2 Week Check Up and Update

We made it through the first two weeks! :) Woo hoo!

Unfortunately, we have had FOUR doctor appointments in the last two weeks and that was after spending the first three days of life in the hospital.  That's a lot of trips to the doctor.  Thankfully, I think we are in the clear now until his one month visit.

So to catch you all up...

We went last Friday for another weight check and to also follow up on the powder formula.  He was up to 9 pounds, 3 ounces, which was good.

He ended up having a dirty diaper while we were there, so they went ahead and checked it.  As I suspected, there were traces of blood in it.  That left me with the decision to switch to ready to feed OR go on the strict diet.  I don't know if it was hormones or what, but every time I thought about going dairy free I literally would tear up.  It was just so overwhelming to me.  Breastfeeding is already hard, and then to add a crazy diet to it (that would mean not being able to eat 90% of the food in my kitchen) was STRESSING me out.  Needless to say, we are going with the ready to feed.

Oh, and in case you are thinking, "How hard is it to not drink milk or eat cheese for a year?"... it's not that easy.  Here is a preliminary list of dairy foods or derivatives that must be avoided.

MILK FREE DIET
Avoid foods that contain any of the following ingredients:

*artificial butter flavor
*butter, butter fat, buttermilk
*casein
*caseinates (ammonia caseinate, calcium caseinate, magnesium caseinate, potassium caseinate, sodium caseinate)
*cheese
*cottage cheese
*curds
*custard
*half and half
*hydrolysates (casein, milk protein, protein, whey, whey protein)
*lactalbumin, lactalbumin phosphate
*lactoglobulin
*lactose
*milk (derivative, protein, solids, malted, condensed, evaporated, dry, whole, low fat, non fat, skim)
*nougat
*pudding
*rennet casein
*sour cream, sour cream solids
*sour milk solids
*whey (delactosed, demineralized, protein concentrate)
*yogurt
*brown sugar flavoring
*caramel flavoring
*chocolate, milk chocolate (cocoa butter is ok)
*high protein flour
*margarine
*natural flavoring
*Simplesse A "D" on a product label next to a "K" or circled "U" may indicate the presence of milk protein

The soy list is almost as long.  OH, and since he wasn't handling the powder, that would mean a corn free diet as well.  That doesn't mean just "don't eat corn", it means not eating anything with a corn product in it.  Instead, I will just sell my left kidney to afford the formula. ;)

He was up to 9 pounds, 9 ounces as of yesterday.  That is not quite back up to his birth weight, but he was still gaining at the appropriate rate (half ounce to ounce a day) so everyone was happy.  They tested another dirty diaper.  There was a very small trace of blood still in it, but since it had only been five days it could still be working it's way through his system.  They usually like to give it a full month when it comes to elimination.  Since he isn't fussy, spitting up, gassy, or having strange colored diapers, they are pretty confident that the ready to feed is going to work out just fine.