Hello mamas, I am really struggling here and would appreciate any feedback or ideas/advice you may have. I posted this in Life with a Babe a week ago but I am thinking that maybe some of you might have ideas too. Thanks for reading, I know it's long
My son (just about 11 months) has had frequent mucousy stools and diarrhea for the past two months. Before that he was eating a variety of finger foods (fruits and veg, egg yolk, toast, yogurt, cheese, chicken, cheerios...) and didn't seem to have any reactions to anything and he always had fairly normal breastmilk poops with chunks of food visible. In Feb, he had a bout of diarrhea that lasted about two weeks and caused a horrific diaper rash as well. His stool smelled so foul I can't even describe it and about 5 days into it, his breath started to smell like that too - just rotten and foul and not right at all. Since then it has come and gone but mostly it has stuck around. He will have the odd bowel movement that looks normal, but usually he will have diarrhea everyday at some point and it always smells really strange and rotten - not like any poop I've ever smelled. His breath continues to smell weird although not as bad as before and it comes and goes. He has also started to spit up which he never did even as a young baby. Usually the first bm of the day is huge and then all day it's small amounts almost every two hours. His sleep has really been disrupted because it seems that he gets very bad gas from the late evening (9:30 ish) all night long until he finally poops anywhere between 3 am and 7am. Even when he was breastfed around the clock he never pooped at night. He will wake screaming and won't relax to let me bicycle his legs or massage his tummy. He still nurses at night although when he's so gassy he doesn't even want to do that, he just squirms and cries. He will eventually fall back asleep only to wake up soon after. In the crib or in bed with me it's the same thing - waking up screaming.
I live in a remote northern Canadian community that is only accessed by winter road or plane. We have no hospital. There is a health centre staffed by nurses, a nurse practitioner (on mat leave right now) and a rotation of Drs in town one week a month. The nurses are mostly new and young and underexperienced in my opinion. I saw the Dr. today and he basically made me feel shitty for giving my son too many foods. I did try to wait to the four days to see if he had reactions but since he was having random diarrhea it didn't seem to correlate with anything new. In hindsight I probably should have slowed down and not been so eager to let him try new foods. He still nurses alot and is a huge baby (25 lbs at 11 months)
The Dr. suggested that I eliminate all dairy, most fruit (just some banana) and only feed him rice, veggies and meats for the next two months (I forgot to ask about eggs and beans) The doctor kind of rushed me and i didn't feel like I could get a word in edgewise or ask all my ?s. I feel kind of bad for my son because he loves the taste of yogurt and cheese and toast and we are going home for holiday for 5 weeks and I invisioned him having his first icecream cone and birthday cake Neither of us is getting any sleep and I hate to hear him scream when he wakes up and be in pain in the middle of the night. Part of me wonders if the wakings are more a behavioural thing, if he's just needy and screams immediately upon waking so he'll get my attention. I am constantly second guessing myself and my attachement parenting choices lately because I wonder if I am causing all of this myself and if I just gave him jarred baby food from the beginning or let him cry or a million other things...things would be different.
He is usually a happy baby during the day and is very active and meeting all his milestones. He's close to walking and he babbles like crazy and loves kids and animals. He doesn't seem bothered by gas in the daytime and he seems healthy otherwise.
Basically my questions are:
1. Should I also eliminate dairy, fruits and gluten since he is getting most of his nurtition from breastmilk?
2. I was kind of hoping to start night weaning at a year (or at least from the time I go to bed until 6 am-ish) but now I am afraid he won't have enough calories or nutrients. Should I be giving him a calcium supplement or fortified rice milk or something during the day?
3. Do milk or gluten intolerances just start out of the blue at 9 months old or could it have been triggered by the rotavirus?
Thanks so much ladies! It's sort of sad that I couldn't take the time to ask the dr. all these questions and he didn't give me a referrel to a pediatrician at this point, but I feel like I might be able to get some insight from other mamas who have gone through similar things. Thanks!!!!!
My son (just about 11 months) has had frequent mucousy stools and diarrhea for the past two months. Before that he was eating a variety of finger foods (fruits and veg, egg yolk, toast, yogurt, cheese, chicken, cheerios...) and didn't seem to have any reactions to anything and he always had fairly normal breastmilk poops with chunks of food visible. In Feb, he had a bout of diarrhea that lasted about two weeks and caused a horrific diaper rash as well. His stool smelled so foul I can't even describe it and about 5 days into it, his breath started to smell like that too - just rotten and foul and not right at all. Since then it has come and gone but mostly it has stuck around. He will have the odd bowel movement that looks normal, but usually he will have diarrhea everyday at some point and it always smells really strange and rotten - not like any poop I've ever smelled. His breath continues to smell weird although not as bad as before and it comes and goes. He has also started to spit up which he never did even as a young baby. Usually the first bm of the day is huge and then all day it's small amounts almost every two hours. His sleep has really been disrupted because it seems that he gets very bad gas from the late evening (9:30 ish) all night long until he finally poops anywhere between 3 am and 7am. Even when he was breastfed around the clock he never pooped at night. He will wake screaming and won't relax to let me bicycle his legs or massage his tummy. He still nurses at night although when he's so gassy he doesn't even want to do that, he just squirms and cries. He will eventually fall back asleep only to wake up soon after. In the crib or in bed with me it's the same thing - waking up screaming.
I live in a remote northern Canadian community that is only accessed by winter road or plane. We have no hospital. There is a health centre staffed by nurses, a nurse practitioner (on mat leave right now) and a rotation of Drs in town one week a month. The nurses are mostly new and young and underexperienced in my opinion. I saw the Dr. today and he basically made me feel shitty for giving my son too many foods. I did try to wait to the four days to see if he had reactions but since he was having random diarrhea it didn't seem to correlate with anything new. In hindsight I probably should have slowed down and not been so eager to let him try new foods. He still nurses alot and is a huge baby (25 lbs at 11 months)
The Dr. suggested that I eliminate all dairy, most fruit (just some banana) and only feed him rice, veggies and meats for the next two months (I forgot to ask about eggs and beans) The doctor kind of rushed me and i didn't feel like I could get a word in edgewise or ask all my ?s. I feel kind of bad for my son because he loves the taste of yogurt and cheese and toast and we are going home for holiday for 5 weeks and I invisioned him having his first icecream cone and birthday cake Neither of us is getting any sleep and I hate to hear him scream when he wakes up and be in pain in the middle of the night. Part of me wonders if the wakings are more a behavioural thing, if he's just needy and screams immediately upon waking so he'll get my attention. I am constantly second guessing myself and my attachement parenting choices lately because I wonder if I am causing all of this myself and if I just gave him jarred baby food from the beginning or let him cry or a million other things...things would be different.
He is usually a happy baby during the day and is very active and meeting all his milestones. He's close to walking and he babbles like crazy and loves kids and animals. He doesn't seem bothered by gas in the daytime and he seems healthy otherwise.
Basically my questions are:
1. Should I also eliminate dairy, fruits and gluten since he is getting most of his nurtition from breastmilk?
2. I was kind of hoping to start night weaning at a year (or at least from the time I go to bed until 6 am-ish) but now I am afraid he won't have enough calories or nutrients. Should I be giving him a calcium supplement or fortified rice milk or something during the day?
3. Do milk or gluten intolerances just start out of the blue at 9 months old or could it have been triggered by the rotavirus?
Thanks so much ladies! It's sort of sad that I couldn't take the time to ask the dr. all these questions and he didn't give me a referrel to a pediatrician at this point, but I feel like I might be able to get some insight from other mamas who have gone through similar things. Thanks!!!!!