Feeding Problems

For those of you who aren't familiar with our history, let me backtrack and fill you in on our struggle with milk allergies.

Josh was a darling little baby, but he was not what you'd call a "good" baby. He cried all the time. Seriously, all the time. I did a lot of research, and as far as I could tell, it was just colic. And everything I read said there was nothing you could do about colic, and that babies just eventually outgrow it. But when he was six weeks old, he spit up blood, and we knew there was something seriously wrong. We took him to the ER and were referred to a specialist. We ended up having to do a scope to determine what was wrong. The diagnosis--severe milk protein intolerance. So severe that his stomach was bleeding. The solution--no dairy whatsoever. And since I was breastfeeding, and babies get everything that mom eats, it meant no dairy for me. It was horrible. No milk, cheese, yogurt, butter, ice cream, chocolate, pizza--well, you get the picture. Thankfully, he outgrew the allergy by a year, and has had no problem since.

Next came Sara. We didn't want to take the chance that she might be allergic to milk also, so we just automatically went to a soy formula for her (I had major milk supply issues with her, so I wasn't able to nurse her). And she did fine.

Next was Aaron. It had been long enough, that we had kind of forgotten about the whole milk issue, so when he needed an occasional bottle, we just did regular milk based formula and didn't think anything of it. And he was a really good, really happy baby. But at Aaron's 9 month check, he was iron deficient. So the pediatrician told me to start giving Aaron infant vitamin drops daily. I did, but at his 12 month check, his iron had dropped even further. I did some research and found that the most common cause of iron deficiency in babies is blood loss, most commonly from internal bleeding. Back to the specialist. Back to stool sample cards to test for blood (we had done countless numbers of those tests with Josh). And it was confirmed that Aaron had blood in his stool. His poop had always been dark, but I had just never thought anything of it. So, Aaron had to go off all dairy till he was 18 months old, giving his system time to heal and develop.

Nathan. Nate had failure to thrive, and I was ordered to start supplementing with formula. It didn't take more than a few days of milk based formula before his poop started to turn dark. So we switched to a soy, and then he was fine. He didn't seem to be as sensitive as his brothers had been, and I didn't have to alter my diet.

Which brings us to Owen. In the hospital, because of his low blood sugar, we had to do a lot of bottles. I told them it had to be soy--I didn't want to take the chance of him having an allergy also. So, we did soy. And once my milk came in, we continued to do a small bottle of soy here and there (about 2 ounces every other day or so) when I was too tired or he was too hungry. But on day 5, his poop started to turn green, and over the next day or so it got darker and darker. I knew what it was, but wasn't ready to admit it quite yet. Then came a few spit-ups with a tinge of brown mixed in. And then, the fussyness started. By day 8, he was quite fussy. So, the morning of day 9, I confessed to Scott what I suspected--that Owen had the same severe milk intolerance that Josh had. Scott agreed, and I immediately stopped eating dairy. And after three days, Owen's poop was back to a nice yellow color.

I can't tell you the frustration that I'm feeling over all of this. It is so hard to not eat dairy. I crave it like crazy. But, it's the ultimate test of will power. On a diet, you tell yourself that if you cheat just a little, it's ok. But with this, Owen's well being and happiness is dependent on my will power. I can't cheat, ever. Our ward brought in meals all last week and last night--a bunch of things that I couldn't eat. The ultimate temptation was last night--funeral potatoes. Creamy, cheesy funeral potatoes--and I couldn't eat them. I couldn't even eat the pumpkin cake they brought, because it had a thick layer of cream cheese frosting on top. It's killing me! It's going to be a very long year.

And in case you made it to the end of this, and are wondering how Savannah escaped with no problems--she didn't, we just didn't know what to look for in her. She was only breastfed, no bottles. We gave her formula once, and it burned her little bum when it came through. The gastroenterologist said that was probably because of a milk intolerance. But, because she was breastfed and wasn't "ultra" sensitive, we didn't ever see any other symptoms. So, there you have it--6 for 6. What luck! Thankfully, we knew what we were looking for this time, and were able to recognize and correct it before it became really bad. And, thankfully, this is something that they all outgrow. And, on the bright side, no dairy will make it a lot easier for me to lose weight!