**WARNING** this blog is mostly about poop!
The past 4 weeks have been so frustrating trying to figure out which formula is right for Madi!!!!!!! We came home from the hospital on Enfamil Infant (of course) and she was perfect for 3-4 weeks! Never spit up, pooped good, very content, and never cried. Then...she started having major diarrhea blow-outs, crying with stomach pain for 1-2 hours every night, and started spitting up ALL of her bottle. I dealt with reflux with Emma, but this was completely different. The doctor told me to switch her to a soy formula, so I went with Enfamil ProSobee concentrate liquid. She did very well on the soy for about 2 weeks, despite the fact that she was too constipated to poop. Dr. Nabors told me to add Miralax to her bottles, which did make her have a good normal poop, but she still screamed nightly with obvious stomach discomfort. We also noticed that her skin cleared up. She had been very reddish...especially on her bottom. Then...she started throwing up whole bottles again. Dr. Nabors said to switch to the Nutramigen. After the 3rd bottle, she had major diarrhea. After the 4th bottle, she broke out in a red splotchy rash from head to toe. Scared me to death! I was also confused as to why she would be allergic to the "hypoallergenic" formula! I immediately switched her back to the ProSobee and called the doctor the next morning. Then...after a couple of days, she started breaking out on the soy formula!!! I did a lot of research and have come to the conclusion that she has protein allergies or protein sensitivity. I know for sure she is allergic to the milk protein and I'm thinking now she is allergic to the soy protein as well. I finally found the ultimate formula...EleCare. It (and Neocate) is amino-acid based and is the only true hypoallergenic formula. Madi has been on the EleCare for 6 days now and has not broken out... yet. It is extremely expensive and has to be ordered through the pharmacy (not a problem for me ;), but she is still spitting up. Not nearly as bad, but still more than I think she should. She's still fussy at night, but last night she only cried for a few minutes (instead of 2 hours!) and she slept from 9pm to 5am!!! I'm praying that this formula works for her! Now I'm stressing about food allergies when she's older... We've never had to deal with all that. However, I think she gets all this from me. I was told 2 years ago from a GI specialist that all of my digestive issues I've dealt with my entire life are due to celiac disease. Celiac disease is a food allergy to gluten. Gluten is in everything and is apparently what makes food taste good! I am supposed to stay away from anything with wheat, barley, or rye (breads, cakes, pasta, cookies, everything I like...) I actually did go gluten-free for about 3 months, but just couldn't stick to it!! It was way too hard! The GI guy also told me I have eosinophilic esophagitis...basically I have an allergic reaction in my throat that causes my esophagus to constrict and not allow food to pass through. I attribute this allergy to gluten too, b/c when I was gluten-free, I had ZERO episodes! This EleCare formula is also gluten-free, which may actually be what Madi is allergic to. Hopefully we have found a formula she can tolerate and are back on the road to having a content baby! I just HATE when my baby doesn't feel good!
