Corn and my baby
Posted on May 7th, 2007 by alison
WARNING: graphic baby poop talk ahead. Proceed with caution.
When my second daughter was born, I expected the normal newborn poop of a breastfed baby - mustard yellow, curd-like and sweet-smelling. This never happened for her. Her poop was, shall we say, a bit on the foul side: brown, sometimes with black streaks, mucus-y, and smelly. I knew something was not right and kept hoping it would change, but it only got worse. Clearly there was something going on with her digestive system. She sometimes had a lot of gas, which I know people think is normal for babies, but my first baby had no gas, so I wasn’t going to accept it in this one. I had to figure out what was causing her tummy distress. She also had little hives/rash on her neck and behind her ears. During night feedings, she would sometimes take 45 minutes to go back to sleep. She just didn’t calm down quickly. At times I wondered if I had a “colicky” baby.
I decided to investigate my diet. I was already gluten-free. I then went off dairy as that is a common allergen, but no significant change happened. What was I eating a lot of that could be a potential allergen? I ate a lot of corn - could that be it? I ate tortilla chips every day and a lot of them. I also ate corn tamales and corn tortillas. I did a search on the web to see if other people had any experience with corn and newborns but found nothing. I decided to do my own test and stop eating corn. Lo and behold, within days, my 2 month old baby stopped having gas. She stopped having bowel movements as frequently and the poop? Not dark and smelly anymore! Her skin cleared up, and the best part of all was that she calmed down at night and went right back to sleep after her feedings.
There is still no corn in my diet or hers. I did test my theory and ate corn one time - her stool changed and her rash came back. I am hoping that she will not be sensitive to corn as she gets older, but I will proceed with caution. I hope that this little anecdote helps a mom out there searching for an answer.
I am floored by what I just read in your post, that is my experience word for word(with regard to the poopie).
Our baby boy was diagnosed with failure to thrive, he was just 6.4 lbs at 2 and a half months old. After a great deal of time attempting to continue breastfeed, could see something was still very wrong. I, at my doctor’s behest, did a several day trial of formula with him. It was nearly immediate that his poopie started to look normal. I am so sad to think that I might have been able to keep breastfeeding him, as I had with our other two children, if I had only seen your post sooner.
We are still in the process of researching what is going on with him. They want to test him for celiac disease.
Thanks for sharing your experience,
Take Care.
Bekahmomofthree,
I think that the poop experience can signal an intolerance/allergy to anything. It requires detective work to figure it out sometimes, which can be extremely difficult when you are breastfeeding. I understand your regret about not being able to breastfeed, but you were doing what was best for your baby at that time. Yes, if you or your doctor had been more aware of the effects of the mother’s diet on the baby, maybe decisions would have been made differently. Motherhood is hard enough without this added stress!
I do think that your child should be tested for celiac, especially with the failure to thrive, but be aware that test results are not 100% accurate.
Alison
Good for you for figuring this out and sticking with it! According to my mother, I was also like this when I was a baby. She says I was “a very smelly baby”. After taking me off almost all common food allergens I was fine, and the doctors told my family that the food allergies would go away as I grew. Strangely, as teen and young adult I was obsessed with organic corn chips and would eat them almost every day. I didn’t think my digestive problems were caused by this, after all, my food allergies went away, right? Wrong, even thoughI was eating healthy vegan organic foods I still had stomach and kidney problems that went away after I met and was inspired by a vegan girl who was off corn and gluten and feeling much much better for it. Now I can tell if my food has hidden corn or gluten ingredients in it, my stomach starts burning almost instantly. And apparently all those years off eating food I couldn’t digest very well does cause damamge to the stomach. So keep that lil’ girl off the corn for as long as you can!
Scorchie,
Thanks for your story. It seems like corn sensitivity is growing like many other foods are. Since I was off of corn for about a year, I have eased back into eating it. I am not sure if I am sensitive or not yet.
I have four children. All of them had diarrhea and vomiting, rashes, ear problems, eczema, etc. But my doctor told me they were “fine” since they were still growing. I finally decided not to accept that answer and began a quest to find out what was wrong. After elimination diets we discovered that all of our children have trouble with corn and gluten–including my breastfed baby. He is a completely different person when I am not eating corn. He’s not grouchy all the time and he actually sleeps!! I also have reason to believe that corn may be part of the cause of my long-standing struggle with depression. Corn allergies are much more common than people realize and I hope soon labels will add corn to the allergen alerts to make it easier for everyone to identify the hidden corn in products we eat every day. Best of luck to you and congratulations on saving your baby from unnecessary pain!
I believe my 7 week old son has a corn allergy. W tried every formula on the market, including Alimentum and the prescription hypoallergenic formulas. He only got worse. Cries all the time. Doc said it is acid reflux and gave Zantac and Maalox. My aunt is allergic to corn and mentioned it to me. I found ONE formula that does not have it and it is the ready to feed Alimentum. The powder form that we tried DOES have corn. His Zantac and Maalox also have a corn derivative. My concern is that if it is a corn allergy, then what fever reducers or other cold and such medicines can I give him in the future since Tylenol and Motrin and all cold stuff has some form of corn in it?????
Stacy, the absolute best resource I can point you to is the Avoiding Corn forums. The people who make up this community are a wealth of knowledge and can advise you — among other things — about compounding pharmacies where you can have medications custom-made without the corn-based fillers. Best of luck.
http://forums.delphiforums.com/avoidingcorn
My 2 youngest children have delayed reactions to corn and corn derivatives. My one daughter has eczema, diarrhea, stomach aches, and hyperactivity. My other daughter experiences eczema, stomach aches, and constipation with corn consumption. Avoiding corn and corn derivatives completely relieves their symptoms.
They both were breast fed. However, I later realized both were exposed to corn from a young age since the vitamin D drops I was administering to them daily were derived from corn. Since I was quite ill after my third child was born (with undiagnosed CD), I gave my youngest some formula starting at about 2 months of age and later realized that it contained corn as well. A pediatrician couldn’t find the cause and only cremes for the eczema and laxatives for the constipation were ordered.
Corn is in many processed foods. There are corn allergy websites that will list all the key words to look for on ingredient labels. Also be aware that many intravenous fluids in hospitals have ingredients derived from corn. Any IV fluids containing dextrose generally are derived from corn. You can ask the MD to use ringers lactate or normal saline solutions. Having an allergy bracelet with “no dextrose” on it may be helpful just incase your child is taken to the ER without you (EX. if an accident happens on a school trip).
Also be aware of 1%, 2%, and skim milk which can contain corn oil to carry the fat soluble vitamins. Regular table salt can also be coated with dextrose to stabilize the iodine. We use sea salt and whole organic milk.
Thank you for posting this article. It helps to increase awareness about corn allergies/sensitivities and the variety of symptoms it can cause. My children only had their symptoms diagnosed, not the cause. I figured out their sensitivities by using an elimination diet. Find a MD that is knowledgeable about food allergies.
Good luck everyone,
Shelly
Regarding Similac formulas:
The ONLY formula that they make and that they will claim is 100% corn free is the Alimentum Ready to Feed. The powder uses Maltodextrin as the carbohydrate but the RTF is Sucrose. I confirmed this by calling Abbot Laboratories and asking them. Similac Advanced Early Shield does not list it on the ingredients but the extremely helpful lady I talked to told me that they use Dextrose as a carrier for certain vitamins and minerals. I have to assume this is true of other companies too. It was somewhat dumb luck and then trial to find out that our daughter became a different child on the Alimentum RTF because I simply refused to buy the “colic” label that is given to infants that cry all the time. Crying is an effect of a cause and I was determined to find the cause. At some point I will try an Organic corn free formula (Natures One: Babys Only Organic is. I called them too) but I need to let her have some peace for a while.
Wow. I wish I had woken up to this 4 years ago when my oldest was a “colic” baby. We switched formula many times thinking it was the cause and it wasn’t until we switched to soy at 5 months that her colic slowed.
Fast forward to when she was 23 months and started eating popcorn. She had night terrors (so we thought) every night that she ate popcorn. We had no idea it was the popcorn and finally linked the 2 after weeks of sleepless nights. Took the popcorn away, no more “night terrors”.
My daughter is 4.5 now and has a distended belly (always had) that her ped tells me is ok. I don’t buy it, it’s not at all natural and looks rather painful. We’ve always thought she was a “spirited” child but I strongly believe she acts out due to discomfort that she cannot verbalize after living with it her whole life.
We’re now trying to eliminate corn and corn derived products from her diet but it seems like it’s in almost everything.
Hopefully all of you are doing well now and have answers! We’re just starting down this path and it’s intimidating.