Castro, Party of 3: MSPI??

You're looking at a MSPI baby - Milk/soy protein intollerance

The first month with this little girl was tough - sleep deprivation, contant feedings and just trying to figure it all out. But I have to say that this past week was the hardest, physically and emotionally.

Both Jo and I had to deal with changes. She had to deal with the nasty disgusting taste of the formula, which she hates by the way. I'm not over exaggerating by saying that the formula smells like dried cat food. I smelled regular formula yesterday and it is far superior than this special stuff. And TMI here, but her poop is just as disgusting! Nothing compared to the sweet breast milk poopie. It takes her about a full hour to get 4 ounces down. And it's not like we can just sit and feed her the bottle. We have to walk around holding her for her to get it down. So yea, not an easy week. Plus when I'm by myself with her, she wants nothing to do with the bottle. She'll go to my chest, my sweater, my neck and just start sucking away there. She smells me and that's what kills me the most.

Ok so after 1 early AM feeding and dealing with her troubled feeding, I had this feeling that this wasn't right. Breastmilk is supposed to be the best for babies, right? So I did more research. I went to community boards and I even scheduled a 2nd opinion with another gastroenterologist, which is not for another 2 weeks. Apparently there are thousands of breastfeeding mothers who are dealing with the same thing. What do they do? They eliminate all dairy and soy from their diets. I have and still am not eating any dairy. I check every label and just this week I started eliminated soy. Everything processed has soy - bread, granola bars, chips, frozen stuff. Even worschestire sauce! I know that because I looked at all the ingredients in my fridge.

Yesterday I also went to my pediatrician for her monthly well visit. I told him about my visit with the gastro and he said that the study is a lot to ask for a breastfeeding mother. And I agreed. Pretty much I was intimidated into doing this. I was told that there's no way I could go back to feeding her. The gastro also said that the no dairy diet "is too hard to follow." So apparently there is some truth in cutting out dairy and soy, but he just wanted me to be part of this study.

My decision - continue breastfeeding while having no dairy/soy products. It takes about 2-3 weeks for all Milk/soy protein to get out of my system. So I have to be extra careful. Just 1 teaspoon of creamer or a soy product can aggravate her. Anything that is processed in a facility that processed milk/soy - cannot be in my diet. This is gonna be good. I love to cook and now I will just have to cook big meals on the weekend for the week, which I've done pre-baby. Just haven't had much time (and energy) to do that.

I love my pediatrician, he's great and down to earth. We will be monitoring over time to see how she is doing. Plus he said I'm not doing any harm by feeding her now. It's not like she's going to go in shock. She may be uncomfortable and irritable, but she will be fine. I am also going to substitute formula with her. I noticed this morning after nursing her that her cheeks got all rosy and her cheeks weren't rosy when she was solely on the formula.

So what about the study? Not doing it, can't do it since I already introduced the breast milk and I don't want to alter their study at all. They can scare another mother to do it. BTW, they need a total of 40 babies. They only have 14. Another reason why I had that sick, gut feeling.

Ok enough of that. I will update as the weeks go by. Gotta go get her now! But first, on a happier/fun note, Jo had her first play date yesterday with Haley Rose! Her mama Marcy lives in Queens and had her baby girl 6 weeks ago! Yay another girl!