KM joined our family on April 8th this year. We had a hard time from the start getting her to breastfeed properly. For the first week, we had a latch problem. We were persistent and didn't give up, but as soon as she figured out how to latch on properly, the colic began.
We researched and talked to doctors and basically found out that colic is a term used to describe the fact that something is wrong and causing the baby discomfort or pain, and we don't know what it is.
The pediatrician suggested finding a chiropractor that will work with infants. She said that 30% of all colic issues are because of spinal misalignment that occurs at the time of birth. We tried that once, but less than a day later, the screaming episodes persisted.
Just to make things worse, KM also began getting hives all over her face. A friend suggested changing what she eats; and since she is breastfed, that means changing what I eat. Cow's milk and other dairy products are common foods that cause intestinal discomfort, so we tried that first. So my diet became dairy free. And what do you know, the very next day the screaming stopped.
But, the hives stayed. And over the next month, they got worse. At KM's two month check-up, the pediatrician called an allergist so that we could find out how serious her issues are with the milk. After she got off the phone, she said the allergist wanted us to either switch her to a special formula, like Alimentum or Nutramigen; or restrict my diet even more. Children who have dairy allergies also commonly have allergies to one or all of the following: soy, wheat, eggs, nuts.
After a week on the newly restricted diet, we still saw no change in the hives. In fact, some of the fussiness was returning. After a few more days, we notice that the hives are getting worse, covering nearly all of her head and face on a regular basis.
At this time, we were finally able to get in for an appointment to the allergist. He did allergy skin tests on her for cow's milk, soy, wheat, eggs, peanuts, and corn. Sure enough, she tested positive for being allergic to cow's milk, but surprisingly nothing else.
The allergist said that testing on babies so little isn't always very accurate, so he didn't want to test for anything else at the time.
I was convinced, and still am, that there is something else she is allergic to, but we just haven't found it. So I started watching my diet closely to see what I am eating that she hasn't been tested for.
We narrowed it down to tomatoes, peaches, bananas, and berries. We are fairly convinced that she is allergic to one or more of those. We returned to the allergist yesterday after the hives spread to her arms and legs. We also wanted to present him with our theories, but he doesn't seem to think testing will help much. He did agree to do blood tests though, so we should get those results within a few days, if they were conclusive.
The most devistating part of our doctor visit yesterday was when he told us we should switch to feeding her formula. We already had some sample cans of Alimentum at home, and he gave us an additional case of Nutramigen to get us started.
We feel this is a good decision because KM has been in so much pain and discomfort. We hope that the benefits of formula feeding will outweigh the benefits of breastfeeding for her.
Our only problem now is... How do you get a baby to switch to formula?
She has been refusing it, for up to 10 hours at a time. She screams at me like I am torturing her! It has only been a day since we started trying, so I won't give up yet. Time to start my search for advice.
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