Question:

I am at my wit's end. My two-year-old girl always seems sick. She was four weeks premmie and diagnosed with reflux. She was put on Pepti Junior at six months to try and reduce this but I still find she gets reflux and it is blood stained. I am also concerned with her bowel movements. She always seems to have diarrhoea.

Recently she also came out in hives. As a result, I took her to a skin specialist who diagnosed it as physical uticaria (physical hives) as a result of a virus. It seems every time I take her to the doctor it is a virus even though I have a family history of milk allergy, asthma, eczema, dermatitis, hay fever, coeliac disease and type 2 diabetes.

Since July 3 she has had a left-ear infection with upper respiratory infection which lasted two weeks with two lots of antibiotics. Then her right ear got infected and the upper respiratory tract infection remained. Again she was given two more lots of antibiotics but different to the first lot.

She seemed okay for the week but then on August 8, she got diarrhoea which was very watery. I took her to the GP on the following Tuesday who said it was just the antibiotics going through her system and not to worry. Then on the Tuesday night she started vomiting. Wednesday she still had diarrhoea and was very lethargic.

On the Thursday her temperature kicked in and wouldn't go below 38.5°C, it peaked at 40.2°C. She still has diarrhoea. I took her to the hospital where blood, urine and stool samples were taken. They came back negative except they found her T cells were high.

She was admitted and started on IV to rehydrate her and discharged on Saturday on a light diet. She still has diarrhoea two to three times a day. She was discharged as her bowel movements were soft but not diarrhoea. Now she has developed a cough which makes her gag and throw up.

I just want her to be better. She's still her spirited little self but you can see the illnesses have taken their toll. She wants to eat but she either gets really gassy or gets diarrhoea.

I have her on watered down juice (60 percent water), lactose-free milk and yoghurt which I only reintroduced today after about two weeks with no dairy at all, but I feel she needs this. I have just been giving her pasta, rice, chicken, eggs, toast, carrots, broccoli and avocado and yet she still has diarrhoea. I just don't know what I can do anymore. She doesn't seem to be able to shake it.

Would you have any suggestions I can try, either related to her diet or naturopathic treatments that might help?

Response:

Firstly I would recommend you give your daughter a child's probiotic daily to re-establish her bowel flora balance. Bowel flora is a very important part of your child's immune system and needed for healthy digestion and production of some vitamins. You need to have a nice balance of good bowel flora. Antibiotics kill bad bacteria in the bowel and the good ones too. Diarrhoea is a common side-effect of antibiotics in children.

Next I would recommend you take your daughter off dairy and gluten foods for two weeks to see if there is a difference in her bowel movements, digestion and hives. Seeing you have a family history of milk and wheat/gluten allergies, your daughter could also be intolerant/allergic to these foods. This has to be done carefully.

When you remove foods from a child's diet you must make sure you replace it with something equally nutritious. Keep a food diary with what your daughter has eaten each day and jot down if she has had any symptoms such as diarrhoea, hives, bloating etc.

Dairy is a good source of calcium and protein needed for strong teeth and bones. A good alternative would be calcium-enriched rice milk or almond milk (if there are no nut allergies in the family). Other good sources of calcium include nuts and seeds (you could add ground linseeds, sunflower seeds and almonds) to breakfast cereals or smoothies, soft bones of tinned salmon (put through pasta), make little rissoles, or on a sandwich, green leafy vegetables, tahini (hummus) and organic tofu.

Remove wheat and gluten containing grains such as wheat, rye, couscous and oats from your daughter's diet and replace them with nutritious gluten-free grains such as quinona, rice, millet, buckwheat and amaranth. You can buy these gluten-free grains as bread, breakfast cereals (puffed, flaked for porridge) or as flour to make muffins and cakes.

Use these grains like rice served with vegetables, fish, organic chicken or lean meat. Buy a good gluten- and lactose-free cookbook to give you some ideas. My book, My Goodness, contains more than 100 easy, healthy recipes that can be changed to diary and gluten free, and also contains chapters on gluten- and lactose-free diets.

After a couple of weeks you can slowly start reintroducing some dairy back in your daughter's diet — take note of any changes in her digestion and bowel movements. If there's no change then start adding in wheat and gluten grains gradually and note any changes. If she is allergic or intolerant to either food group you will be able to tell by doing this two-week elimination diet.

You could start giving your daughter a children's multivitamin to make sure she is getting enough calcium and other important nutrients.

Make sure you give your daughter frequent drinks of water, or diluted juice to keep her well hydrated. It is recommended giving an electrolyte drink like Gastrolyte when a child is vomiting and has diarrhoea to prevent dehydration.

After doing this if you don't notice an improvement, you should book your daughter in to see a naturopath to take a more detailed case history and prescribe either a homeopathic remedy or nutritional supplementation and dietary recommendations.

For more information visit Lisa's website, Art of healing.