Sleeping and Allergies

When my son was an infant he was extremely colicky and my husband kept on saying to me “He is allergic to something. There is something wrong.” But the pediatrician always dismissed my concerns and kept on saying “allergies to milk are extremely rare” and it is his “undeveloped digestive system.” I was breastfeeding and if I drank milk he would be miserable. So I switched to soy milk and it got a little better. Still, he never slept through the night until 18 months old when I put him on a gluten free/dairy free/soy free diet. It turns out there is a connection between allergies and insomnia in babies. In a study on Insomnia and Cow’s Milk Allergy in Infants, The Official Journal of American Academy of Pediatrics concluded:

“when no evident cause for sleeplessness can be found in an infant, the possibility of milk allergy should be given serious consideration.”

My son has slept through the night ever since we changed his diet. What a difference in my life to go from having a terrible sleeper to a terrific sleeper. This change happened overnight. Now that I know what I know about nutrition, I would have tried giving him rice milk with a little coconut milk at 12 months when I was trying to wean him and he was clearly intolerant of milk. Coconut milk has the healthy saturated fat that is needed for brain development. If you make sure they are getting enough protein in food then you don’t need the cow’s milk.

Cow’s milk is a convenient way to get all the protein and fat you need for development, but it is a convenience not a necessity. And if you are intolerant to cow’s milk, you might be drinking it, but you might not be absorbing the nutrients.

I would advise ANY non sleeper after 12 months old to give up wheat/dairy and soy for a few days to see if they have a part in the terrible sleeping situation. Especially if crying it out doesn’t work. Rice milk with a little coconut milk in it is a great dairy free, creamy treat to try. And coconut milk is full of lauric acid which is only found in coconut and breastmilk. With enough protein at meals*** your child will thrive. One year olds don’t need cow’s milk, they need lauric acid, healthy saturated fats for brain development and some protein, vitamin D and calcium for growth which you can get in rice milk or fortified orange juice.

Also, Dr. Morton Teich, New York Environmental Allergist from Mt. Sinai hospital in NYC told me, you often crave the things you are most allergic to. So a child who is a picky eater who will only eat wheat (pasta, bread and goldfish) might have a wheat or gluten intolerance. Or a child who guzzles lots of milk might be intolerant of dairy.

The industrialization of our food supply has made milk even more allergenic–the fascinating video “The Whole Truth About Milk” explains this process. All types of allergies are becoming more common now–but often they go unrecognized until they cause severe problems and are impossible to dismiss. Intolerances are often completely unrecognized because they are difficult to test for and doctors don’t like what they can’t test. But if you have tried everything and your child still doesn’t sleep, try eliminating the common allergens and see if it helps.

***1 ounce protein per 2 pounds of weight for 12 month olds. So a 20 pound baby will need an average of 10 ounces of protein per day.