Is this illness or food intolerance?

[mommyoftwo]

We know that Linnea has some severe food intolerances including dairy. Yesterday, before I could stop her, she had a couple of sips of Amelia's milk. Since then she has had five or six episodes of diarrhea. At first I just thought it was the milk, but can such a small amount (literally a sip or two from a sippy cup) cause so much trouble? She's eating just fine and acting just fine. I'm trying to figure out if I need to keep her away from other kids. The girls spend two afternoons a week with a couple of other kids.

[mskitty]

Yes. My intolerance to beef is that bad...it takes only a couple of drops of beef juice for me to get a severe reaction. I become violently ill within a few minutes. Usually I'm fine within a couple of hours after ingesting something my body is intolerant to. My body does not process any food well for several hours to a several days after it gets "cranky".

It's hard living with food intolerances. I started allergy shots when I was 3 so my body could deal with minimal amounts of things such as dairy and eggs. The allergy shots were useless against the beef intolerance though.

MsKitty

[ilovetivo]

dp

[ilovetivo]

You might want to contact a pediatric allergist. Could also be food allergies, or a stomach bug. Are you asking if you should keep her away b/c she might be contageous or b/c she could get into the milk? If it's the former, see below. If the latter, it's all abt comfort level, but precautions can be taken. www.kidswithfoodallergies.org is a great resource w/ excellent message boards.

http://www.med.umich.edu/1libr/pa/pa_incubate_hhg.htm
Diarrhea
Not toilet trained: Your child should stay home until stools are formed.
Toilet trained: Your child should stay home until the fever is gone, diarrhea is mild, blood and mucus are gone, and your child has control over loose bowel movements.

[mommyoftwo]

We've already been to the allergist and she didn't test positive for any allergies so it seems to just be an intolerance. She is still having diarrhea but showing no other signs of illness. It's good to know that such a small amount can cause so many problems. I mean it's not a good thing that it happens but it's a good thing to know. I just didn't want to expose the other kids to an illness so I was trying to figure out what was going on. At this point, I'm going to guess that it's food intolerance and we'll see what happens tomorrow.

[DrSally]

Since you had her tested, I would say it's prob an intolerance too, esp. since it's "gut" related. Hope she feels better soon!