2.25.2009

This should be three posts :)

My little boy turns two soon.

It's been a difficult two years. Thankfully, the past six months have been much smoother than the first six months. Giving thanks for this is understating the facts. While I know there are so many people out there suffering to greater degrees than he did, it was still difficult, yet I remain thankful that it wasn't so bad and thankful that I can see the Lord bringing him out of it.

The first six months, he spit up A LOT. I had seen other baby boys who spit up more frequently than my baby girl had and I assumed that it was normal for boys. Boys and girls are different, right? That assumption was shot down at the six month well check. My baby, who had been born into the 50th weight percentile had dropped to below the 5th. He wasn't getting enough. Let that soak into a mommy's brain. I was devastated and became fearful over everything that involved my baby. We tried supplementing with formula- several different types, which all resulted in hives and vomiting and making this mommy even more fearful. I didn't want to let my son down. Finally, we discovered Enfamil's Nutramigen. And it worked. I became convinced he had a dairy allergy and possibly others, and I stopped breasfeeding. I felt like I had failed. Looking back, I could have changed my diet. The problem was I did try to eliminate dairy and other allergen foods from my diet and it didn't seem to have an effect.

Now 18 months later, he is thriving. At a recent well check he reached the 80th percentile for his weight. What a difference. I still have concerns about him, but I praise my God in heaven for the change in my boy's life.

I am also successfully breastfeeding my baby boy who is six months and thriving! Before he was born, I took my diet dairy free. I have found the more dairy I have, the more he spits up. That keeps me motivated to keep it to a minimal.

So to sum up.... a dairy free diet while breastfeeding works for my boys, Nutramigen worked for my big boy, and God's faithfulness carried me through a difficult time and that really worked for me! For more tips, visit We are That family for Works for me Wedensday!

2 comments:

Wani said...

Its great that you were able to find out that dairy was the problem! Keep up the good work!

Kama said...

Thankfully my son doesn't have that problem. He's 5 months old and is doing well with breastfeeding. Hopefully all future children will be the same! Thanks for the post.