The food allergy is likely to be the delayed pattern and will not reliably show up on skin or RAST tests. The diagnosis must be confirmed by proper diet revision, which will resolve the problem if food-related. The gastrointestinal tract is a sensing, reactive device that monitors the material flowing through it. Symptoms arising from this system provide information about its dysfunction. Seven basic symptoms signal gastrointestinal tract displeasure with food choices - nausea, heartburn, vomiting, bloating, pain, constipation and diarrhea.
Mothers often notice abdominal distention in younger children.
Jacobsson and Lindberg demonstrated that cow's milk in the maternal diet can cause colic in breast-fed infants. Lothe et al demonstrated that infantile colic is a symptom of cows milk protein intolerance and remitted when a cows milk formula was replaced with nutramigen, a hypoallergenic formula, based on hydrolysed casein. A mother may have to retreat to a hypoallergenic diet to rescue her infant from colic with or without more obvious manifestations of food allergy. Exclusion of single high risk food groups such as milk and eggs may not be adequate to solve the infant's problem. Once the infant is comfortable, mother may then reintroduce low risk foods and expand her diet, monitoring her infant for recurrent symptoms.