Jade had her upper GI this morning. It was kind of rough because in order to prepare, she couldn’t have anything to eat between 12 midnight and the procedure, which ended up being around 10:30 this morning. The procedure was over shortly after 11, and so she didn’t get to eat until around 11:30.
Of course, she woke up in the middle of the night and couldn’t understand why I wouldn’t nurse her, so I had to get up and walk with her to keep her happy. Alvin was a dear and woke up around 4:00 a.m. to take over and give me a couple hours of sleep.
The procedure itself went well. She made a big liar out of me and took the Barium right out of the bottle. My guess is she was hungry enough to take anything out of any container, because by all accounts, the stuff is *nasty*. The doctor didn’t find any indications that she has reflux or a pyloric stenosis, so that’s good. I had been holding off on the Zantac for the past couple days, until we had the test done, and really, she hasn’t seemed like she even needed it. So, I am starting to think that perhaps her reflux was more due to the milk allergy (which can cause reflux like symptoms), and now that I’ve successfully eliminated all traces of dairy from my system, and therefore hers, she’s doing better.
In fact, I was a little concerned about how not eating for almost 12 hours would have affected her, but she nursed so well today that she was up 3 oz just from this morning, which made me so happy. She was 10 lbs, 8.5 oz, which is the most she’s *ever* weighed. She also nursed a HUGE amount during a nap we took today, which probably had a lot to do with that.
So we’ve at least ruled out reflux (at least primary reflux), and her thrush is now all gone, so we just need to work on getting her to nurse a little better, but I think we’ll get there slowly but surely. Hopefully the 1-2 ounces of formula I give her here and there (when she doesn’t nurse well) will fill in the gaps until we get her nursing more consistently. Meanwhile I’ll keep on watching that diet. It should be a little easier now that her thrush has cleared up, so while I should be careful not to overdue it on sugars and yeasts, just to keep it from coming back, and I will continue the supplements and pro-biotics (acidophilus), I don’t have to be *quite* as stringent on the anti-Candida stuff anymore.
Now just to figure out exactly what she is and is not allergic to, instead of just guessing. From what I’ve being reading and hearing from some other moms of kids with food sensitivities/allergies, the most reliable way to determine food allergies that are causing digestives issues, is to eliminate all suspected allergens from my (thus her) diet and then when all allergy symptoms have cleared up, to try a little of one, and if no reaction over a couple days, try a little of another. Since it’s been a while since I got any wheat, nuts or milk, and she hasn’t seemed to have any allergy issues/reactions this week, I did have some wheat today just to see if she reacts to it at all. I haven’t had any of the other suspected allergens, so if she has a reaction (most likely gas and/or stool issues), we’ll know it’s wheat/gluten. I’m really hoping she isn’t truly allergic to wheat, but we shall see.
So, we have good days and bad, and today was a really good one. Hopefully we’ll start to have more good than bad. I’m really trying to step back from all the little frustrations during the day and see the forest for the trees, so I don’t get overly stressed, which, in turn, stresses her out.
It’s all in God’s hands, and we’ll take this one day at a time. For now, I’m just praising Him that we’ve ruled out reflux and the thrush is gone.
