...Of Milk!
My world was turned upside down this afternoon. As you all know Emily is SMALL, and fussy and well she has never really had a "normal" breast milk stool. I have wondered for a few months now if this was all related and something more was going on. With a nursing background I tend to worry about alot of stuff I probably don't need to and over think things sometimes. I worry she does not get enough hind breast milk, I worry about one of her eyes, and a whole list of things...I often tell Paul things like oh Em waves around her left arm more, I wonder if it is more dominant OR she is waving it around because she has less control over it and it is not as strong and can not properly use it! Paul just answers "I'm not concerned" and that is usually enough to bring me back to reality :). So I have wondered if she had a milk protein allergy because of some of the things going on, but the main symptom (bloody stools) she was without so I just told myself I was over thinking things and she was fine.
This morning she had a stool that was more mucous and had some flecks of what looked like blood in it, and the same with the second stool, and the third was mostly mucous and some stool but no visible blood. I brought her into out pediatrician. She was diagnosed to have a milk protein allergy based on her symptoms of being fussy, and low weight, and they did a test in the office to look for blood in the stool and it was positive. It is very uncommon for babies to have occult (hidden) blood in their stools with this condition. But if you know Emily you know she is not common :) So to explain her condition quickly, basically she is allergic to the protein in milk and unable to break it down, this irritates the GI tract (the irritation causes the bloody stools). We were told she has had this condition since day one.
On a brighter note, this is something that can be treated. And in the big picture it is not the end of the world. It is something that can be treated. Emily will need a special formula, or I eliminate all Dairy, Soy, Whey, and Casein from my diet. When first presented with this option I thought I could never do that and felt selfish for just wanting to give up on breastfeeding. After visiting our local natural food store I found many options and I really think it will be possible to continue breastfeeding. My plan currently is to give Emily formula to get her feeling better as soon as possible and for me to adopt this new diet and pump milk and dump it until I am comfortable with the diet and feel like it is safe for Emily to nurse again. I plan on this taking about a week.
I feel horrible for saying/complaining at times that she is a fussy baby, I now know she has been in PAIN. It explains why she does not sleep well, she is just uncomfortable ALL THE TIME. And if those things don't make me feel like the worlds worst mom her weight was checked today and she really has not gained anything since her 4 month well child visit. She has only gained one pound in two months. And I feel so so so very bad that I did not realize that.
Wednesday, March 16, 2011
Tuesday, March 15, 2011
Big attitude, little girl
I have been meaning to share some of the true colors of Emily for some time now, but it never seemed to fit with any other post. So I will devote a whole post to it :)
Oh where do I begin...Let me start by saying how much I LOVE my little girl. I would not want to change anything and I really do look forward to seeing how this personality of hers develops.
I do not know how to describe Emily best, but she is a stubborn, strong willed, attention seeking, little princess.
She chooses not to sleep during the day (unless she is being held) and just recently started sleeping for about 4 hours at night. To fall asleep at night she has to hold my hand. She refuses to sleep in any sort of bed and sleeps in a little sleep chair/bassinet next to our bed. During the day I have tried to nurse her to sleep, use the swing, and many many other things. But she just will not sleep. Today I put her in the swing, gave her her paci, and let her hold onto me. I would slip my hand out and get half way across the room before she would start to scream. And this is no try and let her cry it out crying...it is full blown screaming with huge tears and trouble catching her breath. She goes from happy to pout lip to this scream, we have no escalation from fussy to crying to screaming in this house. Her only indication is the lip and then you have about 20 seconds to make her world right or you are in for it.
Emily will fake cough to get your attention, that pretty much sums it all up. This started when she was about 2 months old (maybe a bit younger). If you are holding her (if she allows that) and you are not looking right at her or talking to her she starts to fake cough to get your attention. When this works she smiles at you and coos. She loves to get her way. She is still VERY picky with who can hold her and for how long. She will be just fine with someone and then that lip comes out at random times. Once back with Mommy she is fine.
If you take something away from her, she lets out a little yell. She does this same sound when the cats walk away from her or my parents dog is not within reach. She will also do this sound when I take a little too long to get ready for her to nurse. She will take a few big gulps to wet her mouth and then pull away look right at me and do a yell/grunt sound just so that I know she is not pleased with the service she is getting.
I have been holding her while she has been sleeping for about 30 min. She woke half way through this and I put her in her jumperoo (she LOVES it) but she just now started to "cough" at me...I look every time what if she really was having trouble, and each time she smiles at me and puts her arms up to be picked up... I do after the third time since I can see the lip...she is now happy, throwing everything off my desk...the jumperoo is still "singing" and she looks over at it often, I know she is missing the fun but she will not admit it...
Remember this is a spunky little 12lb almost 6 mo old girl...
Oh where do I begin...Let me start by saying how much I LOVE my little girl. I would not want to change anything and I really do look forward to seeing how this personality of hers develops.
I do not know how to describe Emily best, but she is a stubborn, strong willed, attention seeking, little princess.
She chooses not to sleep during the day (unless she is being held) and just recently started sleeping for about 4 hours at night. To fall asleep at night she has to hold my hand. She refuses to sleep in any sort of bed and sleeps in a little sleep chair/bassinet next to our bed. During the day I have tried to nurse her to sleep, use the swing, and many many other things. But she just will not sleep. Today I put her in the swing, gave her her paci, and let her hold onto me. I would slip my hand out and get half way across the room before she would start to scream. And this is no try and let her cry it out crying...it is full blown screaming with huge tears and trouble catching her breath. She goes from happy to pout lip to this scream, we have no escalation from fussy to crying to screaming in this house. Her only indication is the lip and then you have about 20 seconds to make her world right or you are in for it.
Emily will fake cough to get your attention, that pretty much sums it all up. This started when she was about 2 months old (maybe a bit younger). If you are holding her (if she allows that) and you are not looking right at her or talking to her she starts to fake cough to get your attention. When this works she smiles at you and coos. She loves to get her way. She is still VERY picky with who can hold her and for how long. She will be just fine with someone and then that lip comes out at random times. Once back with Mommy she is fine.
If you take something away from her, she lets out a little yell. She does this same sound when the cats walk away from her or my parents dog is not within reach. She will also do this sound when I take a little too long to get ready for her to nurse. She will take a few big gulps to wet her mouth and then pull away look right at me and do a yell/grunt sound just so that I know she is not pleased with the service she is getting.
I have been holding her while she has been sleeping for about 30 min. She woke half way through this and I put her in her jumperoo (she LOVES it) but she just now started to "cough" at me...I look every time what if she really was having trouble, and each time she smiles at me and puts her arms up to be picked up... I do after the third time since I can see the lip...she is now happy, throwing everything off my desk...the jumperoo is still "singing" and she looks over at it often, I know she is missing the fun but she will not admit it...
Remember this is a spunky little 12lb almost 6 mo old girl...
Long overdue :)
Well I have been meaning to post something about our transition to cloth diapers for some time, and well I just have not had time :) A little over a month ago I bought our first cloth diaper, and I LOVE them!
Paul had always wanted to do cloth from before Emily was even here, but his idea of cloth was the old pre folds with pins and I did not know if I was up for that. I had been interested in doing cloth, we already do cloth napkins, use rags and sponges instead of paper towels when we can, cloth sandwich/snack bags ( www.snacktaxi.com/ )and when I remember my reusable bags I bring those to the grocery store as well. After spending years educating the youth about ways to help the environment as a wildlife educator in the summers at a camp I really do try to make a conscious decision about things that effect my carbon foot print. And I am proud to say I believe Paul and I have a smaller one than most households. We recycle everything we can and only have one trash can of garbage every other week.
Well when disposable diapers entered our lives our trash doubled! That means we were adding about 30-40 gallons of diapers to the landfill every WEEK! And that is just our house, imagine all the little kids you see around, and think how that adds up. Now you have to remember that was a newborn so they are changed more often and Emily has very sensitive skin so I changed her even more frequently. So we may of had a few more diapers than some, but not much.
I had seen these "fancy" cloth diapers working as a nurse, and was very interested in using them but Paul and I could not come to agreement, see these "fancy" cloth are about $20 per diaper and the up front cost was holding us back. But when I figured the cost of prefolds and covers you are not saving much. While we discussed it (for many months) Amanda (my sister) started the transition to cloth using these "fancy" diapers. Paul said see how your sister likes them in a few months. And I think we all know how the story ends.
Well now our stash of cloth is up to 11 diapers, that does not seem like many and I have to do laundry alot, but it has already decreased the amount of disposable diapers by at least half. We do disposable over night and while the diapers are being washed and dried. In the near future with our slowly growing supply of cloth I should be able to do cloth full time with needing to wash daily. I think with 4 or 5 more I would be able to get by with daily laundry.
Besides the environmental benefits I have noticed some other pluses as well. Emily had a chronic red bottom and an eczema patch, that has all cleared since the switch. No pre rinsing with breastfeeding, just toss them in the wash and they clean up nice. I do not have a single stained diaper! And who does not love a cute little cloth diaper bottom!
Paul had always wanted to do cloth from before Emily was even here, but his idea of cloth was the old pre folds with pins and I did not know if I was up for that. I had been interested in doing cloth, we already do cloth napkins, use rags and sponges instead of paper towels when we can, cloth sandwich/snack bags ( www.snacktaxi.com/ )and when I remember my reusable bags I bring those to the grocery store as well. After spending years educating the youth about ways to help the environment as a wildlife educator in the summers at a camp I really do try to make a conscious decision about things that effect my carbon foot print. And I am proud to say I believe Paul and I have a smaller one than most households. We recycle everything we can and only have one trash can of garbage every other week.
Well when disposable diapers entered our lives our trash doubled! That means we were adding about 30-40 gallons of diapers to the landfill every WEEK! And that is just our house, imagine all the little kids you see around, and think how that adds up. Now you have to remember that was a newborn so they are changed more often and Emily has very sensitive skin so I changed her even more frequently. So we may of had a few more diapers than some, but not much.
I had seen these "fancy" cloth diapers working as a nurse, and was very interested in using them but Paul and I could not come to agreement, see these "fancy" cloth are about $20 per diaper and the up front cost was holding us back. But when I figured the cost of prefolds and covers you are not saving much. While we discussed it (for many months) Amanda (my sister) started the transition to cloth using these "fancy" diapers. Paul said see how your sister likes them in a few months. And I think we all know how the story ends.
Well now our stash of cloth is up to 11 diapers, that does not seem like many and I have to do laundry alot, but it has already decreased the amount of disposable diapers by at least half. We do disposable over night and while the diapers are being washed and dried. In the near future with our slowly growing supply of cloth I should be able to do cloth full time with needing to wash daily. I think with 4 or 5 more I would be able to get by with daily laundry.
Besides the environmental benefits I have noticed some other pluses as well. Emily had a chronic red bottom and an eczema patch, that has all cleared since the switch. No pre rinsing with breastfeeding, just toss them in the wash and they clean up nice. I do not have a single stained diaper! And who does not love a cute little cloth diaper bottom!
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