Happy Easter!

Today was Bear's first Easter so of course I had to take some pics of him in his bunny hat.

My little bunny:)

The hat was a little small...

Getting so big!

Since M's parents are a 5.5 hour drive and mine are 4 hours (and they're vacationing on the Gulf anyway- jerks) we had our own little Easter this year. Bear of course decided to wake up early so M played with him for a bit so I could sleep in (until 8:45, woo!). We made some pomegranate and apricot peach mimosas and Bear "opened" his gifts from the Easter bunny.

Of course I forgot that we no longer have champagne flutes...

Bear's basket

Hangin' with Dad

New books!

His new ball that rolls around and plays obnoxious music!

After Bear played we headed to brunch at one of our favorite restaurants. I was worried that Bear was going to have a complete meltdown while we were there but he was fine the entire time (although I think it mostly had to do with the fact that he was eating pears for the first time). After brunch we drove around for a while so that Bear would nap. He did. Then he woke up and shit all over his brand-new white outfit. Overall, a pretty typical day.

An Afternoon at the Park

Last week we took Bear to one of the many playgrounds in our area for the first time. We decided to let him test out the baby swings...

 

Not so sure about this...

Really not sure about this...

I guess it's not so bad...

Not so bad at all...

I might even kind of like this...

Yup, definitely like this.

The slide was another story...

Intolerances and Allergies

Warning: This post contains a lot of poop talk.


When Bear was around a month old he became incredibly gassy and fussy. His poop changed from yellow and seedy (normal breastfed baby poop) to dark green and mucousy. Newborns' digestive systems "wake up" around 3 weeks, so I just assumed that's what was happening.

At his 2-month appointment I asked the doctor about a rash that Bear had on his torso. His first guess was that it was just sensitive skin, but after hearing that we use free & clear soaps and detergents he asked me what his poop looked like and I told him it was green and mucousy. He told me to try cutting out dairy to see if it made a difference. Within a couple days Bear was so much better. He was no longer a huge cranky-pants 24/7 and his poop was back to yellowish. His rash cleared up quite a bit (as well as the never-ending diaper rash we had been battling) and he also stopped wheezing and snorting. He was diagnosed as having a milk protein intolerance. (This is different from lactose intolerance because it is the proteins in the milk that the baby is unable to digest, not just the lactose.) I began a completely dairy-free diet, which was definitely an adjustment, but I got used to it pretty quickly.

After another month had passed the rash on Bear's belly still wasn't gone completely. He would also have random fussy days where his poop would look greenish. I had read a lot about milk protein intolerance and found that 50% of babies who are sensitive to dairy are also sensitive to soy. I cut soy out of my diet as well and his rash cleared up. He was like a different baby. I felt horribly guilty. Here I was thinking that my baby was just difficult for almost 4 months when in actuality he was miserable because of foods that I was eating.

Since he is sensitive to both dairy and soy he has what's called Milk/Soy Protein Intolerance (MSPI). Not being able to eat soy has been even more challenging than cutting out dairy. It is in EVERYTHING. I can't eat any fast food and if we do go out to eat I order a salad with no cheese (I also have to ask if whatever is in the salad- like chicken- is cooked in anything because seasoning often contains soy) and I bring my own salad dressing from Whole Foods. When we go out of town I bring a cooler full of foods that I can eat or I go grocery shopping whenever we get to our destination. Fun fun. It's a shitty diet for sure and somewhat isolating at times. I miss food. I used to love cooking and lived for trying new restaurants. I'm getting better at cooking dairy and soy-free dishes but it's just not as fun as it used to be and I feel like it's more of a chore than anything. I'm sure I sound like a whiny brat, but even with all the restrictions it is SO worth it to see Bear feeling better and not in pain.

The good news about MSPI is that some babies outgrow it around 6 months and even more by a year, which brings me to the other topic of this post- food allergies. MSPI is not the same as food allergies but we decided to have Bear allergy tested after he broke out in a rash and his horrible diaper rash came back when we stayed at my parents' last month.

The allergy test itself took only 15 minutes and Bear didn't even notice. They did a scratch test on his back, which is when they apply a tiny amount of allergen to the skin with a little plastic applicator-type thing. He was tested for 16 things all together, including dog, cat, milk, soy, dust mite, shell fish, egg, and a few others I can't remember. Here is what his back looked like a few minutes after the test was administered:

I could eat those rolls for dinner:)

The top left spot is the control. That is what a positive reaction looks like.

The test showed that he is NOT allergic to dairy and soy, meaning that it is indeed just an intolerance that he should grow out of eventually. He did test positive for egg, so he is most likely allergic to it. I'm avoiding egg for now and will attempt reintroducing it into my diet in a few months. We won't be giving Bear any egg directly until he passes the muffin challenge in the allergist's office, where he eats a muffin that has 1/3 of an egg baked into it and they see how he reacts. If he passes that challenge he will move on to a scrambled egg challenge, where they do the same thing except with scrambled eggs.

As far as his MSPI goes, the allergist left it up to me what I wanted to do regarding reintroducing dairy and soy into my diet. Part of me is terrified to do this and part of me wants to run out and eat an entire pizza by myself followed by a large chocolate shake.

I decided that I should start small and had a little bit of butter on some toast the other morning. The entire day Bear was completely normal but his poop did have a tiny amount of green mucous in it. I'm trying not to blame it on the butter since he is also eating solids now, which could easily have an effect on it as well. Aside from the poop issue he seemed fine (yay!). The following morning I had a scone with dairy baked into it and he seemed okay until the afternoon. He got pretty fussy at one point and then pooped three times, so yeah, I'll be laying off the scones for a while. Instead I'm going to be trialing things with soy for the next couple days and seeing how he does with that.

This post ended up way longer than I intended, but I wanted to be as specific as possible in case other MSPI or allergy mamas are dealing with the same thing. Unfortunately there isn't a ton of info out there regarding MSPI so a lot of babies go undiagnosed (or misdiagnosed as colicky or having reflux) for a long time before the problem is realized. Those first couple months before we knew were not fun and I feel for any mommies and babies who are going through or have gone through the same thing.

Bear's Week In Photos

Two posts in one day?! What?!

I only take about a bajillion pictures of Bear a day so I figured I should quit being a lazy ass and post some nice photos instead of shitty phone ones.

Senior pic

Excited much?

I may or may not have a romper addiction

Helping Mommy cook as usual

Dr. Bear

First time eating real food!

Sweet potatoes, yum!

I think he likes it?

Outside enjoying the amazing weather!

Growing up too fast

He looks like Papa in one of his outfits form Eddie Bauer

Bad. ass.

Hangin' in the high chair

Already outgrowing his madras

Baby toes:)

Heading out for a walk

There's the smile:)

He still isn't too interested in sitting but he will stand all day if you let him

Good morning!

Nice to see you too!

We call these "big boy jammies"

He could care less that it bounces.

Oh, hey.

Two little teeth poking through!

Give me that camera!

Never Say Never

This is a very important lesson that every parent will come to learn, but probably not before it's already too late. When you're pregnant with your first child the words "I will never..." become all too familiar. You will utter them to yourself when you see a 3-year-old having an epic meltdown in the Target checkout lane or when you are out to eat with a couple who is spoon-feeding their 4-month-old rice cereal (not even oatmeal cereal! don't they know that shit has no nutritional value?!). Well I'm going to do you a favor and tell you to knock it off because you will end up doing all the shit you said you'd never do.

A few of my "I will never's":

• "I will never bed-share." Yeah, that one didn't even make it out the hospital doors.
• "I will never start solids before 6 months (and when I do it will not be rice cereal)." Double fail.
• "I will never let my baby cry it out."

This last one has given me the hardest time. I posted when Bear was 3 months old about his horrific sleep patterns. Well he is almost 6 months old now and things have JUST started to improve (I'm seriously terrified that typing this sentence just now has completely jinxed me) and as much as I hate to admit it, letting him cry a bit has helped tremendously. Before you judge me (which I know you're already doing) read the rest of my post.

I've read 3 books on sleep. The first talked about how evil CIO is and how it leads to issues such as anxiety and depression later in life. Freaking awesome. So if I let my baby cry I might as well set aside a fund for all of the therapy he will need later in life. While I agree that letting a baby younger than 4 months cry is NOT a good idea, I do think that babies eventually learn to "manipulate" and their crying is not always indicative of their needing something (lots of times it is though, so I think it's important to learn to distinguish their different cries). I don't know how many times I've walked into Bear's room because he is crying and before I'm even next to the crib he spots me and is grinning from ear to ear. Stinker.

I can't really remember what all the second book said, so it was obviously really helpful. The third book talked about how to do CIO without doing flat out extinction crying, which is when you let your baby cry for however long it takes before they fall asleep. Instead you do check-ins at different intervals (5 minutes, 7 minutes, etc.) and try soothing baby back to sleep without picking him up. In theory this is a great idea for parents who, like me, could never handle full-out extinction crying. (I seriously side-eye parents who let their baby cry for an hour or longer without check-ins, but I won't get into that since this post is about NOT being judgey.) The issue I did have with this though is that my baby doesn't have a built in timer, so when I am supposed to wait 7 minutes and he starts crying hysterically at 2 minutes, that's 5 whole minutes that I have to let him cry hysterically (and by that time I'm usually crying too).

So I decided to take bits and pieces from each book and throw the rest out the window (not literally of course- that's called littering). I didn't want to let my baby cry but I also knew that I couldn't go much longer waking up every 2 hours at night. We all needed more sleep, including Bear, so when he turned 4.5 months I started implementing my own little CIO method based on what I had learned, Bear's reactions, and my own instincts. Here is a short run-down of what I do:

-When initially going down I usually nurse or rock him to sleep
-If he isn't hungry or fights me rocking him then I walk with him for a bit in his room (shades drawn, white noise on) until he is calm and then put him in his crib
-If he talks/whines I don't go in
-If he cries I will usually wait a couple minutes before going in to check on him, all the while listening to his cries and watching him on the video monitor to make sure he is okay
-If he becomes hysterical at ANY time I go in to try and soothe him without picking him up
-If that doesn't work and I can't calm him I pick him up and rock or nurse him

I tried this a couple times starting at 4.5 months and he became hysterical fairly quickly. I decided he wasn't ready. Shortly after 5 months I tried again and had a little bit more success. When he woke at night I didn't go in right away and for the first time ever he cried/whined for about 5 minutes and fell back to sleep. Halle-freaking-lujah. A couple weeks later I was struggling to get him down for a nap because he did not want me rocking him so I put him in his crib. He whined/cried on and off for about 7 minutes, fell asleep, and slept for AN HOUR AND A HALF!!

That was a couple weeks ago and since then it's only gotten better. For the past week Bear has gone to bed around 8pm, woken up once to eat between 1 and 3am, and then slept until 7am or later! Naps are still pretty short (30-45 minutes), but I can usually get him to fall asleep on his own for one nap a day (never in a million years did I think this was possible). Of course we still have our off days (and nights), but I think that's to be expected with an infant.

I should also add that we recently started solids (before 6 months?!), though I can't say whether or not it helps him sleep better. He only gets 2 tbsp. of sweet potato around 6:30pm, but that tiny bit does seem to keep him full a bit longer.

So there you have it. A really long explanation as to why you should never start a sentence "I will never..." Because you will. And then you will feel like a dumbass.

And of course, a recent picture of Bear:

Being awesome in his North Face jacket.

Stupid Growth Percentiles...

Bear had another follow-up appointment yesterday with the pediatric neurologist to check his head circumference. His noggin is still pretty big (which we expected), but the good news is that it's following the same curve that it's been on percentile-wise. However, his soft spot still puffs out a bit so they are going to see us again in two months for another head circumference check, just to be safe.

What is kind of concerning me is his height. When he was born both his weight and height were about 50th percentile. However, as his weight has gone up (now 95th percentile) his height has gone down. At his appointment yesterday it was only in the 5th percentile! This is baffling me because while I am of pretty average height for a woman (5'5''), M is about 6'3". My biggest concern is that there could be something going on with his hormones that's causing this, but I'd be lying if I said I wasn't at all worried that he may just be a shorty. With a head that's in the 99th percentile and a height that is only 5th he is going to look like a bobblehead! I'm terrified that he will be teased mercilessly if he doesn't get taller by the time he starts school:(

The doctor said she isn't too concerned about his height at the moment, but that if he doesn't grow by his next appointment we can talk about seeing an endocrinologist. She thinks he will probably have a growth spurt soon though and that won't be necessary, so I'm crossing my fingers that that is the case!

On a lighter note, it is amazing outside, which means Bear has actually been able to get out in the sun and see that life does exist outside our tiny apartment!

Someone should probably tell him that it's kind of hard to look tough in a romper and sunhat.