Must be the Dairy

It's been almost 7 months and I have pretty much figured out what ails my daughter. In the beginning when we'd nurse, she would no doubt spit up most of what I thought she ate. She had an ongoing stuffy nose, was always dealing with gas, though my milk always maintained an even balance of foremilk/hindmilk (as showcased in her diapers!)  But I kept reading that a fussy baby who spits up and has gas can be because of what's in her diet. Dairy is usually the #1 culprit. Thanks to KellyMom... THE best resource for breastfeeding information! Animal protein other than your own. It's not lactose, because that's the milk sugar you make in breast milk. It's no different in a goat or cow as it is in us. Anyway, I decided to cut it out completely at about 4 months. Sure enough, she quit spitting up, almost completely! And her gas discomfort and stuffy seemed to clear up. 

Then one day, while visiting family in Michigan, I found it entirely too hard to eat anything that was prepared at our family's houses because somehow it all involved dairy in some way and I was not about to pay top dollar for non-dairy options for the few days we'd be visiting. So I would either A) not eat those items and be left hungry since I didn't get the potato salad with steak, etc. or B) I'd eat a tiny bit of whatever it was.  Well I did this several times throughout our stay and my little girl didn't seem effected hardly at all. So I figured hmm, it's been almost two months, maybe her digestive system matured some more and she can tolerate dairy now. :)  (Not so much... read on)

So excited to eat dairy again, I ran out and bought some organic strawberry ice cream, dairy creamer, dairy butter, sour cream, and cream cheese, also having cheese on whatever we'd order out. Things seemed to be going rather well until a few weeks later... Poor girl has been a moody, cranky, fussy, even colicky child! She's spitting up more and more, stuffy nose is back, and she definitely has more gas. I was determined to figure out what was causing this (not thinking it was diary yet). I knew it had to be a physical issue. (We follow the WonderWeeks and she has been right on with those fussy periods and the 3 C's) Since this behavior was happening in between WonderWeek Leaps, it must be physical. Well she is also so so so close to crawling and pulling herself up to standing.  She is literally about to hit the ground running! SHE WANTS TO MOVE! :)  Other than it being a trying time for her developmentally, I put the pieces together and realized I noticed this behavior starting at the same time I added dairy 100% back into my diet. 

So I'm back to no dairy and I hope that in the next couple weeks, we have our smiley and happy-go-lucky little girl back!  And on the move!  Look out!