Saturday, June 12, 2010

We're Halfway There, Living on a Prayer

Like the cheesy title? Adam was listening to that song today and I thought it described our situation appropriately. 6 weeks is supposed to be the peak of a baby's fussiness, with 3 months being the magic time when they become a happy baby.

This week has been.....tough. Ryan's fussiness in the evenings has spilled over into the daytime. It seems like if he isn't eating or sleeping (which is rare), he's crying. Not just fussy whimpering or soft crying. Full on crying, screaming and turning red.

So I took him to the Dr. yesterday. I explained his symptoms....basically crying all the time, especially after nursing. The Dr. asked how many hours Ryan sleeps on in an average 24-hour period, and I said 6. Well apparently it should be more like 12! He checked him over and said that he may have a cow's milk allergy. He also has eczema on his face, which might be due to an allergy.

So I have cut out all dairy from my diet, in hopes of calming Ryan's tummy. At 6 weeks, Ryan weighs 9 lbs, 12 oz, which is a bit lower than the Dr. was expecting for his age. We're not sure why he's gaining so slowly, so in addition to breastfeeding him every 2-2.5 hrs, I am now giving him up to 1 oz of Nutramigen formula afterwards. This is a cow's milk-free formula that is recommended for babies with colic.

So we're praying that something works soon. It is very frustrating not knowing what is wrong with my baby. We're just trying to put together the puzzle pieces right now until something works.

1 comment:

  1. Have the Dr's rec'd doing formula? When we switched formulas it was a Godsend. We use Enfamil Prosibee Lipil (SOY) and it's amazing! When I was breastfeeding I always worried he wasn't eating enough. Then with formula you KNOW exactly how much they are getting.

    It was tough to not breastfeed, I honestly felt like a failure, bad mama... Now when I look back it was the best decision.

    Hope things get better :(

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