Mitchell is such a sweet baby. He is so quiet, and snuggly, you can't help but love him. However, he is the FUSSIEST baby ever. I don't know if it's pain, discomfort, or what, but you can tell this baby is not happy. All he does is eat, sleep, or cry. I feel so bad for him. Rarely is there an awake moment where he is just chill.
We've been trying everything. Even though he doesn't spit up, we got a RX for Ranitidine (helps with reflux) to see if that might help calm him. Of course he then had constipation, so we tried pear juice and gas drops, after two weeks, we quit the medicine that offered no relief and he's still constipated. Poor baby. So now we've been giving him Tylenol because I'm not sure what else to do, and I know he's not happy.
Luckily Chelsey has been coming over with great ideas to calm him down, but they require SO much energy, I can only walk, bounce and pat for 3-4 hours at a time... while still taking care of my other two babies. It's just nice to give my arms a break.
So Friday we took Mitchell in for his 4th newborn screening test. He's had 3 of them show up with abnormalities, so they keep needing to repeat them. Mainly it's the easiest (least amout of pain) to rule out potential problems. So after 2 hours of phone calls to convince us we need to come back in for a 4th test I decide it really is in Mitchell's best interest. They enzyme, or test they are worried about is Galactosemia. Well find out next Friday and start genetic counseling if he has it.
Meanwhile, they've suggested a restricted diet for me to see if it helps Mitchell (since I'm strictly nursing right now). Here's the list of foods I can't eat, are you ready?
Milk
Dairy
Raw Veggies including
salad
broccoli
cauliflower
cabbage
cumbers
legumes
spices such as
garlic
pepper
tomato sauce
all Italian foods
all Mexican foods
chocolate... are you sure?
Peanut butter... are you kidding?
bananas
I was actually a little excited, and thought this would be a great way to force me to lose some of my baby weight because I can't eat much. BUT last night I woke up at 4 am and was so hungry, I was shaking. I went downstairs and ate 2 bagels, 2 glasses of orange juice, half a box of wheat thins, and an entire water bottle. I thought I was going to pass out because I was shaking so much. It was horrible! So I guess I just need little healthy snacks all day, instead of treats all day.
Any suggestions?
Oh Kellie, I'm so sorry! I wish I could be there to help. I love you and admire you SO much, whether you think so or not you are the ultimate Mom!!!!
ReplyDeleteAh, the wonderful restricted diets of Breast Feeding Mom. Brantley is allergic to milk, eggs, peanuts, peas, and possibly other stuff, but that is all that has been tested so far.
ReplyDeleteWe call it the Brantley diet, and I did lose lots of weight because you are cutting all the fat out of your diet. Good news is you should be able to do oreo cookies. Chocolate is a problem because of the dairy, but Oreos are dairy free. For awhile I ate like 10 oreos a day and still lost weight (not that I would recommend that as being healthy :). Oatmeal is great to be filling, and if you add brown sugar and raisons it is tasty. The raw veggie thing is rough, can you eat them if they are cooked? Got to run and get Kaleb from bus. Hope I was sort of helpful and encouraging, I can recommend some websites and yahoo groups too. It is overwhelming the first few weeks or so, and then you sort of settle in to it.
Marci
Oh my goodness! I've been dying without peanut butter, but look at that list of yours!!! Seriously as I read it I thought...all you can eat is BREAD! So I laughed at your bagel binge! So what else have you found to eat? Fruit? Yikes, good luck!
ReplyDeleteKellie, what CAN you eat? Holy restrictions Batman! I am gonna pray for you to find foods that are safe to eat! I wish I had some advice to give or some tips, but I am tipless. You are one tough chick to go through all you have and now be restricted to the two foods you can eat! You are such a great mom!
ReplyDeleteI hate that you have to do that!! I'll be feeling guilty now every time I eat...well, anything!
ReplyDeletewell, that answers my question in the last post of how come you are so thin.... so sorry for you. Make sure you are getting protein and carbs... turkey jerky is a great snack. I also like protein bars when I am nursing (you would just need to make sure to find some without dairy or chocolate or peanut butter). What about nutrigrain bars? or granola? Oatmeal? These are all great filling foods. Wow!! Good luck to you!!!
ReplyDeleteI know a girl who went off Dairy (her baby screamed and fussed NON-STOP) and it's really a challenge. I tried it for a week with Emma thinking it might help her but to no avail. Zantac helped though. Maybe prevacid might work better for Mitchell? But here's what I found out about milk: Rice milk is WAY better than soy milk. There's some super great non dairy ice cream out there. Peanut butter is NOT dairy so don't kick it out unless they tell you to! Watch out for milk in crazy places like cereal and chips. Good luck honey! Hang in there!
ReplyDeleteHere's my friends link to her blog post if you want to check it out: http://ericandelisaallan.blogspot.com/2009/01/ever-had-to-go-off-dairy.html
Hi Kellie!
ReplyDeleteIt been a long time but I have been following Mitchell's progress, poor baby. (BTW - I was hospitalized in February with esophogitis-it was awful and I am sorry for him)
Ok, a suggestion for food from my nutritionist (I am hypoglycemic). Always balance carbs with protein it will help your body process the food better and hold off the shakes. So get yourself some ready made bacon and have that with your bagel. Any kind of nuts will help too.
Good luck Kelly, my prayers are with you guys.
Rita Gourley