Tuesday Night...

Last night we moved Morgan's bedtime up just a little bit and got her to bed at 9 p.m. Some time shortly before midnight, she let out one single cry. I went to check on her and put my hand on her belly and she went right back to sleep. I went back to my bed and thought for sure that she'd be crying for me to come back any minute. I fell asleep and the next thing I knew, it was 3 a.m.! Even though she woke for that one minute, I pretty much count that as her sleeping 6 hours! She woke up and I fed her and put her back to sleep and she woke again at around 5:30 a.m. After feeding her and putting back to sleep, again, she slept until around 7:30. I think that was pretty good, considering. As I said in my last blog, I'm waiting on my "No Cry Sleep Solution" book, because I want to help her sleep with the least amount of crying possible. She usually cries just for a minute to get my attention and I always jump out of bed like a firefighter and am at her cribside in a flash, so that should help. Even though the Ferber method only has them crying for 5-10-15 minutes, it's just too much for me. I want my baby to be happy, not distressed.

I took her back to the pediatrician's office today to see if they could do anything more for her eczema. It was flaring up pretty badly. The ped. said she's too young for allergy testing or medication (aside from the topical cream they gave me) and we'll just have to wait. I just have to continue keeping her very moisturized and keep her arms and legs covered, so she doesn't scratch. I told them that I wanted to know if it was a food allergy or hereditary, since my husband had eczema when he was a baby, but doesn't have food allergies. She said it was probably not a food allergy. I was hoping it wasn't, because I already have a restricted diet. If I had to cut out dairy, eggs, nuts, etc., there'd be nothing left to eat! I asked her if she thought I should switch to soy formula, if my milk was causing the problem and she said if I stopped giving her breastmilk, then Morgan wouldn't be getting all of the antibodies and immunological benefits, so it might defeat the purpose. I was glad, because I'm not ready to give up giving her breastmilk just yet. She said my milk doesn't come directly from what I eat (which I know) and so whatever food I eat, she gets indirectly. I was reading a lot of articles and there seems to be a lot of disagreement about whether or not eczema always means there is a food allergy. One article said that doing an elimination diet can lead to deficiencies in the mother's diet and can do more harm than good, which I totally agree with, given that I'd be eating nothing but cardboard, apparently.

So, I'm just going to keep the same diet, which hasn't changed since I was pregnant and we're going to see a dermatologist in March. We'll see what they have to say...

I think poor Morgan also has acid reflux, like she needs any more problems. She arches her back and fusses and seems to have stuff "coming back up" after she eats. I tried the rice cereal, as suggested by the pediatrician, a few times and that seemed to help the reflux, but I think it constipated her. *Sigh* It's just so tricky...