Anyone try a Rotation Diet for food sensitivities?

[Mommy_Mea]

DS2 has some ongoing issues that may be related to food sensitivities and reflux. His ENT recommended trying a "Rotary Diversified Diet" or a food rotation diet. I just read the materials and I am overwhelmed with where to start, especially with three other people to feed and daycare in the mix.

Anyone successfully follow a food rotation? Did you see good results? Did you notice sensitivity to foods that surprised you? Or a reduction in symptoms?

[Simon]

I find the sample menus really overwhelming, too. How many things are you supposed to move into rotation? For some things, I actually found it easier to avoid and then add back in slowly. We did see a reduction in symptoms when some foods were removed and they came back the first 2-3 times we tried to add them back in at all, but again, this was total elimination and not just rotation. After a period of total removal + trial reintroduction, we were able to add them back in limited amounts.

So first, we cut out the suspected food entirely, for a period of weeks or months and then added it back into "rotation." For example, with one Ds we cut all dairy for 3-4 weeks and then I added back in cheese, one serving every other week, then once a week. At this point, I also tried out cow's milk yogurt and when it "passed" moved the total dairy servings up to twice a week but not 2 days in a row, and now its more relaxed since he hasn't shown any of the original reactions.

For day care, we just cut the suspect foods entirely. We had them review their menu (they served breakfast, lunch and 2 snacks) and each month we highlighted the safe foods and I filled in from home as needed.

I understand that with the rotation diet you should be able to see improvement and maybe pinpoint reactions based on the menu and when they appear, but JMO, I think that is more true of adults and older children. Its so hard with young kids and day care to be super strict and even to get them to verbalize their experiences. If the symptoms are totally obvious to you, then it would likely be easier.

[Mommy_Mea]

DS2 doesn't have any obvious food sensitivities, part of the hope with the rotation diet is that it will be easier to pinpoint the issue foods.

When reading the information about the diet, one of my concerns was that it would be hard for DS2 to express reactions if they are subtle. But I am willing to give this a spin if it helps some of his issues.

Thanks for the input, and glad to hear that someone else has experience with this. In all my years here on the BBB, I don't remember reading about this for food sensitivities.

I bought a whole bunch foods to help us through this first week, and am diving in headfirst tomorrow. I just hope DS2 eats, he isn't a big eater anyways, and I worry he will eat even less when his choices are so narrow in any given day.

[petesgirl]

What issues are you trying to resolve, if you don't mind me asking? We've wondered off and on whether DS has food sensitivities and he definitely has reflux but we have seen inconsistent results with elimination diets. But his GI doc insists that some food is causing him reflux.
Also, I'm curious if you have found a high-calorie alternative to cow's milk. I would like to try eliminating dairy again but he really needs every calorie he can get.

[Mommy_Mea]

What issues are you trying to resolve, if you don't mind me asking? We've wondered off and on whether DS has food sensitivities and he definitely has reflux but we have seen inconsistent results with elimination diets. But his GI doc insists that some food is causing him reflux.
Also, I'm curious if you have found a high-calorie alternative to cow's milk. I would like to try eliminating dairy again but he really needs every calorie he can get.

DS2 has reoccuring strep, and they suspect reflux is the base issue, with food sensitivities causing the reflux. He has never had typical reflux symptoms, but in general is a terrible sleeper, is in the 10th percentile for height and weight, keeps getting strep, has a VERY hoarse voice and every now and again will throw up a bunch of times for a few days.

I have wondered about dairy from the time he was about 3 months old, and I tried to eliminate dairy and soy when I was nursing, and again when he was fully on regular food, with no obvious change.

We are on day 3 of the rotation diet, and it is very hard. We don't eat a lot of processed foods, but even the simplest processed food is causing hiccups. And I want to make sure he eats enough, because he is so tiny. And I am calling his doctor right now because I am not sure what to do about his vitamins. He has been anemic, and I don't want to stop his iron and cause the anemia to return :(

As far as high calorie milk substitutes, I can't help you there :( I am just trying to stick to the diet and hope he doesn't lose weight, and that we see some sort of improvement.

I will try and update this thread when we are a few weeks in with any progress :)

[Simon]

Petesgirl, we use coconut and hemp milk as substitutes for cow when we need high cal/high fat. Vanilla hemp milk has 120 cal and 6g fat per cup. The coconut we found one that had about 150cal/10g fat per cup. Coconut yogurt is also pretty tasty and, again, has more fat and calories. I never found a good cheese replacement. The best alternate cheese is probably soy, but soy is usually one of the first suspects after dairy when eliminating things.

Mommymea, we have a similar experience with atypical reflux and have not solved it entirely with food elimination so I can understand the challenge it presents. The symptoms you list make me thing about adenoids, too. Have you had tonsils and adenoids checked? I'm guessing since you mentioned ENT that you've been down that road. I will add that we had Ds2's adenoids only removed after about 2 years of trying a nasal spray and we've seen pretty impressive results. It has cut down hugely on his frequent congestion, strep infections, and maybe also improved his appetite, though I can't say for certain on the last. Literally, for the first time ever, Ds2 didn't catch strep from his brother and another time had the mildest case. That never, ever happened before and the only major change has been adenoids. It is so hard to take foods away when you spend so much time trying to encourage them to eat! Good luck with the rotation.

[Mommy_Mea]

Petesgirl, we use coconut and hemp milk as substitutes for cow when we need high cal/high fat. Vanilla hemp milk has 120 cal and 6g fat per cup. The coconut we found one that had about 150cal/10g fat per cup. Coconut yogurt is also pretty tasty and, again, has more fat and calories. I never found a good cheese replacement. The best alternate cheese is probably soy, but soy is usually one of the first suspects after dairy when eliminating things.

Mommymea, we have a similar experience with atypical reflux and have not solved it entirely with food elimination so I can understand the challenge it presents. The symptoms you list make me thing about adenoids, too. Have you had tonsils and adenoids checked? I'm guessing since you mentioned ENT that you've been down that road. I will add that we had Ds2's adenoids only removed after about 2 years of trying a nasal spray and we've seen pretty impressive results. It has cut down hugely on his frequent congestion, strep infections, and maybe also improved his appetite, though I can't say for certain on the last. Literally, for the first time ever, Ds2 didn't catch strep from his brother and another time had the mildest case. That never, ever happened before and the only major change has been adenoids. It is so hard to take foods away when you spend so much time trying to encourage them to eat! Good luck with the rotation.

He has had his tonsils and adenoids looked at, and it is very possible he will have his tonsils/adenoids out in the future. But part of the question is if the inflammation of the tonsils is because of the reflux, and so removing them wouldn't solve the cause, just a symptom. Also, they like to wait until 3 yrs old/30 pounds as they find it helps significantly with a shorter recovery.

We are just over a week into the rotation, and haven't seen anything super obvious as far as reactions. But DS2 does seem to be eating more, especially at dinner, he just inhales whatever protein we are having. And I have been AMAZED by what the kids are eating! 100% rye bread, loads of fish, quinoa, 100% buckwheat pancakes... So if nothing else it has been great for me to push myself on what I eat and what the kids try.

DS2 has been a trooper. It is so hard for him to understand why he can't have a banana/cows milk/ketchup on any given day, but except for one meltdown, he has been rolling with the punches.

A few days into the diet, he did because a total grumpy mess, just even more strong willed than normal. But I remember reading ages ago that often with food sensitivities things get worse before they get better, so I attributed it to his body adjusting.

DH is traveling this week, so it forced me this weekend to fully plan out our meals for the week so I could get all the grocery shopping done, and make sure I had easy/nut free meals to send with him to daycare. I made a big spreadsheet, and while it took a lot of effort at the time, it has made this week super easy.

Anyways, brain dump in case anyone else reads this later when considering a rotation diet :)

[Mommy_Mea]

Just wanted to do an update to this thread. We stuck to the rotation diet for 6 weeks, and while we didn't see any glaring food reactions, we did see some improvement in DS2's hoarse voice and overall demeanor. It didn't make everything better, his sleep is still rough and he still is getting sick all the time. But a little over a week of being off the diet, it is obvious we need to resume it at some point. His voice is much more hoarse again and he is crankier.

We had our follow up with the ENT last week, and they did a scope through his nose to look at his adenoids. They said they were huge, the size of a golfball. And so they are being removed next week. It isn't obvious what the root cause is, if the huge adenoids are caused by reflux, or if reflux is caused by the enlarged adenoids (post nasal drop, etc), but at this stage the recommended course of action is to have them removed. I am hoping that will break the cycle for him, and his body can heal. We talked about reflux medications, nasal sprays, etc, but decide because his adenoids are so large, we are beyond the point of those being over effective.

We will likely resume a modified rotation diet after the surgery.

Thanks for all the input, and I hope this might help someone else!