I’ve been planning for ages to talk you about cloth nappies, but somehow life seems to get in the way. Lots of cloth stuff coming soon, but for now I have to give you an update on little NW’s progress.
You may remember that my first post was about NW’s colic. I keep expecting to be able to tell you it’s better, but it’s been a bit of a rollercoaster, and I’m afraid we’re still on it.
Following the wonderful advice from you ladies, I cut dairy out of my diet, and he seemed to get better. Then after a couple of weeks he got worse again, so I took him to see a lovely cranial osteopath, and again he seemed to get better. I though he was sorted so reintroduced dairy into my diet and he got significantly worse.
He was demonstrating a lot of the symptoms of dairy intolerance; mucus in his poo, a bubbling stomach when feeding, colic, reflux and a runny nose, and poor weight gain, and given that I was allergic to milk when I was younger I became convinced again that the problem is down to dairy. So last week the GP referred him toPaediatric care.
But over the weekend he took a turn for the worse when he started projectile vomiting, and after he only kept down 3 feeds all weekend we took him to see the GP on Monday who sent him straight up to the hospital, hence no Llun Dydd Llun.
The conclusion at the hospital was that the new vomiting was down to a bug (confirmed by the fact that DW started that evening), and that his general failure in thriving would very likely be down to a dairy intolerance.
The Registrar who saw us had a son with dairy intolerance and was full of useful information. It seems I may well have not been strict enough with the dairy. For example, if I were out for the day I may well have bought a (non-dairy) sandwich, which would of course have traces of dairy in the spread or bread, or I wouldn’t have thought of checking for dairy in things like crisps or snacks.
Now I’m on a super strict no dairy or eggs diet which involves checking labels on everything and not eating out just in case. Then, we’ll be back at the hospital in three weeks to see how it goes.
The strange thing is that while he was vomiting he was actually better in himself. The registrar pointed out that this would be because whatever was in my breastmilk that was aggravating his digestive system was being expelled.
I’ve been feeling for quite some time like my breastmilk was causing him pain, and this confirms it. Emotionally, its hard to deal with the fact that something that is so natural and absolutely the best for your baby causes them so much pain, and I have flagged a few times and thought about switching to formula.
But dairy free formula is supposed to have a nasty taste and smell, and having fully breastfed DW through loads of problems, I don’t think I could live with the guilt if I give up. I also know that breast milk still provides the best balance of nutrients for my child, which makes me more determined to eliminate whatever is n my diet that aggravates him.
I’m finding it hard though. No meals out, no cups of tea with friends, having to check absolutely every label, and worse of all, no pasta (my favourite staple) because of the eggs! So my question to those of you who are or have been dairy free, any hints or tips on coping? Do you have any scrummy dairy free recipes you could share, or can you recommend any nice dairy free products?
One good thing in all this; cutting out cheese and butter (both of which I eat far too much of) may well have a positive effect on my attempt to shift the baby weight!
