Infantreflux.org | Total Elimination Diet

Total Elimination Diet (TED)

The Dr. Sears Total Elimination Diet is a way to get at what, if anything, you are eating is affecting your baby’s reflux, bowel movements, gas and skin. It is only two weeks and the more you concentrate on what you CAN eat, the better you’ll be!

Sometimes babies react to a protein in their mother’s breast milk, not the milk itself! The most common proteins are cow’s milk protein and soy protein (CMPI, CMPA, milk soy protein intolerance = MSPI). There are, however, many more foods (proteins) that have been reported by mothers that affect their babies. Keeping a food log/journal is a great idea! I followed the TED out of sheer desperation; I had to do something as I researched and got the medications right. I’m glad I did it, as I learned my baby reacted when I ate tomato products, citrus, eggplant and tuna (I tried canned and thought perhaps it was something in the canned tuna and so then I tried plain pan-seared at home and there was a reaction with this, too).

Difference between Allergy & Intolerance:
(1) https://infantreflux.org/difference-between-allergy-and-intolerance/
(2) https://www.infantreflux.org/forums/topic/mspi-what-i-have-learned-allergy-info/#post-11630
(3)https://www.facebook.com/groups/infantrefluxOrgKeptMarciAlive/895538507227041

Do I really HAVE to do the TED?

No, of course not! How are your baby’s poops? Normal? They are yellow/mustard -seedy poops? Then sit back and decide later! Are they frequent, watery and green? Green & foamy, like shaving cream? Then look into Overactive Let Down also known as hyerplactation and fore/hind milk imbalance. Do they look like jelly? Cottage Cheese? Stringy, like the inside of a banana peel? Slick? Slimy? Like a mucous filled tissue? Like egg whites? They do? Well, it’s up to you, of course, but you might want to consider some sort of alteration to your diet….You can cut out proteins, one by one, starting with milk and/or soy, then eggs, grains, nuts, or, you can just go for it, and do the TED.

The basic TED: you eat organic, free-range ground turkey and grass fed (ground) lamb, white potatoes, yellow squash, rice [not any more; read below], and organic olive oil: Jovial Oil & Calfornia Ranch . You do this for two weeks, until you get a “base-line” with poops. Your goal is to have “normal” breastfed baby poop that is yellow/mustardy, ‘seedy’ poop. Concentrate on what you can eat, not what you’re missing! As soon as poops get to “base-line” you can start adding foods in, one at a time!