Starting at about 5 weeks of age I noticed that Kenzie was increasingly fussy (despite taking Zantac for her reflux), spitting up more and her poop consistency had changed. When I took her into her appointment at 20 days I explained her "fussiness" to her doctor and he told me at that time he thought it was reflux, and to start her on Zantac and see how she does. She was still having "normal" breastfed baby poop with no blood or mucous in it. I gave her the Zantac religiously and never really noticed any changes. She was becoming more and more fussy so, in desperation, I took her back to the doctor. He said that since she had gained weight her Zantac was no longer a therapeutic dose and increased it. He said that if I noticed blood in her poop or this didn't work we needed to consider food sensitivities/allergies. I went home and continued to give her the Zantac, but never really saw a change for the better. Instead, she seemed to get more fussy, and her poop went from a little mucous to mostly mucous and diarrhea. Off to the internet I went, googling like a mad woman. I discovered something called a milk soy protein intolerance. Kenzie had every symptom except weight loss. I decided 3 weeks ago to eliminate all soy and dairy from my diet. Unfortunately it takes anywhere from 10 days - 3 weeks for it all to be our of my system, but after a week I started to notice a difference. She was becoming the happy baby that she was at first. Then I decided to experiment and allowed myself some cheese. That afternoon the diarrhea and fussy attitude returned. That sealed the deal for me.
Being a new mom is hard enough, but adding the strict diet changes has made it feel almost impossible at times. I now read labels like you wouldn't believe. Reed and I are shocked by how many things have soy in them. We have started to get more creative with our meals, but as an added bonus is that since so many things have soy and/or dairy in them we have been forced to have a very healthy diet. Sure there are many things that would taste better if we had some cheese with it, but it's not worth it for me.
I am seriously amazed by how much changing my diet effected my baby girl. She went for almost a month where she was never happy. She was literally screaming 90% of the time that she was awake. Now, she's full of smiles and seems close to laughing/giggling. Sure she still has her fussy moments, but overall she's much better. I even have taken her off the Zantac and she seems to be doing great without it. It's so nice not having to give my baby medicine even though she took her medicine like a champ.
Here's our beautiful, happy baby girl at almost 11 weeks old.
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