Week 7 - Don't Have a Cow!

As reported last week, our little angel has developed a serious case of eczema and the pediatrician gave us all sorts of ideas of how to soothe it: ultra senstitive bath wash (use your hand to wash not a wash cloth); apply a special cream three times a day (special cream = expensive and messy and daughter screams when it is applied); use special detergent (on her clothes, our clothes, her bedding, blankets...basically anything she will ever touch - as mentioned before crazy expensive).

All of these things have helped, and her skin looks better than it has in weeks. However, while it's not bumpy and dry anymore, she still has a slight rash on her chest, neck, face and back. Thus the issue becomes not just soothing the eczema but stopping it at the source. And apparently our laundry detergent and bath wash are not the only culprits.

I have tried for weeks to think of something else it might be, but the symptoms are all there: Ellie is extremely gassy, has explosive green poos (gross but true!), is fussy a lot (she is itchy and gassy! I would cry too!), has a stuffy nose, and has a rash and eczema. Yes, we believe Ellie has all of the symptoms of a milk allergy.

Thus the decision was made this week that I would take the plunge and purge all dairy from my diet. So, I had a big cup of ice cream as my last hurrah and went for it. We bought a big tub of non-dairy "buttery spread" and a box of rice milk and I swore off all of my favorites - pizza, yogurt, cottage cheese...all gone! Babies who are allergic to dairy are also often allergic to soy, so as a precaution, I cut that out as well. And it seems as though soy sneaks up on you in just about everything. I also cut out all things spicy and tomatoes because of the acid. Since she was born, I have been avoiding broccoli, cauliflower, onions, cabbage, chocolate, peanuts, and alcohol. So I am basically eating a lot of nothing these days.

This is not a complaint - I would seriously eat nothing but saltines 24/7 for the rest of my life if it made Elise feel better. And it's a trial. I will eliminate everything potentially offensive from my diet for two weeks, then slowly introduce things back one at a time to find the offending source (if there is even one at all!)

I have to say that I love breastfeeding and I am extremely happy that I decided to do it and that I was able to. I will continue to breastfeed this baby for as long as possible and any subsequent children will also be breastfed. However, I do wish that the books and Le Leche people woundn't try to make breastfeeding seem like it's the magic pill that makes babies and your life perfect. Yes, breastmilk is wonderful for your baby, but it does not ensure that your baby will never have any ailments. I think I am going to write a book called "The Lies They Tell About Breastfeeding."

This is what all the books and magazines say about breastfeeding:
Breastfed Babies are less likely to:
1. "suffer from gas and excessive spit up". Elise is the gassiest child on the planet. Seriously she is burping or passing gas constantly. And she spits up a lot too.
2. "get childhood asthma and eczema." Eczema, check. She doesn't have asthma yet, but she's only seven weeks old, so give it time.
3. "have allergies." If the dairy elimination works, we know that's a joke!
4. "have diaper rash." Ellie got diaper rash at three weeks. And then was allergic to the diaper rash cream. No joke.
5. "have diarrea." Not the case for our little one! She is the queen!

So basically yes, breastfeeding has tons and tons of pros (it's free! it's convenient! it's healthy! it's natural! it's conforting to baby!) but it doesn't mean that your child will sit around in perfect health, smiling and cooing about how great breastmilk is.

Anyway, I will come down off of my soapbox and say that I just finished day four of no dairy and so far so good. It hasn't been as hard as I thought to avoid all of those things and Ellie seems less gassy and generally happier. Only time will tell if it's real or just a fluke!