dear alicia,

i continue to believe that it is not possible to be allergic to the milk, per
se, but to something in the milk. i have had conversations with a pediatric
allergist who has actually been prescribing breastmilk for years to severely
allergic children, with great results, and that is his belief, as well.

i have a couple of thoughts that might be helpful on this subject. i have had
a long email correspondence with a woman in the quite remote regions of
malaysia who has a baby who has been in this state practically since birth,
and she has done endless dietary changes. the interesting thing about this sad
story is that she has an older child, age four, who had the same tremendously
sensitive response to virtually everything in the mother's diet, but who is
now able to eat everything. not allergic to anything. i find that truly
amazing, but it is the only thing that kept this mother going with
breastfeeding.

another completely different thought is that the "flu" the older child brought
home might be something else entirely. giardia can be chronic or acute, and
while the older child may now be symptom free, the baby may have an acute
infection (infestation?). checking the diaper for the parasite is not
sufficient or accurate, and they should look for this while they are doing the
other tests. failure to thrive is a classic symptom of giardia, along with the
diarrhea. and you can get it "anywhere," in fact, it is in ALL the fresh water
in colorado (remember that when you come to visit the pure mountain spring
waters), and commonly turns up in "treated" municipal water supplies all over
the country. ask your friendly local pediatric gastroenterologist.

carol brussel IBCLC