Baby update

Daddy and grandad are swimming with the boys. To most, this event might be enjoyable but insignificant. In the life of MY baby this is a significant event! I can count on one finger the amount of times me and my baby have been apart for more than 10 minutes, and that's because he was sleeping. Right now I'm sat on my own, arms free, legs up, watching my boys splash in the water with big smiles on their faces. My baby doesn't even know I'm in the same room and he's happy. No money in the world can buy this feeling - priceless! I know daddy will appreciate the time with him too!


On another good note, these weeks of hell with reaction after reaction have shown that my baby has allergies and intolerances. That's right numerous. Weaning him is proving to be a minefield where the wrong foods can cause wheezing, rashes, increased reflux, sleepless nights, and irritability and clinginess. Even the medicine I've been giving to ease his teething pain causes reactions. It's been a hard slog, but it's helped us to see that extra help is needed. Blood tests are being arranged and dietician appointments have been set up. Hopefully, we'll be able to get the right sort of help. Won't it be great if it's as easy as that. Unfortunately, my own experiences and the experiences of others in similar situations have shown its not as easy. There is a world of different foods out there for us to try, which could a mean a whole load more of these hellish weeks. I'm breast feeding my baby still and whatever I eat can cause these reactions as well, so im on a restricted diet and I have to tread cautiously when trying new foods.

While on the subject of breast feeding, when I had my baby my goal was to breast feed till 6 months and then switch to formula. As it became apparent that baby had problems I continued to breast feed because my research showed that it was best for him in his condition. Now allergies and intolerances have come to light we can not give him regular formula even if we wanted to. There are formulas for babies who have multiple food intolerances and allergies, but they cost £40 a tin and last 2-3 days depending on the appetite of your baby (mine can feed constantly if having a bad reaction). There is no way we could afford to give him this, and GP surgeries fight every inch of the way not to give it to people because of the cost (quoting from experiences from an online forum). And so, we could be looking at breast feeding for the long term yet. As much as I advocate breast feeding for babies, I do have reservations when I think of breast feeding past one year (for myself, I hold no judgement on others doing it). However, I've thrown aside all the rest of my 'good parenting' rules out the window due to soothing and trying to ease my babies pain, it looks like I'll have to throw out my reservations on this too.

I'm not sure what's next on the road to recovery, but the past few weeks of torture have hopefully brought us one step closer!