Wednesday, October 24, 2012

Colic and Dairy

After my last post in which I declared victory in the Great Sleeping War of 2012 my baby promptly pulled the rug out from under me once again.

Belly sleeping worked for exactly 2 days...2 days people!  For 2 days I felt like an awesome mother.

And then everything went from bad to worse.

I've been in hell...and thus not blogging.

When you're a new mom hell is a 5 letter word known as COLIC.

If you've never had a baby with colic you will not understand...if you have...you have my sympathy.

Baby Jett went from having a 2 hour fussy period in the evenings around 6 weeks to BEING FUSSY ANYTIME HE WAS AWAKE at 8 weeks.  We could sometimes get some smiles out of him in the first hour that he was awake in the morning but then it was FUSSY, SCREAMY, WHINY, MISERABLE BABY all damn day.  Nothing could soothe him.

He was also having a lot of trouble falling asleep and staying asleep during the day so I could hardly get a break from the crying.

He was miserable.  I was miserable.

I felt like I was losing my shit.  Rapidly falling into depression.

I would cry at the drop of a hat about anything at any time.  I didn't want to be around my baby and spent most of my time crying right alongside him.

For clarification at no point did I want to hurt my baby or myself but I REALLY wanted to give my baby to someone and have them bring him back to me when he was 6 months old and out of whatever fussy period he seemed to be stuck in.

I didn't care if I was going to one day look back on his newborn days and be sad that I missed them, he was making me hate my life.  Especially after fighting so hard for this I spent a lot of time trying to figure out WHY we fought so hard for this because in that moment...it wasn't worth it.  There was no joy, only tears.

It was bad, I was in a really bad place mentally.

And then the straw that broke my back.  My husband's travel schedule had him gone for 3 days one week and 4 days the next.  

I couldn't do this on my own...I wasn't going to make it.

Something had to change.

So I flew home for 2 weeks.  Grandma, Grandpa, Aunts, Cousins, lots of hands to hold my fussy baby and give me a break.

AND at the urging of my midwife and pediatrician we decided to cut out dairy and see if baby's demeanor changed because Baby also had green foamy poop, spitup ALL THE TIME and burping and spitting up seemed to hurt him.

The green foamy poops are also a sign of foremilk/hindmilk imbalance and when you have an oversupply like I do, it's common for baby to get too much foremilk.

Dairy allergies are actually quite UNCOMMON in babies so everyone was skeptical, myself included, but we all needed to eliminate the possibility of a dairy allergy so that it wasn't looming in the back of everyone's minds and we could focus on the milk issue and soothing baby in other ways.

But wouldn't you know it, 2 weeks on the nose from when I eliminated ALL dairy from my diet his poop changed, from green and foamy back to yellow and seedy.

And then 2 days later, 16 days after my diet change, MY BABY DID A COMPLETE 180.

I have a brand new baby.

He started smiling ALL THE TIME when he's awake.  He started laughing.  You can SET HIM DOWN without him screaming.  He hardly ever burps.  His spitup now comes in tiny amounts and doesn't appear to hurt him on the way up.  AND HE SLEEPS BETTER.

2% chance of a dairy allergy and my baby is one of them.  But holy hell I'll take the no dairy for me over that fussy screamy miserable little thing I called my son a few weeks ago.  I feel awful that my screamy baby was screaming because his belly hurt all the time from what I was eating.

He still has that evening fussy time when he's really hard to get down, but it's different.  He's not screaming at us until he falls asleep, now he still won't go to sleep but instead stays up smiling at us trying to convince us it's not bedtime.

So happy and no one is holding him!!!


Hangin with the cuz in Oregon.

I'm happy with the change in my baby and thus will continue to be dairy free as long as I need to, but do you guys realize how many things have dairy in them?  It's actually quite a challenge to eliminate ALL dairy from your diet.  Take a look at this crazy list of ingredients that are all other names for dairy:

source

Now go look in your cupboard at the ingredient list of anything that comes in a box, jar or package.  EVERYTHING seems to have a dairy ingredient because oddly enough it's a preservative.

And eating out?  Nightmare trying to find dishes with no dairy!  I've taken to telling waiters I have a dairy allergy so they go check with the chef.  It's ridiculous!

The only plus I can find...besides the happy baby of course...is that the things I can eat I can eat as much as I want because I am losing weight like there's no tomorrow.  Including pasta which has no dairy!  I am down about 5 lbs now from my PRE-pregnancy weight and about as small as I ever remember being.

We're talking high school weight here folks.  Lactation plus dairy-free equals one skinny bitch!



As nice as it is to quickly get my body back and be able to fit into all of my clothes, we're rapidly heading in the other direction in which all of my clothes are going to be too big.  I have to get a handle on the weight loss before it affects my milk supply!  I would love to be eating cupcakes and eclairs and other delicious pastries, because for some reason that's what I'm craving, but alas...those are dairy.

So, now that we've solved the fussy baby problem and I can set him down for short periods of time during the day we're on to trying to get baby to sleep somewhere besides in my arms at which point I might be able to really start blogging again...and baking dairy free desserts to soothe my new sweet tooth...wish me luck!

15 comments:

  1. I so sympathize with you. I spent 10 weeks not wanting to be around Austin either. it was constant fussiness when he was awake, and difficult sleeping periods and phone calls to Neal sobbing about how I couldn't do this, couldn't handle this.. and he was in baseball season so he was gone 18 hours in the day. IT WAS HELL. I still think my problem was my low milk supply, but I'm same in that I felt bad because it wasn't until later that I realized he was fussy because he was hungry and I felt so bad for not realizing that. Like you felt when you realized it was Jett's tummy hurting. But being a new Mom means trying to figure shit out! And sometimes you just don't know. But you tried everything and made a drastic change for your baby, and that's what makes you a wonderful Momma. :-) It just keeps getting better too.. I promise. Austin is a fantastically good baby now, and he was one HELL of a newborn. I was in a bad place for several weeks. Hang in there, and I'm here if you ever need to talk/vent about fussy newborns!!! Loves!

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  2. Holy cow you look fabulous, I am so jealous because my milk dried up after 2 months. I lost a ton of weight when I was pumping and then when my milk went away I piled it back on :(
    I can't even imagine what you went through with Jett having Colic due to the milk allergy. Our boys only ever cried for a maximum of an hour at a time and I thought I would loose my mind. It made hubby and I fight and I felt like I would literally poke my eyes out. Whenever anyone says twins must be hard I always say a baby with colic must be so much harder. We had one fussy baby that had a constant whine and it drove me insane.
    Anyways, so happy that you figured out what was causing the pain (I am sure many women miss it). Now you can enjoy your baby and not feel so overwhelmed.

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  3. I'm so happy to hear that you traveled back home - that's what family is for. God bless your family members for being there for you and Jett. I'm so glad you figured out what was causing the pain by changing your diet. I'm looking forward to reading more posts about your happy, beautiful son.

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  4. Oh, I'm so glad you figured it out, and Jett is feeling better and you are able to enjoy being a mother! :) He looks so happy now!

    So I cut out dairy for the year before I was preggo, and I've never felt better (pregnancy cravings are too strong for vegan, but maybe I'll go back to dairy free too!)

    The vanilla unsweetened almond milk (Blue Diamond Almond Breeze) in the dairy section is the BEST. I use it on cereal, and it's great to cook and bake with. Just sub for any milk. I also use it for smoothies when I am not putting juice in them.

    Earth balance butter is an awesome sub for butter, that is healthy.

    And yeah, most prepared or packaged foods ALL contain milk whey or protein (so odd!) so just stick with whole foods.

    I never found a substitute for yogurt that I enjoyed, so just cut it out altogether.

    Trader Joes coconut milk ice cream is awesome for dessert. They have lots of dairy free stuff in the freezer section.

    OMG, I can't wait to be skinny again, you look fabulous!!

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  5. You will get to the point where being dairy free is really easy and you don't have to think about it. I promise. You will come to like it even. I think actresses and super models must be dairy free. I got down to 130 and I was 140 pre pregnancy. So amazing.

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  6. Thank you! I like reading real posts, so many other parents or even books out there dont give you this "real" information. This is what real life with a baby can be like, many people are not aware of colic or foods affecting a baby being breastfeed! Great post.

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  7. I am SO happy to hear you have an end to the fussiness and have found the culprit! And yes, as much as it is a pain in the ass to have to cut out dairy, losing the baby weight quickly is a nice side effect. You look awesome, and I hope this smiley tranquility continues for you and Jett. : )

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  8. Colic is awful! My best friends baby had it and she was a mess! She got onto a brand called willouhbys (sp?) baby tonic.

    It is hard!

    But biatch! Look at your belly - i haaaaaate you!

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  9. I've found some delicious recipes, like pb cookies without dairy, and banana muffins using coconut oil, want some recipes? Thinking of you - glad things are on the up and up. I made the journey 'across the pond' little like Jett. You'll do great.

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  10. Hi Jesica! I just happened to come across your blog today by chance, and wanted to reply. My son was also dairy-sensitive as a baby and it was HARD to find things to eat!! The best thing I did was go to a specialty market (easier if you live in a big town) as they actually had non-dairy product lists in store. I also lost tons of weight, but I assure you, it'll all come back once you're back on dairy ;) I'm glad you figured this and your son is happy now :) I wrote a post about all the non-dairy foods I found if you're interested: http://www.thefussybabysite.com/coping/non-dairy-diet-and-breastfeeding/

    Holly

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  11. I hear you on all counts!! I have a 8 week old who has colic and reflux and I'm on a dairy free diet also free of citrus and acidic foods. I dropped weight very quickly. I bake most things from scratch. Little miss likes to be in the carrier and likes the sound of the mixer so this combo allows baking to occur, a dairy free marg and rice milk means I can bake cakes, biscuits and slices from scratch dairy free.

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  12. It's good to see you writing again, I was wondering where you were. I'm so sorry Jett has issues with dairy, but it is great it is 'easy' to solve the problem. He's so cute in the photos you shared. I hope everything stays much better now!

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  13. http://www.theppk.com Great vegan website with bomb recipes. All Isa's cookbooks rock too. You can thank me later. :P

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  14. Thanks for this sharing blog.Its really use full for mother and Baby gripe water.Its look like user friendly post.

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  15. We have managed to fight colic by chancing the feeding bottle. Tommee Tippee system is just awesome, it helped us, and our son, a lot. We are now even able to get some sleep through the night. I've shared some more info: http://teesspace.com/colic/

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