From my reading I have become aware of the importance of good nutrition before and during pregnancy as well as during lactation. This is a far cry from what I was taught in nursing school in the 1990's, which was that the baby takes what is needed from the mother and she is the only one to suffer from nutritional inadequacies. But I know now, there is a relationship between poor nutrition and adrenal weakness or exhaustion. Without the adrenals to help the body handle stress of all types, we are left vulnerable to allergies, cancer, and other immune dysfunction. During the third trimester especially, a mother with adrenal exhaustion will actually feel better as she is drawing from the baby's healthier adrenals. This can cause the baby to be born with adrenal exhaustion, leaving him or her vulnerable to the same immune dysfunction. I believe they are indeed in trouble from birth. Consider how putting mother on an elimination diet may cause further nutritional deficits. It is really a complicated matter to address. That is why I believe improving nutrition is a first line intervention. Hashimoto's was in our picture also. I have had it since age 14. Jennifer Stevens, RN In a message dated 2/21/2007 12:08:17 PM Eastern Standard Time, [log in to unmask] writes: Very frightening......years ago I had eosinophilic colitis (as an adult).....at the same time I had a very elevated ANA titer (lupus), and they were both considered diagnostic for mild lupus. (There is thyroid disease in my family (Hashimoto's) as well, and that is also in my immune profile.) Since then I have discovered that I have sprue, an allergy to gluten. This also causes massive diarrhea. Now I am wondering, and, again, my only research has been into these "adult" conditions and diagnoses, how many other autoimmune responses might contribute to these mothers and babies. We know that a baby's immune system doesn't mature until 4-6 months........are these little immune systems in trouble from birth? Until gastroenterologists were able to go inside the body for biopsies, many of these diseases were unknown.....we also now know that there are a whole host of immune disorders, many presenting simultaneously in a patient, and each connected to the other. What a great research project this would be. Breast feeding mothers with this problem will require on-going support and guidance. Does anyone know of any physicians who deal specifically with this issue? Carol *********************************************** To temporarily stop your subscription: set lactnet nomail To start it again: set lactnet mail (or digest) To unsubscribe: unsubscribe lactnet All commands go to [log in to unmask] The LACTNET email list is powered by LISTSERV (R). There is only one LISTSERV. To learn more, visit: http://www.lsoft.com/LISTSERV-powered.html