I have to agree with the idea that, like breast cancer, there are MANY factors
that play into increased allergies/ intolerance.  Genetics plays a large part
and so does environment.  It goes back to the old adage --nature or nurture?

The human body is very adaptable, and gradually looses that adaptability as it
gets older.  The gut is plastic, to a point, just like any other organ,
including immunological systems.  Over stimulate or under stimulate can cause
the same problem to differing degrees.  There in lies the problem--how much is
too much or too little.  As a nutritionist, I advocate for "moderation in
everything" to avoid getting "too much of a good thing is no longer a good
thing."  Anaphylaxis and GI malfunction are the results of too much of
something.  Many times it takes a while to figure what it is that needs to be
eliminated or reduce.  In infants we don't have that luxury--time.

I had a personal experience with this.  My baby girl got very colicky at 10
days old.  She was a breach/C-section, so I was exhausted and healing.  I
called the pediatrician and told him what was going on then took her in to see
him.  When I told him I was breastfeeding, he had no idea what to do (this is
1982), but to call LLL.  I did and the lady ran down the list of foods for me
to eliminate--milk, wheat, spicy foods, corn, etc.  I stopped drinking milk and
voila!  Better baby!  I grew up in Wisconsin and am a cheesehead, milk-drinking
woman.  I found I could still plenty yogurt and cheese without a peep from baby
girl.  Go figure?  If I had known then what I know now, would I have done
anything different?  Yup.  I wouldn't have taken those awful calcium
supplements!  I think they were oyster shells.

She continued to have problems tolerating milk until she was 5 years old--the
usual age most children out grow milk allergies.  I found she could tolerate 4
ounces of milk or yogurt and encouraged her to drink it with a note to the
daycare or school saying she got cramps when she had more than that.  So
gradual reintroduction of intolerated foods is possible in children.  Infant
milk allergies with gut reactions, not anaphylaxis, are not a life sentence.
Let the allergist handle challenging anaphylactic reactions in the clinic.

Diana M. Miller, MPH, RD
Pediatric nutritionist, Rockingham, NC

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