Wednesday, July 21, 2010

Lillian Has Poop Issues

Last night I noticed a small amount of red blood in Lillian's diaper. Of course this worried me and sent me off to the baby books and Google. Once I started reading about baby poop issues, I realized that she has also had mucus in her poop for at least a few days, maybe more - I thought it was just sticky looking poop and didn't think much of it. I realized she had several signs of milk allergies: blood and mucus in her poop, rashes (that I thought were just normal, mild baby rashes), and general fussiness.

So, I called her pediatrician this morning, and the nurse told me it could be a milk allergy, or it could be caused by her straining to poop. So I have to put Vaseline on her anus, (ew, I hate that word), at each diaper change to help move things alone, and I have to cut milk out of my diet, (but not all diary, thankfully). So, hopefully that will take care of things.

And, actually, it would be pretty awesome if this was caused by a milk allergy, because it's an easy fix, (I only have milk in my cereal and coffee), and I would be so happy if it reduced her fussiness so it would be easier to take her out in public.

In other news, my pleurisy is pretty much gone, thankfully. And I didn't even have to cut back on my exercise.

Speaking of exercise, holy hell, I am out of shape! I don't think I've ever been this out of shape. Before I was pregnant, a six mile an hour pace was taking it easy. Now that pace kills me and I have to knock it down to five miles an hour just to get through the workout! Oh well, it's kind-of fun to have a challenge and a goal to work towards.

3 comments:

Casey said...

We dealt with the whole milk allergy issue. Poop suddenly started to get very bloody at around 3.5 months. Mom had to cut out all milk products and products made with with milk proteins. The doctor also recommended cutting out soy because it has many of the same allergens as milk. Luckily, that solved the problem completely!
You said you did not have to cut out all dairy? As the cook in this house, I am curious what you can still eat because if certain dairy is OK then that would expand the menu options...

Kristen said...

Casey,

It's weird, because the nurse told me to just cut out whole milk. When I told her I don't drink whole milk and that the only milk I drink is in my cereal and coffee, she said to just cut out one of those things. I would think, if it's a milk protein allergy, I would have to cut most if not all things that contain milk protein, like you had to. Anyway, I told her I would cut out both things to start with, and if that doesn't help, I will cut out all dairy.

Emmie said...

Hi Kristen

We've not chatted for ages but I've followed every step of your pregnancy and am so happy for you to have Lillian in your life. My little one, Teddy, is now 6 months old and growing fast!

Your latest update struck a chord with me because Teddy is also milk protein intollerant and I do wonder if it is linked to having the CF gene as other people I know who are CF carriers have also had problems with dairy (my Uncle, cousin and cousin's baby have all had to cut out dairy and although they don't have CF, there's obviously a high chance they are CF carriers since I have it and so does my brother.

Teddy suffers from a condition called silent reflux which has caused him major problems since birth. I was unable to breastfeed due to some of the drugs I am on, so formula fed and as well as the reflux, he had terrible wind, constipation issues and traces of blood in his poo on two occasions. When he was a few weeks old he went onto a prescription formula called Neocate and it really helped with his issues (although he also needs various medicines as well to help control the reflux too as its pretty severe). Neocate has no milk protein in at all (its basically a collection of amino acids). If Lillian is dairy intollerant she will probably react to ANY dairy in your diet, not just milk.

Anyway, I just wanted to stop by to say CONGRATULATIONS really and to say that if you want to chat about milk issues or anything else at any point, you know where I am!

Emma x

 
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