So now, it's dairy free for me!

Yesterday Isabelle was a little very grumpy and we assumed it was all due to teeth, until at around 4am this morning when she woke up screaming, obviously in a lot of discomfort. She had a lot of wind and lots of green coloured poo! Then this morning when Michael left for work, I changed Isabelle's nappy to discover... blood. *tiny freak out here* So, I called Michael who had only got to the end of the road when the phone rang, told him and said I'd get a doctors appointment. Doctors open at 8am, I called soon after and apparently - no appointments left apart from 3:30pm - no sorry, I'm not leaving it that long she's only 11 weeks old was my reply. So I got a different appointment - a 5 minute appointment, which turned into a 30 minute appointment once the doctor saw the blood in the nappy.

When the doctor examined Isabelle she couldn't find anything obviously wrong with her but wanted to talk to a paediatric consultant from the hospital as there was a lot of blood in several nappies and she didn't want to just leave it. After talking to a paediatric consultant she was told that I should stop breastfeeding for 2 weeks and use a special formular due to a diary intolerance, then after 2 weeks of me having a diary free diet I could start breastfeeding again. My reply ? "Over my dead body am I stopping for 2 weeks"... what if I couldn't start again? I've done so well getting to 11 weeks breastfeeding her I am not going to give up without it being the only thing to do. So the doctor wrote a little letter and sent us off to childrens a&e at the hospital.When we arrived we were seen pretty quickly and Isabelle had her very first blood test! It was awful, she screamed her heart out and I felt horrible watching her wondering why she couldnt move her little hand. It took forever to get a tiny amount out. They sent them off and while we waited for the results I was given the job of catching Isabelles wee in a pot! Erm.. not very easy but I managed it after a while.

Thinking back Isabelle has had the signs of dairy intolerance since birth but I dismissed them as colic and shes been on infacol...
Some symptoms of dairy allergy in a baby 

• gassiness, gas pain or discomfort - always very windy
• crying and colic symptoms - been on infacol since 5-6 weeks old due to this.
• skin rashes - had baby acne?
• eczema - shes had what we think was this
• nappy rash
• slow weight gain - well Isabelle was born at
• green stools, mucus stools or like Isabelle's today stools with blood in!
• diarrhea or constipation 
• vomiting 
• Coughing and cold like symptoms

When the registrar came to see Isabelle she confirmed that it is very likely to be a dairy intolerance but she said I didn't need to stop breastfeeding, I just need to cut dairy out of my diet completely and see if everything improves, I'm back to getting her weighed weekly... Cutting out dairy, not the easiest thing to do when you love cheese, milk and chocolate but here we go I've got my list of foods I'm not allowed and although it's going to be very hard I'm determined to breastfeed Isabelle if I can and as that means cutting out all dairy products then I will but did you know I'm no longer allowed flavoured crisps!? Ahhh.

Anyone else have a baby thats sensitive to dairy? I'd love to know about your experiences 

Mary-Kate x