I would LOVE to hear some thoughts on this, if you make it through my marathon of a post! My beautiful DD is 8 months old and I am losing my mind with lack of sleep. She wakes anywhere from 10-20x in an average night... every 45 mins at least. She usually wants to nurse (sometimes takes a pacifier instead)... doesn't seem to be in pain. Awakens with just slight fussing, which progresses to crying only if we can't respond within 1-2 minutes. Sometimes she'll go through a period where she is SUPER restless, and awakens every 5-20 mins for a couple hours. Still doesn't seem to be in obvious pain though. It's easy to tell the difference between her normal night-waking and pain (ie, from teething). The most confusing thing: she regularly slept 6 hr stretches until she was 3.5 months old. Hasn't happened since.
My question: Is this alone indicative of a food sensitivity? My lactation consultant and pedi both seem to think it's unlikely, based on lack of other symptoms, and sleeping well in the beginning. But some more background:
- No serious skin issues, other than baby acne when she was younger, some cradle cap, and a spot of eczema the size of a pencil eraser on her arm. No diaper rash or bulls-eye.
- Stools used to seem fairly mucus-y, but never green or bloody. In the past couple months, they've become much more solid and often she'll go only small amounts at a time... some straining, but doesn't seem to be in pain at all. Maybe the adjustment to getting some solid foods?
- She has always seemed gassy, and often I can feel her tummy rumbling when holding her, or lying beside her on the bed. Also tends to kick her legs up and down when falling asleep... maybe related to tummy pains? Gripe water and Mylicon have had NO effect.
- Nurses often (every hour or so) in the day, but quickly, rarely longer than 2-3 mins. Seemingly more for entertainment/comfort than hunger. Consistently in the 75th percentile for weight.
- Pedi prescribed Zantac, then later Prevacid, thinking it could be silent reflux... neither helped (Prevacid seemed to make her waking worse?). She NEVER spits up, ever. Maybe 10 times in her whole life.
- Very fussy in the evenings for the first 3-4 months or so, but since then, she's a very happy baby most of the time. Somewhat "high needs" in that she always wants to be held and interacted with, isn't content on her own for very long, etc. HATES being on her tummy.
- No nasal congestion, runniness, etc... no dark circles under the eyes.
Any other LO's with food allergies or sensitivities whose ONLY symptom was night-waking? Again, I'd be so thankful for any thoughts/opinions on this. I haven't attempted any sort of true elimination diet yet... it just seems so daunting trying to figure it all out (especially on 2-3 broken hours of sleep per night... I'm a zombie). But seems like we're at that point.
My question: Is this alone indicative of a food sensitivity? My lactation consultant and pedi both seem to think it's unlikely, based on lack of other symptoms, and sleeping well in the beginning. But some more background:
- No serious skin issues, other than baby acne when she was younger, some cradle cap, and a spot of eczema the size of a pencil eraser on her arm. No diaper rash or bulls-eye.
- Stools used to seem fairly mucus-y, but never green or bloody. In the past couple months, they've become much more solid and often she'll go only small amounts at a time... some straining, but doesn't seem to be in pain at all. Maybe the adjustment to getting some solid foods?
- She has always seemed gassy, and often I can feel her tummy rumbling when holding her, or lying beside her on the bed. Also tends to kick her legs up and down when falling asleep... maybe related to tummy pains? Gripe water and Mylicon have had NO effect.
- Nurses often (every hour or so) in the day, but quickly, rarely longer than 2-3 mins. Seemingly more for entertainment/comfort than hunger. Consistently in the 75th percentile for weight.
- Pedi prescribed Zantac, then later Prevacid, thinking it could be silent reflux... neither helped (Prevacid seemed to make her waking worse?). She NEVER spits up, ever. Maybe 10 times in her whole life.
- Very fussy in the evenings for the first 3-4 months or so, but since then, she's a very happy baby most of the time. Somewhat "high needs" in that she always wants to be held and interacted with, isn't content on her own for very long, etc. HATES being on her tummy.
- No nasal congestion, runniness, etc... no dark circles under the eyes.
Any other LO's with food allergies or sensitivities whose ONLY symptom was night-waking? Again, I'd be so thankful for any thoughts/opinions on this. I haven't attempted any sort of true elimination diet yet... it just seems so daunting trying to figure it all out (especially on 2-3 broken hours of sleep per night... I'm a zombie). But seems like we're at that point.
