Oliver vs The Cow

After waiting a couple months, I decided to give some dairy to Oliver to see if he has overcome the allergy yet. As posted previously, most children outgrow a cow's milk allergy by age 1 or 2. I guess the large protein structure of cow's milk is very bothersome to infants' digestive systems, and it causes intestinal bleeding and shedding in some babies.

I learned that Oliver has not outgrown the allergy. Poor guy. For lunch on Tuesday, I have him some baby banana yogurt (he loves it!), and on Wednesday night, he had an eczema-like rash all over his stomach. He keeps scratching at it and hasn't been sleeping well, either. Specifically, he's getting up about once every 3 hours at night.

Last night, I decided to give Oliver a bleach bath. No, I'm not crazy. http://http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/eczema-bleach-bath/AN02003

I put about a quarter cup of bleach in his tub, and I sat him in there for about 5 minutes. It appeared he got itch relief from the bath, but the rash remains.

The Snoozer

For three nights in a row, Oliver slept from roughly 7pm to 4:30am straight. I couldn't believe it! What brought on the change? Your guess is as good as mine. OK, so maybe I have some idea. It seemed to start when we began putting Oliver to bed still awake. Errrr... let me say, for night time, we used to put him to bed slightly awake all the time, and then we did it occasionally. For the last week or so, we've been putting him to bed when he's sleepy, but completely awake.

Back to last night. He woke at 3am. Three o'clock is still OK in my book, but it left Andrew & me baffled. What should we do? Should we let him cry for a while and see if he goes back to sleep until 4:30am? Should I go back to nursing him? Should we try to soothe him in other ways and pick him up, or would that mess up any method of teaching him to put himself to sleep?

I think we did everything wrong! First, we let him cry for about 5 minutes. He wasn't crying hysterically or anything, just fussing. Andrew went in and tried to calm him. It didn't work. After ten minutes, I decided I'd nurse him. I mean, waiting 9 hours between feedings is probably a lot for a little guy. So I nursed him and put him back into bed. He didn't go to sleep. In fact, his crying worsened and got borderline hysterical. I changed his diaper and nursed him again, but he was still freaking out. Was he in pain from teething so much? Was he hot? Was he cold? He seemed fine.

Finally, at 4am, we decided that maybe he just wasn't tired. It was Andrew's turn to deal with a ridiculously early morning, so he got up and grabbed Ollie Bear. No sooner was he down the stairs than Oliver was asleep in his arms. Andrew went back upstairs, he laid Oliver down, and Oliver slept for 45 minutes. He woke up fussing, and we assumed he was up for the day. After 30 minutes of play time with Daddy, though, he fell back asleep and slept until 6:30am.

We're still not sure what the problem was. Heck, maybe it was nothing. After all, Oliver's a baby! But I can't help but worry that he was in pain or something. His skin was a lot worse today. I'm convinced that it is eczema because he's getting scaly patches on his sides and elbows. Also, he's cried in the tub the last three days. He started baby yogurt about a week ago, and I'm going to cut it out of his diet to see if that will help his skin.

Poor Oliver :(

Our little baby seems to be sick. I think it might be because I reintroduced dairy into my diet a couple of days ago. Dang it.

Oliver's doctor disagreed with the doctors at Children's Hospital. He said he's never seen an allergy so severe to cause blood in a baby's diaper. He told me I could cut out dairy for two weeks and then try reintroducing it to see what happens.

This is the first night in about 9 weeks where he didn't go to sleep. It took an hour and a half for him to fall asleep, and during that time, he kept spitting up. He spit up so much...

I'm trying not to be mad at myself, but I am. Why did I try to reintroduce dairy? I was worried about my protein intake, but, deep down, I just knew he was allergic to it. I should have gone with that gut instinct. Because I didn't, Ollie's throwing up and feeling yucky.

I don't think it's a virus because he has no fever and no other symptoms. Actually, he was in a good mood all night, even when he was spewing all over us.

Stupid dairy.

Ollie and the Yucky Diaper, Part II

After almost two weeks with no troubles, Oliver had a mucousy diaper today. It's so scary finding all these terrible things in his poopy. I think this explains his mood last night, too. Normally, he sleeps so well, only waking up once in the night to eat. Last night, however, he was up every hour, crying. I could tell he was in pain, and he was gassy. Poor baby.

It's true I've been eating a lot of dairy products again. Since he hadn't been having issues for so long, I assumed his problem was a fissure and not dairy. So, I've been eating pizza, grilled cheeses, lots of yogurt, and cheese & crackers for snacks.

I called Colleen, Andrew's mom, who is a gastroenterologist PA. She also said the mucous is a sign of an intolerance to cow products. She's going to talk to one of the doctors she works with to see if he concurs.

Meanwhile, I'm also waiting to hear from Ollie's family doctor to discuss my diet. Dairy is one of my main sources of protein, so I'm concerned. I'm also worried for Oliver because, according to the ER doc at Children's, it can take up to two weeks for the bovine proteins to leave my system. I don't want him to be in any more pain and distress. I absolutely don't want to stop nursing, though, unless I have to.

Oh, what to do. Poor Ollie.

Ollie's OK!

Last night at 5pm, I was changing Oliver's diaper and was horrified to find spots of blood in it. I cursed myself for not changing his diaper a few minutes earlier before the doctor's office closed, and then I called the office to get the after hour's number.

Dr. Drexelius was very kind. He told me not to panic. Although he advised me to take Ollie to a hospital that evening, he said I don't have to rush straight there. I thanked him and started gathering up Ollie's things as Andrew drove home to pick us up. Even though I felt reassured after talking to the doctor, I couldn't help but break down a few times while waiting for Andrew to make the snowy drive home.

We went to Children's Hospital, armed with his bloody diaper. The doctors there were so kind (Yes, plural. They had us see two doctors to get two opinions. I was very pleased with that). The first doctor found what she thought to be a small tear at the entrance of his anus. She said it's possible the tear bled during a forceful pooh. The second doctor came in, and he looked at the tear. He also thought the tear could possibly have caused the blood, but he said, if that wasn't the culprit, then Oliver is most likely allergic to bovine proteins (which he would get from me consuming dairy products).

At first, he suggested to me that I cut out dairy now just in case. I explained to him my concern with my protein intake, since dairy and soy are a major staple in my diet. He listened to me and conferred with the other doctor. They ended up recommending that Andrew and I clean Oliver with water at diaper changes to let his cut heal. In a few days, if there's still blood, then I need to stop consuming dairy and speak to my doctor about my diet to make sure I'm getting enough protein.

I felt so much better after leaving the hospital, and--good news--Oliver's had no more bloody diapers! I'm keeping my fingers crossed that the problem was just the small tear, and hopefully it'll heal quickly and not cause him any pain.