Keepin' Up With the Jones': Allergies???

So lets start back at the beginning... we have had feeding issues from day one. Elijah was born at 5 lbs 4 oz, tiny, so the doctors wanted us to supplement with formula before my milk came in. I was so excited about nursing- I knew it would bring its challenges, but I was up for the challenge! After a couple weeks, I quit supplementing with formula and was exclusively nursing. This was great for a week or so and then Elijah just starting crying and crying. We didn't know what was wrong, but just assumed colic (Matthew was a colicy baby). Well after a minor breakdown and mom and dad coming to town, we decided to supplement again... WOW- we had a new baby. Poor Elijah was just hungry. So we have supplemented with formula after nursing ever since. I was able to come to grips with the fact that I just don't make enough milk for a growing boy- this was hard at first... I wanted the very best for Elijah and we have all heard the saying "Breast is Best" Well there are times, that that just won't work. I tell you all of this because you or someone else you know, may have the same struggle and you should NEVER feel bad for feeding a baby formula! I was a little worried about the cost, because formula is not cheap! But thanks to my sweet friend and pastors wife, we were introduced to Sam's Simply Right Formula. It is about 65% cheaper than Enfamil (and the exact same thing). Well this worked great for a few months...

Flash forward to about 5 weeks ago, right before Thanksgiving. Elijah came down with a cough. He ran a small fever but nothing major. We took several trips to Kids Urgent Care and his doctor (several RSV test and flu test). Each visit, they said NOTHING is wrong. But he continued to have this cough, sound congested (kinda like a pig), and then began spitting up like CRAZY! He has been on Zantac since he was 2 weeks old for reflux and it has helped tremendously, but it all of sudden just got way worse. At his 4 month check up, the doctor decided that we will try some Zyrtec for a week to see if it's allergies. After one week, the cough still had not gone away and actually sounded a little worse, so back to doctor he went this past Monday.

Matthew has won the outstanding father award through all of this. He has now made 3 visits to the doctor by himself because I have no more time off for the year. Well once again at the doctor on Monday, he was checked out and it was determined that his ears and his lungs are still clear. While we are thankful, we are frustrated, because something is causing this cough. The nurse practitioner said she thinks it's a milk allergy. So here's the plan... we have switched to soy formula for 4 days. If this helps, I go dairy free for 4 days to see if it is completely better. Well, so far it has been 3 days on the soy formula and we have seen a HUGE decrease in the coughing. Oh I forgot to mention, this coughing was keeping him up at night. Our great sleeper was not sleeping so great!!! We started the soy formula on Monday afternoon and he slept through the night on Monday night! Woke up twice on Tuesday night (but popped a paci back in and he went right back to sleep) and slept through the night again last night. MILK ALLERGY? really? Is this really the cause of all of our problems? As much as a I hope this isn't the problem, I do hope that we have now found the cause! As far as nursing goes, I will attempt to go dairy free, however, I take a medicine that helps to produce milk and the number one ingredient is lactose! My days of nursing may be nearing an end... but as I said before, I CANNOT feel guilty for not being able to nurse. I have made it 5 months and that is better than nothing!

So there ya go... Elijah may have a milk allergy-- neither Matt or I ever had that, so we don't know where that came from. I will leave you with a few pics from the past week...

We took Elijah for his first Santa Pic... he LOVED it. Doing "Santa" seems to be a big debate going around, but whatever you choose to do- you can't deny this is precious!