That, my friends, is the story. of. my. LIFE. Ella cries. All. The. TIME. Okay, not all the time, but far more often then the normal baby. I remember before Ella was born I would always say, I"ll let her comfort nurse, she'll be such a happy baby. {SNORT} Yes, she comfort nurses...but that doesn't stop the screaming. There have been times, mostly in my pre-zoloft days, when I couldn't stand to even TOUCH her let alone nurse her, so yes, this personality definitely affected our nursing relationship. I DID nurse her, of course, but it was extremely difficult. I looked at the different things it could be and consulted with my girlfriends. Reflux? But she doesn't spit up (it could still be reflux apparently, but not as likely). Colic? Seriously...what is colic? A crying baby? Okay, sure it's colic, now what the EFF do I do about it? Gas? Hunger? Too hot? Too cold? ......... You get my point.
I tried everything. EV-ER-Y-TH-ING. Pacifiers, bouncey chairs, swings, baths, bathing with her, wearing her in different types of carriers/slings, rocking, bouncing, shushing, swaddling, white noise...you get my drift. Nothing worked consistently. Sometimes I could nurse her into stopping screaming. Sometimes I could sing to her. Sometimes I could rock her. But for the most part, the screaming would go on and on for hours.
I have been distrustful of pediatricians because our last pediatrician was a complete and total idiot so I didn't bring it up to the pediatrician. I figured she'd tell me it was colic or that she needed formula. Wasn't about to happen. Today we went to the pediatrician and I broke down and told her what was going on. It had been like this every single day since Ella came home. Completely miserable. She asked the normal questions, the word "colic" did come up (of course) and she mentioned that a probiotic might help. Then she mentioned, hesitantly (she knows me) a lactose free formula that could be tried (then said she was hesitant because of how well Ella is thriving on breast milk...12 lbs 5 oz, thank you VERY much!) and I said, "well, couldn't I just cut all dairy out of my diet?" "Yes! You could do that." So with a heavy heart, I decided to cut dairy out of my diet...after I finished my $5 Caribou latte of course.
On the way home I was thinking about it and I figured at this point, I had 3 new things to try. Probiotics, dairy elimination or a chiropractor. I'd heard good things about chiropractors for babies and had been saying I was going to bring her but hadn't gotten around to it yet (I'm such a bad procrastinator). Well after much discussion with myself and on my favored facebook groups, I decided to try the chiropractor first and made an appointment for tomorrow. HOPEFULLY, that's the issue and I don't have to do an elimination diet but I WILL do it before formula will pass those sweet little rose bud lips.
While I love all the faces of Ella, this is my favorite and I'd like to see it way more often then the first picture (which, unfortunately, I see pretty constantly). I'd like to avoid cutting out dairy because, let's face it, I like butter. I like it A LOT. And sour cream. And ice cream. And milk chocolate. And cheese. Those are all staples in my diet (Yes I know that's why my pre pregnancy jeans don't fit). I will do it though if necessary because as much as I like butter, I like my boobie baby even more.
