But I love breastfeeding - the connection and bond we share is indescribable. And we don't have to pay for formula, which is also cool.
The
colic started right away. We couldn't get her to stop crying in the
hospital. I was afraid of taking my screaming bundle of joy home and
being in charge of making her not screamy. My husband and I both lost
sleep and a lot of weight, but we made it through. We are making it
work.
Our
first clue that Julia was having problems came a couple weeks after
birth. She was having bloody and mucusy diapers, and by the third I was
on the phone with our pediatrician's nurse line at 3am. They told us to
head to the ER. After yet another all nighter, we learned that she had a
dairy allergy, the most common of breastfeeding allergies. All I had to
do was eliminate cow products from my diet and she'd be fine in two
weeks. I haven't touched dairy since, but she was still unhappy two
weeks later. Our pediatrician told me to stop eating ice cream. "Women
can't live without their ice cream!" he proclaimed. That right there was
the precise moment I lost respect for him. I still need to pick a new
pedi.
So
then I cut soy, but still didn't see a change. So I went back on soy.
Then spices, onions, wheat, corn, eggs...I still couldn't figure this out.
Months were going by, and the three of us were miserable. Most days, I
couldn't find the time to brush my hair. I considered it a good day if I
ate two meals and caught an hour nap or two. She screamed and I cried. I
had chest pains, a twitchy eye, and I lost the ability to form
grammatically sound sentences - and I was an English teacher before her
birth!
At
Julia's four month checkup, I again asked our pedi for help. He told me
to stop eating ice cream. Again. Then he said most women can't handle
giving up the foods they love, like ice cream, so we should switch to
formula. And from then on, he pushed formula. I tried explaining that I
hadn't eaten any damn ice cream, but he wasn't interested.
I
knew things were bad when after my dentist told me I'd have to come in
and have two fillings replaced, I smiled: "Sure! I can come back next
week!!" Yep, having my teeth drilled sounded like a good time to me. I
got to drive there alone, listen to my music, talk to a few adults, and
not hear that piercing shriek that I'd come to associate with my sweet
little girl. Sign me up!
Finally, I read about the elimination diet on Dr. Sears' website:
Eat
only turkey, lamb, white rice, brown rice, white potatoes, sweet
potatoes, zucchini and pears. Then gradually introduce foods in and see
what bothers your baby.
Lamb
is expensive, so we went turkey. The week of Thanksgiving. Not a great
time to begin this kind of thing, but hey, we were desperate and turkey
was even on sale. It took the full two weeks, but it worked.
Thanksgiving dinner was a challenge, but I could have the turkey plain, a
sweet potato, and a few shreds of undressed lettuce from the salad.
Yum! My mom has also nearly dairied me on several occasions -"Amy,
butter doesn't count as dairy," and my other favorite, "breadcrumbs
don't count as wheat" - so I know to ask redundant questions whenever
we're at the house for a family dinner: "Is there dairy in this? How
about butter?"
And now it's February and I'm still introducing foods and failing on occasion. To date, my feisty muffin is allergic to:
dairy,
wheat, soy, coconut, sometimes corn and sometimes pork. Some foods with
corn starch bother her and others don't. I'm guessing it's a threshold
thing.
And
problems arise regularly. Solid foods didn't go well either. We've
stopped for now because it was AWFUL. We even tried giving her
probiotics, but that made things much much worse. I just started
probiotics for myself two days ago after reading about a thing called
"leaky gut," in which the mother's stomach lacks sufficient bacteria and
food particles that normally wouldn't be released into milk are - thus
irritating the baby. So we'll see. I'm hopeful. Cautiously optimistic.
In
the meantime, follow our struggle to eat dinner. Well, any meal,
really. I've made up a few recipes of my own that are allergy friendly,
and I've modified several others that work for us. I'm concerned about
my nutrition, though my physician did give me a clean bill of health two
weeks ago. If any of you are struggling with allergies or an allergic breastfed
baby, I sincerely hope I can help with my story. Which is ongoing. We're
not out of the woods yet, but at least we're finding our way!
But
yeah, I'm still hungry all day and I'd kill for a slice of pizza. Kill,
apparently, but not irritate my little muffin's tummy. Perhaps I should
work on my vernacular.
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