Irritable Bowel Syndrome Message Boards

Hi - Sweetwater is right, IBS doesn't usually progress in terms of the underlying pathology of the disorder. But symptoms can worsen (or improve) over time, sometimes to rather extreme degrees.

If your daughter is tolerating small amounts of cheese a few times a week without IBS problems, she will not end up years down the road with a sudden onset of more severe IBS symptoms because the cheese caused some type of cumulative problem. IBS is not like, say, diabetes or high blood pressure, where those disorders can progress as a result of diet and you could one day end up with a much worse physical problem. If a food is an IBS trigger, you'll know it very quickly - within minutes sometimes, and within a day at most.

However...because IBS tends to run in cycles, the more you can get and stay stable, the more likely you are to stay stable long term. For that reason, since cheese is definitely a likely trigger, you might try switching to soy cheese, maybe as a gradual change, so that you can just eliminate that food altogether. Tastes can really be established in childhood, so if your daughter forms food preferences that are better for IBS at such a young age she'll be set up for keeping a healthy diet for life, and won't have to suddenly make wrenching dietary changes down the road if her IBS does flare.

Best,
Heather

--------------------
Heather is the Administrator of the IBS Message Boards. She is the author of Eating for IBS and The First Year: IBS, and the CEO of Heather's Tummy Care. Join her IBS Newsletter. Meet Heather on Facebook!

Print Remind Me Notify Moderator