After many late nights searching the web for some possible answers and a few doctors appointments we were finally sent to do some testing. She had her stool tested for a few most common allergies and finally we had some answers! On Valentine's Day her doctor called me and gave me the results to her tests. Turns out she has a lactose intolerance. Did you know that there is a huge difference between a milk intolerance and a lactose intolerance and also there is a difference between the words allergy and intolerance? News to me! The tests also showed that her intestines were under so much stress that there was blood found in her stool. Before we had received her results I had limited my diet to things that I thought could possibly be making her stomach unhappy. I basically cleaned out my diet of anything yummy. Ha! But really, I did. I took out all dairy, soy, caffeine, spicy foods, acidic foods and still nothing changed how she was acting. It still makes me a little peeved when people would suggest changing my diet. Duh! I changed everything I ate. Isn't that common sense that I would have tried that already?! I was basically eating fruit, rice, veggies and plain chicken for 2 months. So when I informed her doctor that I had already cleared lactose out of my diet before we had even gotten the results he suggested that we try using a lactose-free formula for 10 days to see if there was any changes. He also said that in some rare cases the intolerance was so severe that babies could be intolerant of the lactose naturally found in breast milk. The first 3 days were a nightmare. Lennox wouldn't take a bottle, it was pretty traumatic for us all. Finally on day 2 she willing ate from a bottle but she seemed to be getting worse. I called the on-call doctor for some advice to be sure it was normal because I was so scared we were doing more harm than good with the formula. She was that bad! But finally by day 4 she seemed to have a turn around and by day 5 she was a totally different baby. She was happy, content, engaged and playful. I couldn't believe the difference. I still can't believe it sometimes.
So although I would rather nurse her and know she is getting what nature intended her to have, I waved my white flag and surrendered. I have no intentions of going back to nursing her because the change was so great. And it seriously has been GREAT! I feel like I am finally getting to enjoy my baby. I feel bad that it took us 2 and a half months to finally find answers and start feeling better. Before all of this I was never able to get anything done because I spent all day, every day trying to soothe a fussy baby. I wasn't able to cook dinner on a daily basis, or play with Harlow, do laundry, the dishes, go shopping, run errands, anything productive actually. Now, it's like life has been resumed. I think about it every day and I am so grateful she is feeling better and enjoying life. We love her to pieces and can't believe she's ours! Even Harlow seems to appreciate her more now that there is less crying in our household!
Now if only we could get her to stop crying in the car seat...
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