About three weeks ago Liza had the first of two-three sporadical bloody diapers. Now the first time it happened, I had eaten spicy Mexican salsa. Her little tummy is SO sensitive. I seriously can't even eat one chip with mild salsa on it without her hiney breaking out after a poo. The next time it happened, I had eaten hot (ok mild and garlic) wings. Big mistake. This had her grunting and hurting and another bloody diaper. I knew in both of theses instances that my diet had to go super bland and that the diapers were most likely correlated to the spicy food.
Fast forward to Monday morning, when I had been doing my absolute best to lay off any kind of spice, and her early morning feed was welcomed by yet another bloody diaper! As luck would have it, I was also scheduled for jury duty that morning, so I called her pedi office during my break (while pumping in my car!) and had Memaw Val take her to see the doctor. He examined her and didn't see any loose rectal skin but also didn't rule out the possibility of anal fissures. The most likely diagnosis? A milk protien allergy causing mild colitis. So he advised me to start drinking soy milk in lieu of cows milk.
Wednesday we went in for her two month well check and were again given the soy milk spill, but I was encouraged to go total diary free. No chocolate. No cheese. No nothing that had any diary products listed in the ingredients. They said to give it about a week and hopefully we would see some change. If not, we might have to give her a hypoallergenic formula!*** (!?!?, if you know me, I really love being able to provide the most awesome source of nurishment for my children in the form of my breastmilk so this will be my last resort option).
This has proven to be challenging, but I know it's totally doable and worth it for the best interest of little Liza's health. I miss chocolate the most, but my sweet valentine bought me jelly beans for valentines day and I learned that Cocoa Puff cereal contains no milk products!
^^^and some Girl Scout cookies are diary free too!!!! Gotta find me a Girl Scout!
So here we are Sunday night and Liza has wanted to be held all day. This is totally unlike her. She also never ever cries. For reals, the first time we actually heard her cry for more than a few second was when she got her two month shots. And today she's been uncharacteristically fussy :( That in addition to a total of FIVE bloody diapers in one day has me going out of my mind!
I did read this article from La Leche League that implicates a possible hindmilk/foremilk imbalance that could cause bleeding and intestinal irritation, so I've implemented the one breast twice in a row method to see if that helps too.
https://www.llli.org/faq/oversupply.html
Joseph is really encouraging and tells me to just make it through the night and we can call the doctor in the morning.
::sigh::
In the meantime I'll continue to hold, rock, and cuddle my sweet girl while documenting every poop with a comment and a photo diary :)
***just a note on my breastfeeding views. I totally get that some women are not able to breastfeed for medical or social or whatever reasons, and I support their personal decision 100%! For me, our family, and our girls, breastfeeding is an immense source of joy I get! It's the one time in their lives I'll be able to provide for them in this very intimate way, and sharing that bond is immeasurably a treasure! Not to mention, no bottles to clean, no formula to buy, and when you leave the house, you always have the food with you :) Now that being said, if formula is the best option for my little gal and will help her to thrive healthily, I will obviously weigh the pros and cons and decide with the hubby what is best for baby!
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