The Harvey Family: July {2014}

This month was busy as we tried to figure out how to help make Brett less fussy. He gradually got worse as the weeks went on and we finally went and saw some specialists to help us figure out what was wrong. After talking with the pediatrician, who prescribed us Zantac for his acid reflux, she suggested we see a GI specialist for his painful gas and poops. Thankfully, we were able to get a quick appointment since the pediatrician called in a referral. When we saw her the following week she introduced herself as being very straight forward and I'm glad I was past my hormonal phase because she delivered some pretty intense news. She asked what symptoms Brett was having and I told her that he cried and yelped as he passed gas and when he pooped, and the hour or 2 leading up to his poop. Then when he finally pooped it was very watery (gets close to blowing out his diapers a lot) and there was poop at almost every diaper change. He also had tons of gurgly sounds that came from his tummy at all times of the day. After hearing this, she was 100% convinced that he has a pretty serious dairy/soy intolerance/sensitivity and she said we'd need to put him on formula since there was no way to completely cut out all soy from my diet (unlabeled foods etc) and keep the breast milk safe for him. Apparently cutting out dairy wasn't enough, since I have been dairy free since he was born. She said there are trace amounts of soy in other foods even if it isn't listed so she strongly suggested that we go on formula and of course it had to be the special kind that had all the proteins broken down to amino acids (ElaCare) that is super expensive and used to be prescription only. Brett also still had yellow eyes and some yellow in his face (breastmilk jaunice) so she said the formula would be a good way to get rid of that as well.

After hearing this news I was pretty devastated since the breastfeeding had been going so well and I was convinced that breastmilk was the best for every baby. However, after all the crying and pain that Brett was going through I realized that maybe that wasn't true for every baby. I had cut soy out of my diet a few weeks earlier and was devastated that she still found blood and lots of mucous in his stool sample. Come to find out, my prenatal gummy vitamins contained soy and I had only cut those out a couple days before our appointment. The doctor said even a drop of soy can take up to 30 days to clear his system so that's how long we'd have to wait to see an improvement if we decided not to put Brett on formula. She suggested transitioning him to formula and pumping/freezing my breastmilk for 2-3 months and then reintroducing the breastmilk to him if he did well with it. The idea of pumping and freezing milk for that long and having it still bother Brett's tummy was too much to handle so we planned on getting him onto the formula for a while and making sure it did help with his tummy before we totally weaned. The doctor suggested starting at 2 parts breastmilk to 1 part formula, and that was a complete failure... he screamed in protest and wouldn't take it at all. So over the course of a week and a half, we were able to get to 2.5 parts breastmilk to 1 part formula and that's about what his limit was. He stopped taking it altogether and we had to ask the GI for another type of formula. They gave us a sample of Neocate and he didn't seem to mind the taste which was exciting. Sadly, later that night he had the worst crying fit he'd ever had and was just inconsolable. He went on breastmilk for a couple days to clear his system and we tried again. This time it only took a few minutes for him to become inconsolable with pain so we decided to not give that to him again.

The other benefit of moving to formula was that Brett was starting to show signs of eczema on his face and if it happened to be food induced, the formula should clear up the skin since it shouldn't cause a reaction. Other than advantages for Brett, we realized how much better bottles would be for our family. Blake is a high needs child and requires a lot of attention so feeding him bottles and having freedom from breastfeeding is a good thing. Plus, being able to eat whatever I want would most definitely be a plus since this crazy diet that I've been on doesn't seem sustainable.

After almost 2 weeks of trying to get Brett to take the ElaCare, we realized it wasn't going to work so we gave up and decided to just stick with breastmilk. His total consupmtion of food went down to around 19oz a day when he needed to be up above 24oz. He didn't gain any weight for 2 weeks either. Once we went back to breastmilk I pumped 3 times a day for a while but then decided it would be easier to just breastfeed at night and drop 1 pumping session. Then dropped another, so I would just pump once a day and that would allow me to leave the house with Blake in the morning if I needed to. I guess we'll stick with this for as long as it works for us.

The other specialist we saw for Brett was the dermatologist for a rash that showed up on his face, neck, chest, and arms. He said it didn't look like eczema (which the pediatrician told us that it was) but instead that it looked like a heat rash. We decided to start putting him in short sleeved onesies when swaddled, and kept his rock n play on the other side of our bedroom where the air is cooler to try and keep him from over heating. I also stopped moisturizing his arms with vaseline (which i had been doing since it is a single ingredient and had a low chance of him being allergic to it) and just stuck to doing it on his legs. Between these changes and getting the soy completely out of my diet, the rash cleared up in a few days. About a week later we noticed that the skin on his face had gotten much drier and there were underlying bumps all over his face that looked very much like eczema... sad day. Luckily with Vaseline on his cheeks we can keep him moisturized at least.

As for me, I had my 6 week checkup with my OB (at 7 weeks because my brain is fried and I totally forgot to go to my 6 week appointment) and he said everything looked good. I got on the scale and was excited to find that I only had 8 lb left to lose to get back to my pre-pregnancy weight (now I only have 5-6 left) which is awesome since pre-pregnancy was the thinnest I had been in years. In all honesty I have this lovely (crazy restrictive) diet and breastfeeding to thank for that... I guess I'll take that as the silver lining.

This month Blake:

has started learning how to pedal a bike. He has his convertible bike that he keeps in the hallway and he finally can reach the pedals and he has started to get the hang of it, but he does better going backward than forward.
looks for speakers and air vents (he calls them fans) in every store we go in. He always looks up and calls them out and counts them as we pass under them. He has to know what everything on the ceiling is (speakers, air vents, lights, sprinklers, fire alarms, etc.).
is great at name that tune. He'll know what song is playing on the radio before the first 4 beats are done playing. Daddy's car tells you the name on his digital dashboard thing so he asks what every song is called so he can tell us next time it comes on the radio.
told me "I like all of your things on you, I like your shirt and your eyes and your nose, and mouth, and pants, and socks." He can be so sweet and random. This is such a fun age and I wish I wrote down all the adorable things he says. It is so cute the way he sees the world.
is still having a hard time pooping regularly. He turns into a little demon child if he hasn't gone in a day or two and is completely uncooperative and very quick to cry. I have to basically force him to hold my hand and go once he's in his crib at night because he can't fall asleep until he's gone and he'll just fuss and command to be held and rocked. He's still on Miralax and it definitely softens his stool so he can go if he wants to, it's just a matter of him wanting to go.
has been calling hand sanitizer "hanitizer". He gets laughs everywhere when people hear him say that.
got his bottom 2 year molars. He had been sleeping through the night for months but this month he had a rough spot where he was waking up in the middle of the night and this could possibly be the reason.
likes to watch Little Einsteins as his favorite tv show and Curious George is his favorite show on the Kindle.
likes to count things. He correctly identifies how many there are of things like there are 2 boxes, or 3 spatulas, etc.
talks more and more like an adult. Some of the phrases he spits out are amazing and it's like talking to a big kid when you talk to him. I wish I could keep track of all the phrases he says because they're quite amusing. One thing that is pretty funny is when he's thinking he'll say "hmmmmm..."

This month Brett:

has gotten really grabby and his grip strength is getting very strong. He'll finally grab onto my little finger while I'm feeding him his bottle and it is so cute. He also likes to grab the burp cloth off my shoulder and toss it down which isn't as cute.
smiled at the end of last month for the first time and has been starting to smile more when he is feeling good. He seems to respond when I speak to him in a high pitch voice, and he gives me a big open mouth grin. He also likes to have cooing conversations.
went 6 hours between feedings and let me get a good first stretch of sleep at night (at 6.5 weeks). His sleeping has been very inconsistent but his first stretch of sleep is normally the long one and after I pump and eat a quick snack I can normally get anywhere from 3-4.5 hours of sleep which is nice. Sadly, after the first night feeding I never know how much more sleep I'll get that night. He will sleep in the rock n play for the first stretch but doesn't do well in there for the second stretch. He takes forever to put back to sleep so I'll normally put him in the swing and let the rocking motion put him to sleep for another couple hours.
likes his swing now and that is where he takes his naps. He also sleeps in there for his second stretch at night if I can't get him to sleep in the rock n play. Sadly, it is a battery drain so hopefully we can get him sleeping in his crib sooner than later.
seems to enjoy the night routine that we've started with him. He gets some milk, then we do a warm bath and sometimes a top off bottle, then swaddle him and walk him until he goes to sleep. We swaddle him every time he goes in his rock n play or swing since that seems to be the only way he'll sleep. When he starts waking up he wiggles and tries to get his arms free. If he gets them free easily he'll wake up before he's rested.
started officially on Zantac since he was getting really fussy after burping and spiting up in his mouth. Once we got him on a good routine of 2x a day Zantac, he seemed a lot happier. So far he hasn't spit up hardly at all but sometimes he just has a little spit drool out of the corner of his mouth. Hopefully it'll stay that way.
has become more interested in the hanging toys on his gymini, carseat, and bouncy seat. He'll look at them for a few minutes as long as he is feeling well. He even bats his arms and legs at them and does well making contact (to be fair, there are so many hanging that it would be impossible to not hit something).
loves looking at the pictures over the couch and bed (just like Blake did) and also loves to look at the ceiling fans and overhead lights (just like Blake did too).
took a couple trips out of the house in the Moby. I wore him while Mimi and I took Blake to the playground one morning, and then again to the grocery store. He loved looking around at the grocery store at all the lights and it was nice and cool in there.
seems to hate his carseat. I'm not sure if he is just uncomfortable because of his tummy but he pretty much cries the whole time he's in there if he doesn't have a paci in his mouth. It is almost guaranteed that he'll be crying if we're not moving. Hopefully he'll grow to love it like his brother?!
actually takes a pacifier. We've used the Soothie for most of the month as we had been trying to establish breastfeeding. He will take it most of the time and seems to be soothed by sucking, especially when he's tired. However, he doesn't keep it in his mouth very well.
had his 2 month checkup and weighed in at 12 lb 6 oz (78%) was 23" long (51%) and head circumference of 15.5" (69%).
has the saddest sad face ever when he's about to cry. He sticks his bottom lip out so far and it just makes me laugh every time. I can never get a pic because I'm holding him most of the time though.
has started nibbling on his hands. He'll put his little hands into fists and put his wrist into his mouth and just gum them. I guess we'll have to see if he'll hold onto some teething toys next.

Pics:

Blake wanted to bring some books in his backpack to take to Brett's dermatologist appointment.

Brett had a good day and he was cooing and enjoying his bouncy seat for once.

Baby boy getting sleepy and relaxed before bed.

Oh Blake, it's going to be hard to move like that.

Blake loves sharing his toys with new people (adults mainly). Grandmom got to hold all kinds of toys as Blake told her what they all were.

4 generations.

Our first picture as a family of 4. Not exactly frame worthy, but I was just supposed to be the camera man for the generation photo above.

Blake thought the tripod was a great toy.

Showing me how he got the lever to stay.

Blake hanging with Grandmom.

Brett talking with Grandmom.

Blake is curious about his brother but all the crying keeps him far away most of the time. This was a really cute moment. Hopefully we can get Brett happy enough to sit in Blake's lap for a picture eventually.