When can I start adding foods back?
Normally we suggest our mamas wait 48+ hours as an absolute minimum, to be certain a baseline has been reached. Though some mamas choose to wait a week or longer to allow their infant to have a little gut rest before trialling anything that may cause an irritation.
What is baseline and how do I know we are there?
A baseline is whatever reaction free is for you; whether that is clear skin, no blood or visible mucus in stools, no vomiting, etc.
How should I add back foods and in what order?
There isn’t a specific order. It’s too individual to have a list that would work for most, let alone everyone. It’s generally best to introduce foods early in the day so the symptoms are visible during waking hours, and to minimise the impact on precious sleep time. Some rub samples of a food on the skin and lips allowing for 30+ mins afterwards to identify if they are likely to cause immediate IgE (potentially most anaphylactic risk) reactions.
Should I do direct trials with baby or trial indirectly through breastmilk?
This is so incredibly individual, and really depends on the types of reactions and general degree of sensitivities. Generally indirect trials are gentler, but can last longer.
Some babies are more prone to anaphylactic type reactions, so trialling through much can be exponentially safer than risking direct trials, a couple of hives or a skin flare through mums milk could be anaphylaxis if trialled directly.
Others, often those that are more prone to gastro reaction, have more delayed reactions, so direct trials can be speedier to give more conclusive reactions.
How do I start solids? Should I start with my safe foods?
This is completely up to you!
Janice Joneja-Vickerstaff recommends a time line with specific foods in her book “dealing with food allergies in babies and children”, but as with all TED babies they’re very individual and one set of foods will work more for some than others.
Some mums have success using their own foods, others find their little ones react to them so they loose safe foods. So it’s completely personal choices and can take a little thought and meditation from a mama to decide which risks she’s more prepared for, based on her child’s individual symptoms and degree of overall sensitivity.
How long should my food trials be?
We would recommend no shorter than four days. It is not uncommon for delayed reactions to take that long to present. It is not fun having to pull foods that you thought were safe because of rushing. Some mom’s do even longer trials(1-2 weeks) especially if they’re not sure whether or not the food is safe.
I added in more than one food and now my baby is reacting. How can I determine which food is causing symptoms?
You can try to look at the timing of reaction. Keeping a food and symptom journal with times is so important to help identify triggers. Some mom’s will pull one food for a few days if they have a feeling of which food is the culprit. Others might pull both foods and retrial at a later date or once they hit baseline again. Trialing one food at a time might seem like it’ll take forever but it goes quickly when you don’t have to second guess or retrial foods because you’re not sure.
Should I push through mucous poop/eczema/reflux, etc?
Generally we don’t suggest people “push through” symptoms, long term exposure to known triggers can cause more inflammation and make us loose more safe foods.
If in doubt it’s generally better to do longer trials 1-2 weeks, per food, to make it much easier to discern if they are causing a problem from adapting to the new food and the affects that can have on the microbiome etc. If I’d they’re genuine problems that can be accumulative and get worse over time.
For more info on pushing through symptoms please see:
TED Mamas: Support and Healing 
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