He's Back

This past week has been the hardest by far with Hamilton--even harder than those first few days when breastfeeding sucked and my parenting skills were timid at best. Two weeks ago he showed symptoms of being sick (vomiting, diarrhea), but he wasn't fussy. I took him to the doctor on Saturday, and he tested negative for the flu and had no fever. The doctor had me switch to Pedialyte for a few days, since milk products can upset little, sick tummies. He improved almost immediately, and Sunday we even took him to the Family Circle Cup. (Pedialyte is even more expensive than formula, if you can believe it.)

I tried going back to formula the next morning with poor results. He was fussy and not normal, and I went back to Pedialyte. I was at my wits' end by Thursday, for NOTHING had been suiting him for four days. He was whining and crying at the least provocation and sometimes at no apparent provocation. I was beginning to think that my sweet angel had turned into a demon spawn.

I took him to the doctor this past Thursday to discuss my proposal that perhaps he was lactose intolerant. His sick symptoms had ceased, but he was still super fussy. I also wasn't sure how long I could continue to feed him Pedialyte instead of formula. The doctor thought lactose intolerance was plausible; I had switched to lactose-free formula on Thursday for lunch, and he didn't vomit or fuss.

Yesterday morning he woke up, and I was hopeful (as I had also been for the previous three mornings) that we'd have a better day. I was hopeful that he'd be sweet-and-agreeable Hamilton. Finally, he was! Back to his old ways of smiling, laughing, and talking when I went to get him up. He heartily drank his new lactose-free formula, and he was gobbling up his solid foods too. He patiently and contentedly played on the floor of my bedroom while I got dressed and cleaned up. My beloved child has returned!

Now the trick will be to reintroduce regular formula again in a few weeks to determine if he is lactose intolerant or if the formula change just coincided with his getting better for other undetermined reasons. As I'm learning to say with parenting, "we'll see."