I’m no stranger to screaming babies. All four of my children
are sensitive to common elements of the standard American diet. So much of what brought me to the world of
dietary elimination while breastfeeding and specifically the development of
this Elimination group was my third baby, Elizabeth. From birth, things were different. Her latch was awful. She screamed around the clock. Even while sleeping, she would fuss and make
awful faces. Everyone assured me that
she was fine. She was gaining weight. She was just fussy. Having dealt with two previous “fussy”
babies, I knew that this baby was different.
At seven weeks, things went from bad to worse. Elizabeth contracted RSV and pneumonia. She was hospitalized for a week. The pneumonia was a double strain and
required intense antibiotics that I was told might make her tummy “a little
off” for a few days after we got home.
She was also unable to nurse for more than a few moments due to her
labored breathing for over a week.
We brought our baby home and expected things to go back to normal. We hit a new normal of shrieking screaming, bad, BAD diapers when she would have a bowel movement, less sleep and further nursing problems. I didn’t even know where to begin. My pediatrician offered formula after I mentioned that my older kids seemed to have dairy issues. One night, when Elizabeth was 15 weeks, I almost gave up. I was having vasospasms. She hadn’t pooped in three days and her last diaper was pure mucous. My husband just cried with me. He told me he’d support whatever I needed to do.
We brought our baby home and expected things to go back to normal. We hit a new normal of shrieking screaming, bad, BAD diapers when she would have a bowel movement, less sleep and further nursing problems. I didn’t even know where to begin. My pediatrician offered formula after I mentioned that my older kids seemed to have dairy issues. One night, when Elizabeth was 15 weeks, I almost gave up. I was having vasospasms. She hadn’t pooped in three days and her last diaper was pure mucous. My husband just cried with me. He told me he’d support whatever I needed to do.
I decided to try a full elimination diet. I was already dairy and mostly soy free. I went to our local health food market and
talked to the nutritionist there. We
came up with a game plan based on Elizabeth’s very specific issues: Eczema,
inflamed bowels and extreme colic. Let
me be clear here: I had no other
options. This was extreme. Nothing was working. My baby was broken. I started off with bone broth, steamed
carrots, grass fed beef and free range chicken, steamed pears and apples. I
took a high powered probiotic and gave Elizabeth one, as well. I added fruit
juice sweetened gelatin after a week.
That was it. It wasn’t
overnight. It wasn’t even over a
week. After two months of a very extreme
diet, we had a somewhat normal diaper.
(I totally took a picture and sent it to my husband at work.)
I called it a success, but we weren’t done yet. At seven months, our nursing issues came back
with teething. So did extreme
mucous. I knew I couldn’t eliminate
anything else from my diet. I had just
added raw fruit and vegetables back in.
A fellow admin had just had her daughter’s lip and tongue ties revised. I sent her a picture of Elizabeth’s
mouth. She was MAJORLY tied. I made an appointment for the following
week. Post revision, she spit up
twice. And never again. Our nursing issues ended and we had much
better diapers.
In the end, I learned that elimination isn’t a one size fits all shirt. We had combined extreme issues with Elizabeth. As a whole, our kids are allergic to diary and cannot digest eggs. Our girls can’t handle wheat. Elizabeth has an anaphylactic allergy to peanuts. While nursing Elizabeth’s baby sister, I have to remain free of soy, dairy, corn, peanuts, wheat, eggs, and pecans. We’ve done extensive testing. We work with a fantastic team of doctors to maintain Elizabeth’s health and wellbeing and that of her siblings.
In the end, I learned that elimination isn’t a one size fits all shirt. We had combined extreme issues with Elizabeth. As a whole, our kids are allergic to diary and cannot digest eggs. Our girls can’t handle wheat. Elizabeth has an anaphylactic allergy to peanuts. While nursing Elizabeth’s baby sister, I have to remain free of soy, dairy, corn, peanuts, wheat, eggs, and pecans. We’ve done extensive testing. We work with a fantastic team of doctors to maintain Elizabeth’s health and wellbeing and that of her siblings.
