baby #2
came along, who had exactly the same pattern, but with a different time
frame!) Both these babies advanced to regular diets between 2-3 years of
age. I have food allergies AND gluten-intolerance myself, so I get lots
of these calls (referrals). I can't remember one we couldn't track down
with diligence. Good luck to "your" mom!
Sincerely,
Rowena Tucker PA, IBCLC
Texas, USA
PS. If Baby is gluten-intolerant instead of just wheat-sensitive, mom
will have to avoid all the wheat family and barley. Some say oats, too,
because they are processed over the same belts as the wheat. (I have not
checked that out.) It can be kind of hard, but there really are lots of
alternatives.

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