WAAAHHH...

The approximately 16 ounces of pumped breastmilk was "contaminated" with potential allergens - and so, it had to be "dumped". However, like with the milk I pumped for Piper, I didn't have the heart to just send it down the drain. The milk I pumped for Piper two and a half years ago, ended up mixed with Phoebe's chocolate milk. This milk ended up in a sippy cup for Piper, who drank it all but maybe an ounce.

At least it didn't go to waste! Liquid Gold, baby.

I'm a HUGE fan of breastfeeding, cannot count the number of things I attribute to breastfeeding. I have nursed my previous two daughters for 2.5 years each, allowing them to self-wean (which each did about 6 months into subsequent pregnancies. Coincidence? Probably not). I'll also allow Chloe (my six week old) to self-wean. I believe in the benefits of both exclusive and extended breastfeeding.

Anecdotally, my first wasn't the healthiest baby, but I assume that's because she was in daycare - she even caught RSV at 11months of age and was hospitalized for five days. However, at the time, she would still breastfeed, so she never got dehydrated (therefore never needed an IV) or required nutritional assistance. It was ALL she would eat, but thank goodness she would. Her overall health improved when we took her out of daycare.

My second had horrible food allergies, as previously attested to in this weblog. I know that there was not a formula on the market, short of a prescription for the very expensive Neocate, that she would not have reacted to. I'm certain that breastfeeding, and diligent food avoidance on my part, had a large hand in her outgrowing many of those allergies, even prior to our discovery of the magic of probiotics!

Further evidence of the effectiveness of the immune benefits of extended breastfeeding was our attempts to have Piper (my second) get wild Chicken Pox. We don't do the vaccine, and we attempted three times to expose her to our friends when they had CP in their house. The first two times Piper was about 15 months, and two members of the family caught the Pox. Piper was still nursing pretty heavily, and of course she didn't contract the illness. The third time, she'd been weaned for about a month (at two and a half), and she caught a VERY mild case of it, with seven pox, no real fever to speak of, and the only crankiness was her displeasure at being cooped up without her friends to play with! It was pretty awesome, if we had to have Chicken Pox in our house, that it was no worse than that.

Every major organization in the world extolls the virtues of breastmilk. In tribute to it's value it gets called "liquid gold". Pretty unoriginal to repeat it, but dang if it isn't true, and I say the same thing to the new moms when I'm at work!

And yes, I cry over spilt milk when I spill or have to waste it - just to refer to another cliche.

I have a newborn, and granted I tend to go against the "mainstream" on some of my parenting decisions, however I tend to think that demand feeding, and letting newborns sleep when they need to, and not introducing cereal before 4-6 months is pretty standard practice. However, I may be wrong.

I have to say that I'm shocked to see how quickly some babies are put on schedules with feeding and sleeping - often following the ill-advice of one Mr. Ezzo and his parenting method "Babywise". I'm amazed at the pace at which cereal is put into bottles, and the crying-it-out method of sleep training is employed. I'd never knock a parent their decision to do so (use cry-it-out, or decide to add cereal to a bottle), but these are practices for when the babies are older, aren't they?

According to my favourite developmental psychologist, Erikson, the entire first year of life is devoted to the battle between trust and mistrust. An infant must learn to trust the caregivers around her (I'm using her because that's what I have) that her basic needs will be met. Those basic needs include being fed, and comfortable, and loved. If they don't have those needs met they develop a sense of mistrust in their parents and the environment in which they are in.

I see crying it out like this - when they are forced, especially so early in infancy, to not be fed or held (basic needs at this age), and to stay in a crib for X hours in a night, they will learn to mistrust their cribs, their rooms and most importantly, their parents. Now, granted, there is a time and a place for everything, but in newborns??? To me the answer seems obvious, that it's entirely inappropriate.

The cereal one is based in physiology - their guts are not mature enough to handle such large proteins at this age, it's too permeable. Predisposes these babies to allergies, diabetes and obesity.

So, while I would love my daughter to nap on time, eat on time, and sleep all night, right now is not the time. As it is, I'm trying to figure out if she is starting to work out her own semi-predictable schedule. Sadly, for now, she is not.... but I have faith that the time will come.

Well, I'm back on the blessed E028, elemental formula. Yum (NOT!). The stuff was made to be put in G-tubes on comatose patients. I doubt very seriously that it was truly meant for consumption that includes tastebuds. For kickers, I feel like I should put it in a goblet, just to give it some extra appeal. But let's face it, it's best when just chugged with your eyes closed, and a clothespin on your nose.

Okay, so I exaggerate... a fair amount. Strangely your tastebuds do adapt. Some raw sugar in it, and chilled, it's not so bad. Now, the price? That IS bad - $100/box, which is $10/packet, at three packets a day... well, I'm within the Rachael Ray $40/day budget. Should I go on the show?!?

The point, however, is the elimination, not the diet. In my case today, I'm actually fortunate - this is the second time I've been through this, so it seems simpler. I stopped "chasing down" the allergens much more quickly this time. It's like chasing your tail. You could keep guessing what you ate that MIGHT have affected the kid, and then TRY eliminating that thing. Then when they have some microscopic improvement, but not total improvement, you think you're on to something, until the next increase in symptoms. And so on and so forth.

However, I quickly realized the path we were on, and actually became so scared to eat anything, I allowed 24 hours to go by with nothing but one apple and a Diet Coke before I made the call. Time to do TED.

I was also lucky that I HAD the E028, it's off the market now, and I had it leftover from the TED that I did for my second daughter. I have enough for one week... then I'll go to chicken, potatoes and apples (I hope - if they work!), for two weeks or her system seems cleared, whichever comes later. At that point we start adding one food at a time (about one a week) and watch her closely and hope that we don't see a reaction.

It's been two days on the diet, and already her skin is clearer and her GI issues seem to be improving.

Welcome to my blog... casual intro here. My name is Amanda, I'm 33, mom of three girls and a neonatal ICU nurse. I race bikes, mostly at Hellyer Park Velodrome, although not this year, owing to the birth of my third daughter in August. My husband is a software guy, and hence how I got into blogging.

This blog will be about parenting issues, pregnancy and children's health issues, and very possibly cycling issues. So have a look around, and enjoy. Feel free to leave me comments, I'm always happy to have feedback!