My baby is 4 months old!

Morgan had her 4-month pediatrician appointment today. I had so many things to say and questions to ask and I was talking a mile a minute. She weighed 17 lbs. 5 oz., which put her past the 95th percentile for weight. Her head circumference was 43 cm, which is past the 90th percentile and her length was 25 inches, which is in the 75th percentile. Her eczema is still present on her body, but her face really cleared up today. We have no idea why, since I have been eating cheese (dairy) and she's back on my breastmilk. Oh, that's right, I didn't blog about what we did last week.

We thought we'd do a trial of formula, but we weren't very smart about it. We used a Walgreens Gentle brand, which is equal to the Enfamil Gentlease formula. I wanted to see if it would help her reflux/tummy issues. Well, what I failed to think about is that we're trying to see if any milk proteins are coming from my diet into her milk and this formula is definitely milk-based, so what exactly were we testing. We did that formula for 2 days and I continued to pump to keep my supply up. I tried to drop down to 5 pumps a day and it caused my supply to drop somewhat. At 4 a.m., on the second night of the formula trial, it occurred to me that this wasn't a true test of anything and she wasn't improving, so she'd be better off back on my milk until we figured things out. When she pooped out that formula the next morning, it was the most vile, horrendous thing I'd ever seen or smelled. My poor, sweet baby had to pass mixing cement through her body.

So, she was back on my milk for 2 days and I was thinking I was going to cut out dairy, but it's just not possible. My diet is already so restricted. Her face was still red, but then today, it really started to clear up. Baffling... Here is a picture of my cutey-baby from today:

The only thing on the side of her cheek is the collection of small cuts and scratches that she inflicted on herself when scratching at her face. Her forehead and cheeks are otherwise all clear. Her body does still have spots, though.

I was telling the pediatrician about her reflux symptoms and he said both the eczema and reflux might be caused by a milk-protein allergy. He said this is not to be confued with a lactose intolerance, which I understood from my research. He gave us a prescription for Zantac, though, and said they've been using it for over 10 years on babies with great success. He also suggested using a hypoallergenic formula, like Enfamil Nutramigen, if an elimination diet wasn't possible. He didn't want to discourage my breastfeeding, though, but it was something we could try. I told him I was pumping, so I could keep my supply going, while we gave the formula a 10-14 day trial. He gave us 3 sample cans, which is great, because that formula is EXPENSIVE. If I were to feed it to her at 40 oz. a day for these next 8 months, it'd cost about $2,000! I'm looking into seeing if our insurance will cover it under "enteral formulae", which I know we have coverage for, but only for certain diagnoses.

Anyway, we've (for the moment) decided to hold off on the Zantac and give the formula a try, since it might help both the eczema and the reflx issues. We're going to wait until after tomorrow's dermatologist appointment, also, to see what they have to say about it. We also didn't want to make any changes today, since she just had her shots.

After she had that one awful cement diaper, all her stools have been running and mucousy and that's bothering me. They also smell different and haven't gone back to their normal consistency. I don't know if this is a residual affect of the formula, or if it's caused by my milk, which I have noticed has become more watery. Even though I've gone back to 6 pumping sessions a day, my supply hasn't fully recovered and that's making me nervous. Maybe I'm stressing out too much.

I'm glad that her face cleared up today, but it does make things very confusing. If I ate dairy and she's recovering, does that mean it's not the dairy? She still has reflux symptoms, so is it just that the dairy allergy causes rotating symptoms and she isn't going to have all the symptoms, all the time? *Scratching head*...

Well, it'll be interesting to hear what the dermatologist has to say. Oops, I better get to bed!