Ways we've tried to "fix" Emily
As you may remember, Emily was a very “fussy” baby in the beginning. And fussy is in quotation marks because I hate that word, especially to describe the behavior that these types of babies display. Because it doesn’t even come close to touching it. Fussy is a kid who cries and whimpers throughout the day. Emily would scream at the top of her lungs almost every minute that she wasn’t eating or sleeping. So yeah. It was bad.
When we started her on soy formula, she was like a new babe. Her crying was cut down to mainly when she was hungry (which was a lot) or tired (which was also a lot). We eventually figured out she was way overtired, and started to put her down for bed around 6:30. Sometimes its even closer to 5:45. She is an early to bed, early to rise kid. She usually gets up for the day between 5:30 and 6:30. Yuck. I’ve tried putting her down for a nap at 5pm and pushing her bedtime back a bit, but it doesn’t matter. She ends up super tired and still gets up early. So I have accepted my sleep fate for now.
Back to the soy. Short story- we are still on it. Long story- after we realized that the formula was a go, I tried some experimenting, so see if it was: a.) the soy. b.) the fact that she could eat until her hearts content on formula (as opposed to a “limited” supply of breastmilk) c.) something else. So I still tried giving her breastmilk, about a bottle per day. Bad. I tried giving her regular formula. Very bad. I tried giving her Nutramigen (the mucho expensive formula for dairy-sensitive babies). It was fine, except that she wouldn’t eat it because it is awful. Seriously, this stuff smells like old shoes. I couldn’t even hide it in her soy. So for now, the consensus is soy. It constipates her pretty fiercely about once every couple weeks, and her poops smell like something from a horror movie (guys. Soy formula poop is insanely smelly. I can’t even describe it.. but it’s pretty close to this-starting at 1:40), but it makes her happy 99% of the time, which makes me happy.
I’ve been giving her probiotic drops to help get her digestive system on track, but haven’t seen convincing results. Theres a study (of course I can’t find the link now) that suggests that mothers were were GBS positive during pregnancy (as was I) and receive antibiotics during labor (as did I) have a higher likelihood of having a “colicky” (another misused term I hate) baby. The antibiotic depletes the good bacteria in the stomach and infants have a harder time getting back on track. I think I started the probiotics too late to have a huge effect but we’ll see.
We also took her to see a doctor of Osteopathy. He has been the Dr of choice for Jon’s family since the kids were little. His sister calls him the Miracle Worker. And now, so do I. I’m a true believer. He asked me questions about Emily’s birth and post birth experience that no doc had in the past. He did some manipulation work to her that was astounding. I’m not even kidding when I say the results were immediate. We had known for a while that she had an issue extending her tongue fully. He did some massaging on the back of her neck on the spot that he said controls oral motor abilities. The next day that girl was sticking out her tongue like a crazy person. It was amazing. I highly recommend a DO if you have any nagging issues you can’t seem to get fixed. I plan to go back to him for my headaches.
This all being said, babies change from one day to the next. Hell, they change between morning and night. I’m not getting too comfortable in our routine/temperament just yet, but I’m sure as hell enjoying it while it’s here!
