Diarrhea in infants

When your baby is sick, it's tough. I feel like I am fighting a constant battle. With doctors, my mom, and myself/google. Everyone has opinions, and everyone means well. But not everyone is right at the same time.

Parker has been sick with UTI for quite a while now but we only found out about 10 days ago. He got antibiotic which is giving him diarrhea. We are afraid of (1) dehydration (been there, done that, not fun) and (2) whether the antibiotic is being absorbed in his little body, since everything else he takes seems to run right through him.

They (doctors and the internet) say that diarrhea is a common side effect of antibiotic in infants. Doctors recommend not giving him ANYTHING but current formula. Internet says electrolyte drinks are in order as well as switching him to soy formula, which is supposed to be easier on his sensitive tummy. My mom is absolutely against switching formulas but wants to make his poop thicker by giving him rice cereal or other rice derivative. She also suggests giving him some water/baby tea to replenish the loss of liquids.

And I? I have no freaking clue! I think it's logical to add some fluids, whether it's water or electrolyte drinks, as with so much loss he may eventually get dehydrated, and we don't want to wait till that happens. I also thought switching to soy formula would be a good idea but I am not certain about it. I do not see how switching formula may be worse than introducing new food (rice) to his little tummy all together, and think both options should be eliminated. But what do I know?

In the meantime my baby is suffering and I don't know how to help him. And I don't want to make him suffer even more, so I am probably going to take the doctors advise and wait it out, doing nothing.

Actually, they recommended cutting his dose of antibiotic in half, which may solve the problem at least partially.

Summary

The BF is still a challenge. A different challenge now though. He latches on really nicely now but it still looks like he is not getting enough. He slept very peaceful when we bottle fed him pumped milk. Whenever we rely on the breast, he moves around a lot during sleep and wakes up often. We are still debating whether to switch him to a bottle. The breast is just so convenient! If we do, I would still like to stick to the breast milk, so the pumping becomes a hassle. Plus, they say if you exclusively breast feed for the first 3 weeks or so, the baby is likely to want to nurse in addition to taking the bottle. This would mean that I don't have to pump at night when I go back to work, I can just nurse him. Which would make a big difference.

I do want to breast feed though. For various reasons. The biggest, I think, is to get some kind of control over this whole situation. I feel like stuff has been happening to me lately, and that I have no control over it. Beginning with the lost pregnancies, to the c section, then him getting dehydrated. I feel like I have no grasp on anything and just need to take what's given to me. I don't like this feeling. Maybe I am being a bit out there but that's how I feel.

Parker sleeps 5-6 hours at night and worries us. Since he is not gaining enough, they told us to wake him every 2-3 hours for feeding. We tried the night before last and spent 2.5 hours trying to keep him awake and feed him, and he only ate 1oz! It was horrible didn't make any sense, and I will never do it again. He probably would have waken up on his own by that time and happily drunk the milk.

Parker got used to falling asleep at my breast to the point that even the day we gave him a bottle, he wanted the breast to fall asleep. Tonight it has been difficult for him to fall asleep though. I had a 2 week check up of my incision (everything looks good, btw) and it threw everything off. He was due for eating and I couldn't give him until we came home. So he was awake and hungry longer than usually. Then he would fall asleep during eating but never stayed asleep for long because he was hungry. Ugh. He is asleep now, has been for 2 hours. I'm planning on changing him after 4 h of sleep to see if he wakes up and eats. But if he doesn't, I'm not going to bother him. I guess.

Today Parker's umbilical cord fell off, too. We will probably be giving him a bath tomorrow.

We took Parker for 10 min in front yard and once we ate on a back yard with him sleeping in a bassinet. But no stroller time yet.

As I mentioned, per doctor, my incision is healing well. Although I won't be able to take a bath until Parker is 8 weeks! This sucks as I love taking baths. Also, I am still bleeding. Less than a week ago but still.

All right, this may be the longest post ever so I better finish. :) Just one more thing. I got my parents plane tickets tonight! They are coming in three weeks, on October 12. My dad is staying till the end of October and my mom till second week of December. I can't wait!!

Ups and downs

We are having hard time with feeding. Ever since Park got dehydrated I am paranoid. We went for a check up on Mon and he already re-gained 8 oz. So we are 7 oz short. We were supposed to come again on Wednesday, to check his weight at 2 weeks mark, but Marc and I decided to cancel. We don't want to drag him in a car and expose him to all the viruses and bacterias at the doctor's office. And he hasn't gained all back anyway (he would have had to gain 7 oz in 2 days, which is pretty much impossible). We got a newborn scale (it's coming today) and will weight him ourselves. We may go back on Thu or Fri. Otherwise she would have made us come back on Fri the third time.

I would really like to stick to breast milk, either breast feeding or bottle feeding. It's getting hard though. He obviously isn't (or at least wasn't) getting enough from the breast (as he lost so much weight) so we started supplementing with pumped milk. Now he doesn't like to eat from the breast any more and I am having hard time expressing enough milk using the pump, so at the end, he may be getting even less now than he did breast fed (everyone says babies get out more from the breast than the pumps).

I also got a UTI/kidney infection. The doc says that it's probably stress based. I agree, I haven't had one when I was prego, which is the time you are much more prone to get it, and I got it now. My kidney hurt so badly I could hardly walk on Tue. But it went away as soon as I got my first dose of antibiotic. I am feeling so much better now!

Back at the hospital, again

Parker lost some weight (actually a lot, almost a pound!) and got dehydrated. Probably from me not drinking enough water and eating poorly. We had to got to ER on Wednesday and ended up in hospital. We just came back late last night. He had dark orange/almost red pee and they suspected UTI. Poor thing got catheter, IV, and spinal tap! :( He is fine now though.

We had some issues with latching too but we are better now after consulting with a lactation spec at the hospital this Thursday. She showed me how to help him latch and also advised to get him close to the bare breast as soon as he wakes up. We used to change him and play with him first and only start feeding when he gets cranky. She said at this point he is not very patient any more as he is super hungry. As soon as we started doing this, we got much better.

I am also pumping about 2x day. 1oz per boob is a good quantity, I was told. That's exactly how much i get, too.

Got to go feed my little one. :)

At home

Marc had to run and get a few more baby items from Buy Buy Baby. I never bought any newborn t-shirts and have only onsies. But we need t-shirts while he has the umbilical cord still not healed.

Marc also got a diaper pail kind of thing. We haven't started on the cloth yet (not ready to do this much laundry after c section). And he got one of those swipe and read thermometers. Parker felt a bit warm to me today and all we had was a rectal one, which is good but I would rather restrain from using it to only when really necessary.

I have to say C section is tough. The surgery itself is not bad but now I feel pretty useless. I can hardly walk and getting out of bed is horrible. I feel like I'm going to tear my stitches all the time and I'm all swollen from my belly button down. I can't believe there are women who actually sign up for that.

2 days

We are going home tonight. I have 'staples' on the outside of my belly instead of stitches (stitches on the inside layers, of course) and they will be taking them off at 5. We can leave right after. Can't wait too!

BF is going well. Parker latched on right after they gave him to me (about 30 min after his birth). Then we had some trouble yesterday when he wouldn't eat. Then last night he ate beautifully and today he did too. I now know that he needs longer breaks, 3-4h, instead of 2-3h limited by hospital.

PARKER IS HERE!

Parker Tadeusz Scott is here! Born on September 7, 2011 at 6:47 pm, 7 lbs 15 oz, 21 inches.

Ended up with C section, they won't deliver breech naturally. :( Everything went smooth though. I love watching Marc holding him. :) Pictures soon.