Elli's face before. (This picture doesn't quite do it justice. The rash was much worse in person.)
And after using the soy formula for just 36 hours. What an improvement.
So, I'm not sure what to make of it. I tried nursing her yesterday and it was a disaster. Her rash didn't return full scale, but she was back to being a fussy, unhappy baby. I can only deduce that my breastmilk, for whatever reason, bothers her. Could it be a milk allergy? Who knows. Now I have a freezer full of breastmilk and am not sure if I should donate it, or save it for a rainy day...just in case she grows out of this stage. Do I quit pumping and let my milk supply stop? Oh, the questions.
For now, I'm just happy to have my sweet, contented baby back. Thanks for your prayers!
9 comments:
So glad she is doing better! And yes, the questions! I will be praying you guys will have the wisdom you need for those decisions.
I'm glad she's doing better!
You could make soap with your breast milk and give it away as Christmas gifts. I told Ben that I was going to do this one year and I think he's been secretly worried about it since.
Wow! How frustrating and wonderful at the same time. I'm really glad you found a solution. I've never really found a place to donate mine. I have no less than 100 bags of milk in our deep freeze, so I guess I'll save it until she's older and taking bottles and just use it then. Or maybe give it to Melissa for making soap :)
Are you eating dairy? I know this sounds silly because you're probably not, but if she has a milk allergy make sure YOU aren't eating dairy. Also, 50% of kids who have a milk allergy ALSO have a soy allergy. This may be why she's reacting still. You might want to try a hypoallergenic formula and see how it goes. It's expensive, but it might be worth it - depends on how badly you think she might be feeling.
I would know...we did it all with my son. :)
Kimberly - she's actually reacting really well to the soy formula...so I'm not sure what the problem is with my milk. I almost don't want to chance it though, because it could be so many different things. It would takes months to figure out and by that time, is it really worth knowing just for the sake of nursing? I don't want to pump for months. So, we're going to keep her on the soy until we can get some more advice from an allergist and see about testing her. Oh the drama.
Praise God for Eli's health! And praise God she tolerates soy formula. We had to go the hypoallergenic route and it was about double the cost of normal formula so it is quite a blessing that she is thriving on the soy! I don't want to be a downer and am by no means an expert but allergy testing on babies is really not accurate. Occassionally, they will test positive for an allergy and thats great because it gives you proof but a false negative is very likely. Grant tested negative at this stage even though he was clearly allergic. Drs have to go more on symptoms vs testing (they react negative because their body is too immature to react). It really just makes you realize how limited the Dr's scope is at this point. I'll be praying on the big decisions you have coming up!
Hey Rachel,
Just saw some of this on facebook and the lady I work for right now had a similar situation. She ended up having to cut all dairy out of her diet while she was breastfeeding and it worked for two of her kids. Her other child she put on the hypo allergenic formula (which you can buy a lot cheaper online) Just FYI hope it helps!
Mandy
So glad that your sweet little baby is healthy and happy!! What a frustrating couple of weeks! Um...I know a couple people who can't produce enough milk and would love some. Is that weird? Anyway, if you decide to donate it let me know and I will pass on the info.
So glad to hear Elli is reacting well to soy. She sure is a pretty little girl. I need to see her! Are you guys coming north, or east at all while Matthew has time off?
Still praying!
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