I Give and I Get

For a while now I knew something was wrong with Gideon. He was sick, but my pediatrician (that I only talked to over the phone about this) told me I was being an overprotective first time mom. But it kept nagging at me and so just over two weeks ago, I finally took Gideon to the InstaCare over the weekend.

First off, I absolutely LOVED the pediatrician that was there and wished he could be my pediatrician, but his practice is in Orem. Not worth a 45+ minute drive, one way, for a doctor. Also, he knew right away what was wrong with Gideon. He is not able to tolerate milk protein.

Now, back in the hospital, when I supplemented with formula for a couple of days, milk based formula made Gideon really sick. But this news still surprised me. After all, I'm breastfeeding him. How could he be getting sick?

Turns out, milk protein is absorbed by the blood. And breast milk is made from nutrients in your blood (disgusting and fascinating all at the same time.) So every time I ate any milk product, Gideon was also eating the milk protein in that food, making him sick, sick, sick. The doctor said I would notice a big difference between 1 1/2 and 2 weeks of being off milk, if it really was the milk. So no more milk for me. But now, I'm left with horrible cravings for this...

and this...

Now, craving ice cream doesn't surprise me because I have craved ice cream since college. But I had no idea how much I would miss chocolate. Chocolate withdraw for me is BAD. I have even been dreaming that I STEAL chocolate from people, that's how bad I want some. And milk is in EVERYTHING! I have no "emotional foods" left to eat. No chocolate, no ice cream, no cookies, no cupcakes, no brownies and the list goes on. So instead of eating emotional foods, I step on the scale and LOVE that the number keeps going down, down, down.

Meanwhile, I switched pediatricians. A friend recommended one to me but she wasn't available, so I saw someone else in that office. Turns out his first son had the same problem and he was able to answer all my questions. And he gave me some great advice. And he was really nice. And he told me I did a great job noticing something wasn't right because most people don't know until their child has blood in their stool. BLOOD! I seriously think I would freaked out and called 911 if that happened to Gideon. And he didn't make Gideon cry, like the other doctor. So consider us officially switched.

On the other hand, I have been dealing with a baby that NEVER sleeps during the day. Sometimes, he has been awake for as many as 15 hours straight. And because he is so tired, he spends a lot of time crying and screaming. (Which is even worse when you can't stuff your face with emotional foods.) I've tried everything, everything to get him to sleep with no luck. On days when he would sleep for 20 minutes I was so happy. But for the last four days, there has been a lot of this going on...

My baby finally sleeps. And he lets me know he is tired. And he falls right to sleep. And he is SO much happier. And I think I might actually be able to live without chocolate and ice cream and The Sweet Tooth Fairy for the next year. Maybe.

I'm so glad he is feeling better. I had no idea that me eating milk could make him so sick. I had no idea that being sick could make someone so little not sleep. I wish I had known sooner. And I really hope that telling the world about this doesn't jinx his sleeping. Seriously.

The strangest part of this whole thing to me is that during pregnancy I LOVED milk. For as long as I can remember in my life, I hated milk. The smell. The taste. The texture. For nine months, I LOVED the stuff. I drank it all the time. And when eggnog came out, I would actually wake up at night because I NEEDED some eggnog. I would actually have to get out of bed and drink some in order to fall back asleep. And now my baby can't handle it. So strange.

At least he is feeling better. And sleeping. And much happier. So here's to a year with no milk!