So discouraged

[Anonymous]

Well, I don’t really know where to start other than the fact that I just can’t believe that we’ve gone from doing SO well, to so badly in such a short period of time. I don’t have any idea what happened – we brought him to his ped gi about 3 weeks ago and we were just thrilled with how he’d been doing. She said to trial dairy, which we did, and it was a huge failure. He had really bad diarreah within a couple of days and got some eczema on his face. We stopped and he improved but at the same time caught an awful cough that had been going around day care which made him clingy and miserable. We sent him back to day care and his ped gi told us to try soy instead – which also was a big failure with diarreah after 4 days or so.

So now we’re at the point that Owen is super clingy (which he never has been before), cries at the drop of a hat, cries when I drop him at day care, has had diarreah for 5 days or so, was up all night last night and wouldn’t sleep in his crib (also very strange for him) and he’s just generally miserable. My husband tried to take him to church today and he wouldn’t let him put him in the car seat. We put him in the stroller yesterday and he screamed bloody murder.

I just don’t know what happened – our super happy, fun, independant boy has been replaced with a screaming miserable little guy and I don’t know what to do. I just feel so discouraged and am second guessing everything – is he sick, is it teeth, is it the medicine, is it the soy, the dairy, normal separation anxiety, etc? I took him to the dr to check his ears and they were clear so I know it’s not that. I just feel so sad for him and so disappointed that it’s been close to 15 months and we’ve taken HUGE steps backwards. Oh yeah – and I saw he had lost weight at the doctor’s too, but he wouldn’t stay still enough on the scale to get a good reading but I could tell it was down – seemed to be almost a pound but I’m trying not to think about that.

So how could this little guy who had seemed to be all better and healthy and happy have become so miserable practically overnight? Am I overlooking something obvious?

ljhar10132006-3-20 13:6:13

[Anonymous]

Laura, so sorry to hear Owen is having such a rough time! Maybe its something as simple as teething. I used to teach early childhood and I always call that cough “The Crud”. It usually just keeps going around and around the room. I don’t have any advice, just hope that things get back to normal soon!

[Anonymous]

Laura, I’m so sorry things have gotten worse lately. The ups and downs are so maddening. How long has it been since going back on Alimentum? Maybe he just needs a little more time to get the dairy and soy out of his system? (Maybe others will chime in about how long that takes).

Possibly it’s a combination of things bothering Owen at the same time; teething, a cold/cough, some dairy/soy issues, and he will improve quickly.

My first born was the most pleasant baby on earth except when she was teething or ill. Her tolerance for discomfort wasn’t (still isn’t) very good. As soon as she felt better she always went back to being the pleasant, happy, delightful little baby she usually was. I hope this happens for Owen (and you) very soon.

[Anonymous]

Oh Laura – I’m so sorry to hear this. Hopefully it is partly teething –
is he getting his eye teeth? Hope things turn around again soon.

[Anonymous]

Thanks guys. I’m still not sure what’s going on – he had diarreah again this morning but was eating great yesterday so at least that’s encouraging. I’m thinking it may be his teeth – I do think he’s working on his eye teeth right now. Those are supposed to be pretty bad, right? We moved him from his high chair to a booster seat and that seemed to help a little bit. We also took down the gates in our house (other than the stairs of course) and he now has free reign to the entire first floor and he seems to love that. He just follows us from room to room.

So I don’t know. We took him out to lunch yesterday even though I thought it might be a disaster and he did great – waved to everyone from his high chair and ate a bunch of my lunch and was laughing, etc. We went to this Irish pub that has lots of tvs and things to look at so I think that helped. Bedtime was a nightmare and he took some coaxing to go to sleep, but then he slept through the night and was playing in his crib until 6:30am. But cried at day care drop off again. Is this just a normal growing up phase?? It’s awful!

[Anonymous]

I’ve heard the eye teeth are the absolute WORST. My niece is working on
them now and they are way worse than her one year molars were and my
sis said they were the only teeth that her son (total angel baby) even
had a hard time with – not even his two year molars.

I’m glad he’s eating and playing and had fun at lunch yesterday. Does sound like mainly a mixture of teething and SA to me.

[Anonymous]

It could be normal behavior combined with teething. The way he’s acting sounds an awful lot like Hailey did at his age. I think some of the things you’ve already done will really help – taking the gates down and putting him in a booster. When you say diarrhea, what do you mean – i.e. a couple of loose stools or lots of watery diarrhea?

Hailey had a really hard time with both her molars and eye teeth. They brought out all kinds of horrible behavior and I’m almost certain it was because of those teeth. They also took a really long time to come in – months actually. Her two top eye teeth are in but I think they are still moving.

I hope things get better for you guy soon!

[Anonymous]

As far as the cough, I just wanted to let you know that I have (minor) acid reflux and I can’t drink milk or I’ll get really phlemy (if that’s a word) it gets so thick, it’s hard to swallow. So, I drink milk with Acidophilus added to it (same stuff that’s in yogurt, a pro-biotic that helps with digestion). There are probably other reasons for the cough, but I’m sure the dairy phlem added to it.

My son would not drink cows milk or soy milk, so I gave him Acidophilus milk and he chuggs it down! Another thing to try would be “Yo-J” it’s yogurt with acidophilus and juice mixed together (not the orange flavor!) that comes in half gallons and my son would only drink that – before I discovered the acidophilus milk. He wouldn’t drink juice or water, but he LOVED Yo-J.

Many who have difficulty digesting ordinary dairy products often have success with cultured milk products, such as yogurt or acidophilus milk. Acidophilus milk, cultured with the bacterium Lactobacillus acidophilus, may be a digestible alternative to fresh milk.

http://www.healthscout.com/ency/68/7/main.html#QuestionsToAs kYourDoctorAboutAcidophilus

lansima2006-3-20 11:22:54

[Anonymous]

Thanks so much you guys. All of your advice and input is really helping.

Stacey – it’s like one really loose bm each morning. It’s not really watery, but it is so loose that it goes out the diaper, down his legs, sometimes up his back. Not pleasant. On Friday he had three of these, but the second two were much smaller. Sunday it actually seemed much better, but this morning it was really bad again. I guess it’s not awful diarreah like all day or anything but it is much different from how he ever has been in the past.

I think it might be the teeth too then. I can see one of the eye teeth trying to come through but I think there’s still some time to go. Plus this new separation thing, although maybe that’s related because he’s uncomfortable. It’s just exhausting, and I feel so bad for him!

[Anonymous]

Laura, hope he feels better soon! Could the diarrhea be teething poop? My older one got it all the time-grosss, but passed after the tooth came out.

[Anonymous]

Hi Laura, I feel your pain. Seth is also getting his eye teeth- drooling like crazy and he had a loose bm this afternoon too that I am sure is due to the teething. Have you tried popsicles? We give Seth the banana ones and I swear to you it is the happiest he is all day when he is getting it. They are artificially flavored (pure sugar) but I don’t care- it works!! We also gave Benadryl last night before bed and it seemed to help as well. Hang in there! It has to get better soon (for both of us)!!

[Anonymous]

Thanks Tiffany –

We think that Owen has a new cold too, since last night he was up a lot coughing and was COVERED in snot when he got up. I felt so bad for him! He was great though – even though I heard him coughing every few minutes from around 10pm – 11:30, he only cried for about two seconds close to midnight and then went back to sleep. I was very impressed – I had completely prepared myself that I would be up most of the night with him. Regardless, I think he’ll be getting some benadryl tonight too since it seemed to be a post-nasal drip that was getting to him.

It’s so hard. He’s so much more grown up in some ways but is still so miserable, or even more miserable all of a sudden that I have a hard time not getting frustrated. I was reminding myself last night though that he’s just a little boy and doesn’t know any better and has a reason for doing what he’s doing. Somehow I’ve been losing sight of the big picture in my tired state so I’m going to try to do a better job at focusing on that stuff more. This is hard!

[Anonymous]

Laura,

I hope things improve. Things really go downhill here with teething. LAst night my son was up more than every hour crying from teething. You know, the milk proteins can also build back up in their systems. If this doesn’t pass, you might take away all dairy and soy again to clear the plate so to speak and have a fresh start. These food sensitivities can have such a HUGE effect, even into the second year. My son is still off dairy and soy and we just discovered that removing gluten is helping tremendously. You just never know. HAve you introduced any new foods that might be affecting him as well?

[Anonymous]

Marsha (lansima),

I am very interested in this acidophilus milk….where do you get it? Is it cow’s milk with acidophilus mixed in, or what kind of milk is it to start with? What is the name of the brand you buy? Can you elaborate on your son’s sensitivities to milk, was he allergic or intolerant, and when did you begin giving him this milk? Was he always fine drinking it, and when he was having this milk, was he able to have other cow’s milk based dairy products? Sorry for all the questions, but I love to find new things that we might be able to try in the future. My son is intolerant at the least and allergic at the most, we are waiting to get in with an allergist….He can’t have soy, dairy and we’ve just removed gluten and he’s doing much better.

Thanks for the info!!

[Anonymous]

My son would just flat-out refuse the whole milk. He’d drink a sip and push it away. I take acidophilus in pill form every day and noticed it also helped my minor reflux. That’s what gave me the idea. I think I started him on it when he was 15 months old (I would have done it sooner, had I thought of it).

In my big chain grocery store, they sell it in half gallon cartons. There is a acidophilus milk called “New Era” that comes in a yellow carton made by Kemps – I think it only comes in skim milk. I buy the Land O’Lakes Brand, it’s blue (2%) and says “acidophilus added” really big on the carton (it’s next to the milk that says ‘calcium added’- pink carton). So I’d look by the specialty milks – they only stock a few at a time, but I was told that you could also call your grocery store and ask if they will stock it. I have not found it in Whole milk, but I bet it’s out there – maybe a health food store? I can’t find a picture of the packaging for the Land O’Lakes milk, but here’s the Kemps:

Ingredients:
Skim milk lactobacillus acidophilus & bifidobacteria cultures, Vitamin A palmitate, vitamin D3 and Vitamin E acetate.

FYI: Bifidobacteria (bifidus) helps with constipation (it’s what’s in that new Activa yogurt that’s advertised on TV)

Acidophilus milk

This product is milk to which acidophilus culture (beneficial bacteria) has been added. However, the milk is not actually cultured as yogurt. In the process of making yogurt, milk and an added starter (beneficial bacteria) are placed in a warm environment (such as a temperature-controlled yogurt maker) so the flora can ferment the milk, thickening the milk. Acidophilus milk has the same culture, but has not gone through the full thickening process.

More info on the benefits of Pro-Biotics:

http://www.hy-vee.com/health/healthnotes_content.asp?org=hyv ee&ContentID=2901004

lansima2006-3-22 9:30:20

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