One month in to our family elimination diet, I am now an expert at making delicious, juicy hamburgers, pot roast to drool over, french fries you can’t wait to eat, and am now branching out into quinoa recipes!
This month has brought about a 25 pound weight loss for me, slightly better looking diapers for Mr. Charm, a bigger appetite for the Geek and some interesting changes for Mr. Happy. He has gained FOUR POUNDS in one month! That’s formula feeding for you!
At the beginning of this month I thought he was reacting to the Ele-care, but the other moms’ said to give it time because sometimes there is a transition to taking elemental formula. So we did, and he seemed to be pushing through to a good baseline.
Then he had the unfortunate oatmeal contamination, but quickly bounced back to being a Happy Baby again. Sadly, the last week has brought more spit up, more vomit, the return of eczema, and the alarming increase of blood in his stool. This led us to conclude that he had ‘transitioned’ to elemental formula, but that his FPIES build symptoms were slowly catching up to him. Our fear was that an FPIES reaction was just around the corner.
So Saturday, I started nursing Mr. Happy again.
Oh, my! It was hard the first day. He’d gotten used to bottles, and they’re much easier for a baby to drink from. Nursing takes effort, and he fought against it for most of the day. Finally, though, he seems to be getting back in the habit of nursing.
Best of all, though, is that for the last two days we have had only ONE spit up, no vomit, his eczema is already looking like it is clearing up, though we’ve had no poopy diapers to investigate, so no way to make an immediate comparison. It will probably take a few days for his system to heal up enough to stop bleeding, anyway, so I won’t worry if I see more blood in that time frame.
As we’ve seen, though, he seems to have slightly atypical FPIES. I’m sure there are some things he will react quickly to, but so far he seems to react slowly over time…as if there is a threshold of how much of one protein he can handle before his body rejects the food. So now, we wait. We nurse him, and give it a full month (at least!) before trying any new foods in my diet to see if he is handling my elimination diet well or not.
I’m SO hoping and praying that I’ve accidentally chosen foods that are safe for him!
I started nursing not a moment too soon, I think! Remember this?
ONE pumping session from 50 days ago.
That was one single pumping session at Children’s Hospital. I was pumping about 6 times a day then! My mind boggles at the thought of the huge quantities of milk I was producing!
The last week I’ve been pumping just as often but only getting a TOTAL of about 12 ounces PER DAY.
Today is the first day I’m going to start storing my milk again (in case it proves to be safe for Mr. Happy, I want to have it for any future separations), and I’ve only pumped twice. Before his hospitalization, two times a day was enough to ensure at least 15 ounces per day for the stockpile. Today? I managed a whopping 1.25 ounces from both sessions. Ouch.
I’m SO happy to be done with bottle feeding! I will never understand people who choose to bottle feed their kids. Oh, I’m not talking about people for whom it is no choice, or who work and find they have to supplement. I’m incredibly grateful that bottle feeding is an option for those of us who need it at times.
No, I’m talking about people who – from birth – choose to bottle feed even though their milk has come in just fine. Bottles are a PAIN. My days have been SO much freer just in the last 36 hours simply from not having to sterilize, wash, and mess with bottles. Whipping out a boob is so much easier! And easy is the name of the game with a baby in the house, right?
The Geek says he has a larger appetite because we’re eating so healthy that it seems his body is processing the foods much more efficiently and therefore he needs more calories more frequently to feel satisfied. Maybe Mr. Charm needs to eat more, too? He didn’t gain any weight at all this month.
Well, that’s the update about how the first month of our elimination diet has gone, and our plans for the next month. Sorry it’s not a more amusing post, but part of our story is simply stating what we’re going through, and it seemed fitting to wrap up the month with a ‘statement of fact’ entry.
I’ll have some new recipes this week, so stay tuned!
What interesting things happened to your family in the first month you did an elimination diet?
