You know, there should be a clarification in the studies that note that 20% of babies have colic to say 20% of families with a child that has colic will have a 90% chance of their second child having colic. Maybe then I wouldn't have gotten my hopes up so high. I was really wishing Sophia wouldn't have to go through the pain of colic. How is it that a new born can go a couple weeks with an even more undeveloped stomach and not have screaming colic pains but two weeks after birth spontaneously start screaming in agony due to digestional issues?
This time round Sophia started with colic at 2am instead of Padon's acceptable 7pm. It was harder to be on the ball struggling with colici baby that early in the morning and so this time round we pulled out all the stops in trying to figure out how best we could help her. We gave Padon Mylacon like it was going out of style, and with Sophia we added Gripe water. Something I didn't learn about until about a year after Padon and happily it seemed to relieve some of the discomfort which made us feel better, but didn't make the pain go away. I then started researching the main food groups that potentially cause colic in babies and nixed dairy products, broccoli, tomatoes, citric fruits, cucumbers, and any other naturally gassy foods from my diet (just about all staples in our fridge and cupboard).
Going without dairy was a really hard adjustment because it is my very favorite food group. But after reading article after article about how the proteins and enzymes that make lactose intolerant people sick are the same proteins and enzymes that get into your breast milk and potentially cause colic I decided the mature and responsible thing would be to live lactose intolerant for Sophia. A week of no dairy (very hard) seemed to do the trick and just to test it I slipping some cheese into a sandwich. I was one guilty Mamma that night as Sophia screamed in agony (absolutely no exaggeration). I felt so bad for her and you could just tell it was beyond awful. I have resolved myself to no more dairy until she has hit her "actual age" of 6 weeks when I will test her again. Her actual age is based off her original birth date, January 26th, so she will be 6 weeks on March 10th. This hopefully will give Walter and I a clearer idea of whether her troubles are due to an under developed stomach or if she may truly be lactose intolerant. It seems amazing to me, the idea of going without cheese pizza and dairy ice cream for a whole year of breastfeeding and potentially, for Sophia, the rest of her life. And just to clarify, I do know about acidophiles milk, lactose pills, and soy products. As a person who has always been able to eat anything with a cast iron stomach, it is hard for me comprehend and to stomach. Ha! Had to throw that pun in there.
I also want to throw in this post that Sophia was a winter baby and Padon a early summer baby. There was a whole other factor adding to the screaming and crying that Sophia did and for her it wasn't the stereotypically 3 hour jaundice but off and on all day long. I believe it took me a week to discover one cold morning that both of us were MUCH happier if we were breastfeeding directly in front of a blowing space heater. It was such a duh! I just never had to deal with a newborn in the cold before (Padon lived in onsies). It didn't stop the crying but it definitely lessened it. The poor thing was not only dealing with stomach pains but she was cold! For the longest time I had been the only one in our family with "no blood" and I felt silly for not realizing that my little girl might have the same feeling. We had to strip her down to keep her awake for feedings but it didn't mean I couldn't blow a little warm on us. Sheesh!
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