This is a daily struggle for our now 6 month old little man. It started almost as soon as we brought him home and will continue indefinately. Right now he is breastfed and so far we have made it work. It isn't always easy but the results we have gotten far outweigh the struggles.
Before he was born, I had read all of the parenting books (Babywise, Attachment Parenting, Baby Whisperer, Supernanny) and was ready to work with our special little one. None of those books adequately prepared us for what we would be having. Our little boy was not born "normal". He didn't act like normal babies. He didn't sleep; it wasn't a witching hour or even a mix up of day and night. He literally screamed inconsolably from 3 in the afternoon until 3 in the morning. He stopped at 3 only because daddy didn't bring him in to feed again.
So we talked to the doctor and got a diagnosis of reflux and medicine. At the same time I also gave up dairy including hidden dairy. It worked better than nothing. He still didn't sleep but he also didn't scream as loudly.
We kept looking for "the answer" and couldn't get it. We saw the doctor every single week while I was on maternity leave about something, mucus in the stools, return of the reflux, bowel movements that just didn't seem right. But she just said he was a fussy baby. I couldn't believe it but I stopped bother her.
I kept asking the googles about what could cause my child to scream in pain. We affectionately call it the "death scream" now. I found what I needed on the Dr. Sears website. He has an elimination diet and I decided I couldn't keep removing stuff I needed to have some control. I ate only turkey, squash, sweet potatoes, pears, olive oil, salt and pepper for 2 weeks. It was tough for me but we saw the difference. He had yellow breastfed poops, he stopped screaming as much. He was even dare we say a happy baby. I couldn't continue such a restricted diet forever and we had plans. So I decided no soy, no milk and limitted gluten.
I have been completely soy and dairy free for 9 weeks now and I kick myself that I didn't do it sooner. I wish my doctor or the lactation consultant could have been more knowledgeable. But at least now I know what I can do. We feed relatively on scheduled demand (we have a schedule and if it is close to that schedule we feed). He can be a very happy baby now. He even took 2 hour naps for 1 whole week.
He is normal now. We deal with the normal problems associated with have a babie. Well plus all the problems we created while dealing with the MSPI problems.
I will continue my journey without soy and dairy in this blog. Hopefully share some recipes, ideas and thoughts. I feel like there needs to be more information on infant MSPI and breastfeeding.
