Infant Allergies and Multiple Food Protein Intolerance
An underdeveloped digestive system can lead to allergy symptoms, abdominal pain, and colic. Severe cases are labeled MFPI, or Multiple Food Protein Intolerance. These problems can be addressed with heightened nutrition, elimination diet, and chiropractic.
Sometimes colic is caused because babies immature digestive systems cannot properly digest food proteins.This is called infant allergies, but these aren’t allergies in the same sense as adult allergies.Adult allergies are caused because the body identifies harmless substances are dangers and the immune system attacks them.Infant allergies are caused by babies’ inability to deal with harmless substances.
In either case, the problem causes a lot of discomfort, including gas, diarrhea or constipation, vomiting or spitting up, and various rashes such as eczema, hives, and diaper rash.The rashes are more common when babies start to eat solids.Symptoms can come on suddenly after the baby is exposed to an intolerant food or they can be delayed.As with other chronic conditions, infant allergies are caused by lack of nutrition and can be helped by breastfeeding mothers who enhance their diet’s nutritional value.
The elimination diet can help to ease your baby’s pain until his body had developed enough to handle the proteins.In a formula-fed baby, this means finding the right formula.For breastfed babies, this means mothers eliminating the offending foods.Digestive aids, such as gripe water and herbal teas, can also help babies’ digestive systems work better.
Multiple Food Protein Intolerance(MFPI)
Some babies cannot seem to tolerate even the most hypoallergenic diet.These babies systems are so underdeveloped that they cause great distress to the baby.Mothers of MFPI babies often have a long history of nutritional deficiency or suffered a chronic disease during pregnancy that made it difficult for their babies to get enough nutrition.These babies will most likely experience difficulties even under the best of care.These babies typically cannot tolerate a normal diet of solids for at least the first three years of life.
The breastfeeding mothers of these babies can help their babies overcome this condition by changing to a diet of the highest quality.With the proper diet, mothers have been able to feed their MFPI babies a normal diet of solids by 12 months.However, often mothers are asked to wean their babies to reduce their exposure to the food proteins in the mother’s breastmilk.It is true that these babies’ symptoms often are eased by super hypoallergenic formulas, but they lose the chance to nourish them with their milk.It is also possible to use the formula for a few weeks and then switch back to breastmilk if the mother has kept up her supply by pumping.Mothers should make the decision of whether they will switch to formula based on their individual situations.
Chiropractic has also been shown to greatly help some of these babies.These babies seem more delicate overall and are more prone to need spinal adjustments.Chiropractic practitioners who are experienced in adjusting infants can help you decide whether your baby would benefit from an adjustment.