Tuesday, December 12, 2006
The Formula Taste-Test Experiment and the Poor Tummy
Mae has had a bad, bad tummy for about two weeks now. It's only now that it's getting better that I feel at all able to talk about it. The first real sign of trouble was a bit of blood in her diaper. It freaked me right out.
It freaked me out so much, actually, that it absolutely paralized me. I didn't tell anyone. I didn't do anything. I pretended to myself like maybe it was just food dye from her vitamin D drops, except I knew it wasn't.
I should explain that Mae has a family history of gastrointestinal illness, coming from my side. And I guess that's probably why I immediately jumped to the worst possible conclusion. Clearly, she had advanced, accute ulcerative colitis that would require her to have horrible, painful surgery and need an ostomy for the rest of her life. I know it was awful and selfish, but I just couldn't bring myself to face the fear that something might be really wrong with my little girl.
But the third time it happened, I took a deep breath and my husband and I took her to the children's clinic. And, of course, it wasn't nearly as bad as I thought. The doctor said it could be a milk protein allergy, which would make sense since we'd just started giving her a little bit of milk-based formula at night.
So I've been avoiding dairy foods ever since and we've stopped giving her the formula, and it all seems better. "Phewf," is an understatement.
Our only problem now is that she's still hungry at night. Last night I nursed her for almost an hour, until there was nothing left, and she was still screaming for more. So we tried some soy formula, which she refused to eat.
I'll admit, I was a bit frustrated with her for being such a picky eater, but then I tried some myself. It was like drinking dissolved chalk or - at least - how I'd imagine drinking dissolved chalk would be. Kind of gritty (even though I shook it and shook it), and gag-inducingly bitter. Absolutely the grossest taste I've ever tasted in my life. Ever. And I've tasted some gross tastes (like the time I tried cat food when I was 7, just to see what it was like. Note: It's not very good).
So today Mae and I set out for the pharmacy and bought cans of every single soy-based formula we could find. This isn't saying much though, since I could only find three. Still, I labeled three seperate bottles and measured out three portions and we did a full-scale grade six science experiment with them complete with a hypothesis and beakers. Okay. Maybe not beakers but, still, it was very scientific. We both agreed that the clear winner was one called Isomil.
She finished off half a bottle of it and is taking a lovely, full-tummied nap as I write this. We are both feeling much better.
It freaked me out so much, actually, that it absolutely paralized me. I didn't tell anyone. I didn't do anything. I pretended to myself like maybe it was just food dye from her vitamin D drops, except I knew it wasn't.
I should explain that Mae has a family history of gastrointestinal illness, coming from my side. And I guess that's probably why I immediately jumped to the worst possible conclusion. Clearly, she had advanced, accute ulcerative colitis that would require her to have horrible, painful surgery and need an ostomy for the rest of her life. I know it was awful and selfish, but I just couldn't bring myself to face the fear that something might be really wrong with my little girl.
But the third time it happened, I took a deep breath and my husband and I took her to the children's clinic. And, of course, it wasn't nearly as bad as I thought. The doctor said it could be a milk protein allergy, which would make sense since we'd just started giving her a little bit of milk-based formula at night.
So I've been avoiding dairy foods ever since and we've stopped giving her the formula, and it all seems better. "Phewf," is an understatement.
Our only problem now is that she's still hungry at night. Last night I nursed her for almost an hour, until there was nothing left, and she was still screaming for more. So we tried some soy formula, which she refused to eat.
I'll admit, I was a bit frustrated with her for being such a picky eater, but then I tried some myself. It was like drinking dissolved chalk or - at least - how I'd imagine drinking dissolved chalk would be. Kind of gritty (even though I shook it and shook it), and gag-inducingly bitter. Absolutely the grossest taste I've ever tasted in my life. Ever. And I've tasted some gross tastes (like the time I tried cat food when I was 7, just to see what it was like. Note: It's not very good).
So today Mae and I set out for the pharmacy and bought cans of every single soy-based formula we could find. This isn't saying much though, since I could only find three. Still, I labeled three seperate bottles and measured out three portions and we did a full-scale grade six science experiment with them complete with a hypothesis and beakers. Okay. Maybe not beakers but, still, it was very scientific. We both agreed that the clear winner was one called Isomil.
She finished off half a bottle of it and is taking a lovely, full-tummied nap as I write this. We are both feeling much better.
