Fighting off Colic Update

Reflux: Let me just say that I have hated giving her the medicine from the beginning.  Not only do I not like medicating my baby, but I hate the process of giving it to her as well.  I felt like I was drowning her every time, and even though I was only giving her .85ml it was still a five minute ordeal (which seemed like eternity).  The fact that I had to do it twice a day was even worse.  As a sleep deprived mom who doesn't function well on no-sleep, there wasn't really any differenciation between night and day so it felt like I was giving it to her all the time.  I wasn't very disciplined about giving it to her when I didn't see the total turn around I was hoping for.  Sure her congestion finally cleared up, but she was still fussy.  I was giving it to her here and there and at one point broke down and asked Jeremy to take one of the doses each day (I was trying to be supermom and do everything by myself, because I CAN DO IT ALL!!)  When I had decided to go off all the major allergy foods (explained below) I had hoped that I could stop giving her the meds.  But when her one four hour stretch at night disappeared (my only link to sanity) I nixed that theory and made a vow never to miss another dose.  And here we are, giving her 1/4tsp twice a day with no problems (I mix it with my milk and it goes down much easier).

 

Food Allergy: So I gave up dairy and soy when I was 38 weeks pregnant.  Two weeks ago I gave up corn.  She had a rash that started on her cheeks and it had slowly spread to her neck and head.  The day it started rapidly working it's way down her torso helped me to make the commitment to nix all the top culprits in food allergies.  When I had given up corn I was wondering every day if it was really making a difference.  I was constantly asking Jeremy, "Do you think it's getting better?' 24 hours after taking out wheat/gluten, nuts, eggs, beef and fish the rash on her stomach was GONE. She still had the remains of it on her face and head (it had gotten so bad part of it had started to bleed) but there was a huge improvement to keep me motivated.  I do attribute part of that quick healing to a desperate plea to St. Padre Pio to pray for us, but that didn't stop me from staying on the diet. 

 

That was on a Monday.  She was still fussy and not sleeping Monday, and Tuesday was a particularly tiring day.  Then Wednesday came and she slept ALL DAY.  Literally.  She would stir to eat but never opened her eyes- just went back into her "coma".  She finally woke up at 5pm to blow out of her diaper, smiled for a bit, and then went back to sleep.  That night she nursed alllllll night.  Thursday she did the same thing, but with a few hours of HAPPY awake time.  I was actually able to put her down and she'd quietly watch me or whomever was near her.  She didn't go to sleep for the night until 1am, but I think that's because her internal clock was wacked due to sleeping for two days straight. 

 

Thursday evening her stools were finally without mucus and a nice mustard yellow.  I had to show it to my mom just to be sure, as I'd never seen a healthy baby poop before- Sam's ALWAYs had mucus in it and was usually green (both signs of irritation and digested blood...looking back I should have gone on this diet for her too).  Today (Friday) she fought her morning nap for about 15 minutes, but after she went down for good she slept for most of the morning and afternoon, sleeping in the car, at a funeral and in the boba while Samantha and I went grocery shopping.  Two of her naps were in her rock n play while unswaddled!



Watching her big sis play with her toys for her.

Such happy girls! They were like this for a good 1/2 hour.

Diaper Rash: My poor children have the most sensitive skin.  Charlotte had a really bad diaper rash that got so inflamed one night that I was doing everything and anything that I could find on the internet to stop her incesant screams of pain- baking soda bath, coconut oil, jock-itch cream, calendula cream, bag balm, air dry, cloth diaper, different brand of diaper.  In the end the rash calmed down enough for her to relax after the baking soda bath and a layer of cream (I don't remember which) and bag balm.  We had to use the jock-itch cream for the yeast part of it for a few days and I made my own wipes from paper towels to start using.  It's finally under control and we don't have to put anything on her between changes, but I can't use store bought wipes, even for just ONE change.  ONE use and she gets a chemical burn.  It took two times, but I've finally learned my lesson. 

Other random changes: 
She doesn't squirm and jerk in her sleep anymore. 
She burps!! She would never burp before, just swallow it down and make it come out the other end.
She poops without a 15 minute long "announcement" before hand of fussing and yelling at whomever is nearby. 
She eats without fighting me.  I even got a couple boobie smiles this week, which are my FAVORITE part of nursing.  Forget the nutritional and bonding benefits, I love nursing soley for those special smiles.  There's nothing like it!

That's all for now.  I'm hoping to finally enjoy some of my maternity leave...all nine days that I have left.