Milk

Unlike Austin, Kate has been really fussy. It seemed like everyday it was getting worse and worse. I was watching everything I ate being sure not to eat anything that might give her gas. That meant no chocolate, no popcorn, no broccoli, no cauliflower (sp?) no onions, not too much garlic, no mustard....pretty much if it's as bland as hospital food, I could eat it. If not I steered clear. But it was all to no avail. She was still gassy. In the evenings she would just scream and my mom and I would pass her back and forth. We would take all the screaming we could as we tried to calm her, give her gas medicine, pump her tummy.. and then get frustrated because nothing was calming her and pass her off. We would do this back and forth until she fell asleep. We would get a little rest, and then inevitable she would wake up screaming and kicking her poor little legs. We knew it was her stomach because it was hard as a rock and her legs were jerking like crazy. We just didn't know why. I would sit and think of all the thing that it could be, or what I could do to help her. After drawing blanks for a couple of days my mom and I just concluded that she was a fussy baby and that she has a really sensitive tummy...not much can be done. But then one day I was sitting there thinking to myself and I remembered a short conversation I had with Shannon Hokhama (sp?). She was nursing her baby at the time and made some passing comment about how she didn't eat any dairy because it made her daughter so upset every time she ate it. At the time I just thought....I could never do that, I love Ice cream way too much. Anyway, this 2 second conversation kept popping into my head. So I thought....hummm I wonder if she is sensitive to dairy? So I went online and looked up Lactose intolerance and found out this: Most babies aren't lactose intolerant. Lactose intolerance is something that is developed usually around 5-7 years old. It is very rare to have a lactose intolerant baby, but babies are often allergic to milk. The difference is that they don't react to the lactose in milk. It's the milk proteins that they are allergic to.

After reading this I thought well maybe I will stop eating dairy and see if it helps. At this point I was seriously willing to try anything. Usually with food if you don't eat it for a day or two you can tell if the baby reacts to the change. I thought that I could do without dairy for a day or two...but it turns out that with dairy the proteins can stay in your system for up to 3 weeks! Than means 3 weeks without dairy just to see if it make a difference. YIKES. But like I said I was willing to try anything. And so I started....or stopped, what ever way you look at it.

I didn't realize how much dairy I ate! Seriously. Everything I ate was dairy related. Yogurt for breakfast, cheese and pickle for lunch, mac n' chz for dinner and always ice cream for dessert! Everything I ate seemed to have some kind of dairy...usually cheese, but either cheese, yogurt, cream cheese, sour cream, milk etc. I don't even know what to eat anymore. Anytime I went to eat, or make anything to eat, half way through I realized that it had dairy. AHHHH! If you recall from the beginning of my post I had already cut a lot of stuff out of my diet already and now no dairy either? Now all I eat is like bland chicken sandwiches and fruit and veggies. BORING.

BUT....It is totally paying off. Kate is responding to the lack of dairy. She is hardly ever gassy and very rarely fussy. I called my mom and told her that she wouldn't even recognize Kate anymore. She is seriously like a totally new baby. So the good with the bad. Kate is so much happier and sleeping better and not in pain anymore. That is such great news for us. The bad news is that means no Dairy for me for who knows how long. When I find a doctor and take Kate in for her 1 month check up I will have to talk to them about it. SO we'll see. Wish me luck and let me know if anyone knows any wonderfully desserts that don't use dairy or chocolate other than rice crispy treats.

Sorry for such a long post!