December 12th - Georgia is 6 months old!
I can't believe this little girl is 1/2 way to her 1st birthday already!
Eyes: Still baby blue & loving her eyelashes!
Clothes: size 9 or 12 months
Diapers: size 3
Nursing: still breastfeeding every 2-3 hours (more on this below)
Nursing: still breastfeeding every 2-3 hours (more on this below)
Weight: approx. 15.5 lbs per home scale
Teething: Has 2 bottom teeth & she is working on 2 upper teeth!
Solids: We are ready to start her 1st baby food! I will be making her homemade puree carrots this week. She swallows rice cereal great and I can tell she is ready for more. She smacks her mouth when she watches us eat.
Milestones: She is rolling over both ways now. I did find her in her cradle on her stomach once so we will have to start dropping the swaddle since it isn't safe anymore. She can sit for just a few seconds before falling over. Hopefully she will be sitting soon so she can be more interactive with her sisters.
Sleep: What's that? Georgia has been waking up screaming an average of 5 times a night now (more on this below)
Playtime: She is tolerating tummy time a lot longer now and is more entertained with baby toys and her sisters now.
Personality: This girl means business! With those big blue eyes she knows how to get what she wants. She does have stranger anxiety if someone else is holding her. I feel like 6 months is the turning point when they start to have more fun with their environment. It is fun to see her enjoying toys and bath time. She is ticklish around her collar bone and neck. I love hearing her little giggle!
I took Georgia to the pediatrician for inconsolable screaming, crying while nursing, crying when laid down and for an overall "something is wrong with my baby". After a lengthy work up (which included: a failed urine cath b/c her bladder was dry, 2 needle sticks for blood work, an assessment by 2 pediatricians at the same time, several repeat pedi appointments, and stool samples) we have an answer - kinda.
We found out last Wednesday that Georgia has blood in her stool (+ guaiac test), which means she has colitis - bleeding from large intestine. The most common cause of colitis in infants is an allergy. I was informed I had to stop eating all dairy products immediately because this is most likely a milk allergy. This includes any milk products (butter, dressings, sour cream, yogurt, etc), lactose, whey, casein, & even soy.
We are still waiting on some lab tests to come back for other possible causes. So far Rotovirus & Shigella are negative. Fecal leukocytes and salmonella are still pending labs. Georgia has her 6 month well check this Thursday and they requested I bring another diaper for blood sampling and I requested a culture for Giardia.
We will discuss further how extreme my elimination diet has to be. Meaning - do I need to cut soy out now or wait to see if cutting dairy is enough to solve the issue. If dairy and soy don't work, I may be told no wheat.
Since Wednesday I have eliminated all dairy, whey, casein, & lactose. I am trying my best to cut out the soy but soybean oil and soy lecithin seem to be in everything. She is still screaming & arching her back at this point. It can take 2-3 weeks for our bodies to clear the protein and see a change.
In less than a week, I have lost 5 pounds from this elimination diet. I finally got to go shopping today at Whole Foods and find some items that are dairy & soy free so I can focus on eliminating soy. I have a feeling soy is an issue too if this is really the cause of the colitis.
So here we are. At a partial diagnosis (colitis for whatever reason) and trying to figure out why. I don't want to jump straight to hypoallergenic formula for several reasons. If this is just triggered by a virus or parasite that can be treated, I want to continue breastfeeding. Also, Georgia refused bottles as a baby and hasn't had one in over 4 months. I'd hate to buy a very expensive formula for her not to accept it.
If this truly is caused by a milk allergy, then it would explain a lot of why she has been our "hard" baby. She has always battled fussiness, excessive gas, inconsolable screaming. The 1st 3 months we labeled it as "reflux & colic". For whatever reason she seemed better around 4 months and has since regressed right back if not even worse.
We have stopped the reflux medicine completely to take that factor out of the picture. She is old enough to not need it. So far we have had no issues with that. We are contining her Gerber Soothe drops, which have probiotic but we were instructed to also start Lactobacillus gg (Culturelle). So I am diluting a packet of that and syringe feeding it to her daily.
We are praying something works and quickly! It kills me to think she has been battling pain and discomfort this entire time. All I can do is be the best advocate for her and keep taking her in until we have an answer. I am willing to do whatever it takes to make her not hurt anymore, even if that means cutting out all my favorite foods!
2 comments:
Love your blog. Found it through all your fun elf post. Hope you don't mind. Your daughter is darling. I hope she feels better soon. My husband is a doctor and I asked what he would do if he had seen her. He said he would request an ultra sound. Have you had any scans made yet for her? He said he would be worry that her intestinal wall folded over on itself. Though its hard to say with him not having the chance to examine her.
We have had trouble with our oldest who is now nearly 13. He still has stomach issues every now and then. It is so hard to see kids go through this.
Thanks for commenting, I really appreciate it! The only scan ever brought up was cranial b/c her head is top of the growth curve 100% but she hasn't jumped off the chart yet. Her fontanelle isn't bulging or pulsating so they pretty much ruled out hydrocephalus for now. I will ask at her appointment tomorrow about an abdominal scan. She is still screaming inconsolible (mostly at night). It actually seems worse over the past week and I was wondering if the lactobacillus gg was the cause. When she had blood work her WBCs were 17k (which is the upper range of normal for her age). Her CRP was negative so they said no inflammation in the body - which I don't understand since colitis is intestinal inflammation. I will be asking this tmwr as well. I just want answers. She is in pain and has blood in her stool. Something is causing this!
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