When you agree to put yourself on the most insane diet ever to see if he has food allergies. We went in for his 2 month appointment on March 25th and I mentioned that he is quite a fussy baby. He cries over dirty diapers, burps, being hungry, and even the need to use his diaper. The worst is that he cries while eating. He will pull away and just cry. Sometimes it's because he has a dirty diaper and sometimes because he has to burp but quite frequently it's for no apparent reason at all. He will just pull away, cry, refuse to be soothed, then go right back to eating for a whole minute and do it all over again. More often than not it takes me an hour to get him to eat for 10 minutes. It's annoying and frustrating beyond belief. And he only does it when I nurse him. He takes the bottle just fine. But just pumping lowers your milk supply and I really don't want to switch to formula unless we have to (though some of the perks, like Charlie being able to watch him more than 3 hours are awfully tempting). My mom is convinced it's colic, since I had it and Ethan's behavior is exactly like mine was minus the projectile vomiting. I told the doctor this but she said it sounds more like a food allergy than colic and put me on an elimination diet. I had to eliminate wheat, soy, eggs and milk products from my diet for a week, bring back wheat and soy then next week, followed by eggs the following week and milk the week after that. Do you guys have any idea just how much food contains wheat and soy?! If he does have an allergy, I'm praying it's either an egg or milk allergy since you can at least go out to restaurants with those. Even marinara sauce contains soy. (My sympathies to those who have to live with or live with someone who has a wheat and/or soy allergy.)
So I called her last Friday to let her know that I was on my 6th day and there was no change in his behavior and I wanted to know if I should stick to the plan or could I just assume he did not have an allergy. The plan backfired. She said to try it for another week. So here I am on the 10th day of the freakishly awful diet and the only change to Ethan is he now has more gas than ever and he is just as fussy as always. I committed to doing this for Ethan and we bought the wheat/gluten-, soy-, egg-, and dairy-free food so I'm sticking with it til Saturday but I'm starting to agree with my mom; I think it's colic.
Part of me thinks I should just stick to it and gradually bring back those foods as planned but another part wants to call her on Friday again and discuss all this or make an appointment to do so in person. Thoughts? Suggestions? And just in case you were wondering, yes we are trying a tummy soothing medicine to help with the gas. If it's helping at all, it's very little. But just in case it is actually helping, we are continuing to give it to him, especially since he has more gas than ever right now.
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Only 4 days to go!! Hang in there sweetie! It's a hard change to go from pampering yourself, to pampering your child often at the neglect of your own desires. As much as I love P, and it gets easier with time, a part of me will always be disappointed when she eats half my cookie. I try to focus on the smiles, and happiness, and well-being the things I do create for her. The diet may not seem to be helping Ethan - but you are an awesome mom for doing all you can to make him more comfortable! His baby problems may be frustrating, but hold onto this time. Enjoy the cuddling, no backtalk, no demands, fragile baby time - before you blink they are 5 and you've got to figure out how to explain the death of a friend's dad between soccer practice, homework, and your job. Love you bunches - YOU ARE AWESOME!
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