I've had several people (thanks Elin!) Suggest that Kate's problem might be dairy related, so now that she's been on the Prevacid a week... and while we've seen results, there are still definite problems going on... I'm moving on to dairy. This is going to be HARD. Dairy is in EVERYTHING! It's not going to be fun, but I just want poor little Kate to feel better. Some others have suggested that it might be an oversupply/overactive letdown problem with breastfeeding, so I looked at the symptoms of both, and here's what I found:
Oversupply / overactive letdown:
* Gag, choke, strangle, gulp, gasp, cough while nursing as though the milk is coming too fast CHECK
* Pull off the breast often while nursing CHECK
* Clamp down on the nipple at let-down to slow the flow of milk MAYBE?
* Make a clicking sound when nursing CHECK
* Spit up very often and/or tend to be very gassy CHECK
* Periodically refuse to nurse
* Dislike comfort nursing in general
Symptoms of a food allergy:
If a breastfed baby is sensitive to a particular food, then he may be fussy after feedings, CHECK cry inconsolably for long periodsCHECK, or sleep little and wake suddenly with obvious discomfortThis is the BIGGEST red flag for me, this is SO her during the daytime. There may be a family history of allergies. Other signs of a food allergy may include: rashShe has red zit-like bumps on her chest... is that rash?, hives, eczema, sore bottom, dry skin; wheezing or asthma; congestion or cold-like symptomsShe's been congested since 3-4 weeks old; red, itchy eyes; ear infections; irritability, fussiness, colic; intestinal upsets, vomitingShe used to vomit daily until we started Prevacid.. Now she hasn't vomited since., constipation and/or diarrhea, or green stools with mucus or blood.
So many of the symptoms overlap! How on earth are you supposed to know which one it is?? I'm glad I have an appointment with a Lactation Consultant tomorrow. She should have some helpful information for me.
I really hope it's not a dairy thing - I can't imagine giving up dairy for a year! It's a staple of my diet!
Kate crashed last night around 10 pm and slept until 5:30 am. While that was nice, I'd gladly give that up and get up in the middle of the night and have a happy baby who will nap during the day. Today is shaping up to be much like yesterday - I just got her down for a nap, but she's already awake again 30 minutes later. AARRRGG!
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5 comments:
Ugh, giving up dairy would be awful. Although, I am going to try that 21-day cleanse from Quantum Wellness that's being talked about on Oprah now. (No sugar, caffeine, gluten, or animal products) It will be awful, I can promise you...lol, not quite sure why I am punishing myself this way. :-)
Good luck with Kate...hopefully the lactation consultant will have some helpful ideas.
I can give you lots of recipes- some soy stuff isn't too bad really and I can at least encourage you with the fact that my sister in law who has a highly allergic baby - lost quite a bit of weight during her BF period, all of it almost after she cut dairy out (And she wasn't starving at all!)
-Elin.
oh - and the "too much milk" problem is no surprise since she's nursing so much you are producing much more than she really requires, especially if she's using you as a pacifier - I would think that if you manage to decrease the constant nursing (not that that's an easy thing to do!) the milk supply will decrease and the problem will sort of fix itself. (In any other case it would be GREAT that your supply is meeting her demands!)
Oh and also it's pretty common for moms to "overproduce" some early on, since that's obviously better than the opposite...and then things tend to even out some in the fairly near future...hopefully the LC will help you guys out tons! Sending you waves of supportive thinking~
Hey Laura...sorry these first few weeks have been so difficult...I promise it gets easier! Some of this sounds alot like Brynne...not the waking up as if in pain (that sounds like reflux)..but not napping and overactive letdown. For us alot of the not napping was her fiery personality :). Eventually she slept like clockwork, but NOT the first few months. And if you suspect overactive letdown you might try pumping for a minute or two before a feeding until the flow slows down, that helped me a lot. And it is true...for most babies nursing gets A TON easier after 6-8 weeks when they have better head control. And then it is really nice not to have to pack bottles :) But there is quite a bit of persistance needed in the early days...hang in there!
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