Dairy Free

It has been a little tense here this past week.  This post is not to discuss your views on vaccines, this is just to share what has been going on here.

First of all, childhood immunizations make me nervous.  I was one of those babies that reacted very poorly.  Because of this I was very concerned about Carson.  Thankfully I found a great pediatrician that understood my concerns and was willing to work with me.  I didn't want Carson to get all the shots at once so they let me do a slower, alternative schedule.  I know they say it is perfectly safe, but it seems like so many vaccines at one time for such a small baby.  My pediatrician and I decided that Carson would get only the DTaP vaccine and the oral Rotavirus vaccine at his first appointment.

Well, Carson did pretty good.  I nursed him afterwards to calm him down and he seemed fine.  The next day he was fine as well, but about 48 hrs after the vaccines he started getting very irritable and fussy, which was to be expected, that is one of the side effects, but then I started finding blood in his diaper.

Poor little guy, mommy let him sleep in her arms

I called the pediatrician and they wanted to see him right away.  After testing his diaper to make sure it was blood, the pediatrician told me that Carson has a milk protein allergy.  I asked why this came out all of sudden and the doctor's response was that it can come out anytime and it has absolutely no correlation to the vaccines.

I started doing some research, and found several other instances of Mom's asking if this has happened to other infants.  I guess the oral Rotavirus vaccine can be very irritable on baby's stomach and intestines.  I have cut all dairy out of my diet for now, but so far, the blood is still there.  We just feel so bad for Carson, he has been so upset and just crying.  He can only be consoled by finally sleeping or being walked around.  Today was the first day he seemed more back to normal, even though the blood is still present.

Sleepy guy

Now, was it really the vaccines?  We don't know.  We just find it so suspicious that our boy has not had an issue with his tummy at all and then all of a sudden, two days after an oral vaccine, he has blood in his diaper.  We are hoping and praying that it just passes and clears on its own.  I do not care if I have to be dairy free as long as it makes Carson feel better.  Our doctor seems to think that if it isn't dairy in my diet, we need to put him on an allergy free formula, which I really do not want to do.  Prayers are appreciated as we move forward and wait.  From research that I have done it seems like once babies start developing these issues, they react to many things.  There is the potential for a long road of elimination diets to figure out what is hurting my sweet boy.  But that is the worst case.  Like I said, we are praying for a complete healing, or healing from eliminating only dairy.

He has started drooling a lot!

 Thank you all for your prayers.  Please also pray for a friend of mine in Denver.  She has just found out that her cord and placenta are failing and she is only 28 weeks along.  They are expecting to induce her in the next couple weeks.

I'll leave you with a pic of my cute, special, adorable little boy.  :-)