Milk, It's What's Not For Dinner
Back in June, Ava had her One Year checkup. Everything looked good – weight, height, development, etc. Since she was now 12 months old, the doctor felt it was time to move her from her formula to whole milk. “Yippee!” I thought. No more expensive cans of formula, no more mixing up powder and hot water at 6 am, when I’m barely awake enough to find the kitchen, much less correctly guage the temperature of the water from the sink.
Off to the store I went, to purchase some organic whole milk for my baby girl. The doctor said we were free to make the switch cold turkey, no gradual tapering off of formula needed. The next morning, instead of a bottle of warm formula, Ava awoke to a sippy cup of cold milk. She happily slurped it down, handed me the cup when she was done, and burped. So far, a normal morning. I was ecstatic. Look at my big girl drinking milk from a cup!
All went well for a few days, then the diaper rash from hell arrived, and along with it (and here’s where it gets pretty TMI) diapers full of the liquidiest, foulest, muoucus covered poop I have ever in my 36 years encountered. I have a pretty strong stomach, but this made even me gag. It’s like the poop was covered in watery cottage cheese. It’s ok, go throw up now, I’ll wait……….Ok, back? Good.
We called the doctor’s office, who seemed very unconcerned about the whole situation. Just watch her, they said, it’s probably nothing, but if she gets worse, bring her down. It happened to be a Friday, the day of the week that my husband works from home and keeps our daughter. I left for work, advising him if anything got any worse, to take her in. Don’t call them, just go.
About 2pm he called me to let me know her butt was now bleeding and painful to the touch and he was on his way to the clinic. I sat and worried for an hour, waiting to hear back. Finally he called to say they still didn’t think it was serious, but did give us some cream for her bottom. They did not think it was the milk, but to take her off of it and when she is put back on, if there is an issue at that point, bring her back in.
So for two weeks, we slathered up her little bum with creams, fed her formula and kept her on the BRAT diet (Bananas, Rice, Applesauce and Toast). Gradually, the rash went away, along with Poopapalooza.
So I put her back on milk. Only one bottle a day this time, instead of a 100% switch. That was Monday of last week. By Friday, the bleeding rash was back, along with the Hershey Squirts. More cream,more doctors, appointment made for yesterday.
What it boils down to is this: the doctors seem to think her tummy is unable to correctly process the change from formula, which is a highly refined, and processed product. Formula is designed especially to NOT upset tiny tummies. Milk, on the other hand, seems to be an instrument of Satan an unprocessed product, and her tummy is confused by it.
For now, we are back to formula, at least for a couple weeks, until her body decides to cooperate again. Then we re-introduce milk into her formula, 1 oz at a time. If that doesn’t do the trick, we are back to square one. And I will be considering taking up drinking as a competitive sport.
12 Responses to Milk, It's What's Not For Dinner
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Was she on any special formula, like lactose free, or just the regular kind? Because maybe that could make a difference too.
We did the gradual switch, two ounces of milk, then four, then six and finally just milk. I don’t remember any problems with either of my kiddos doing it that way. I’ve never heard of just switching all at once, but that doesn’t mean that it is the wrong thing to do.
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Avasmommy Reply:
July 29th, 2009 at 5:39 pm
No special formula, she’s been on Nestle Good Start since she was about 3 months old. All other formulas gave her the turkish trots as well. My baby girl has tummy issues to say the least.
I spit out water when you said Hersey squirts. SO sorry this is happening, milk is the instrument of Satan, I have no doubts about that.
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has she had other types of milk , like yobaby yogurt etc? Does she do ok with that?
I hope things get better. It has to be heartwrenching to see her go through that
Avasmommy Reply:
July 30th, 2009 at 12:45 pm
She’s had very little in the way of milk products, a tiny bit of cheese here and there, but that’s about it. Yogurt upsets her tummy, which is suspicious, now that I think about it….hmmmm.
I know how you feel right now. I went through this with my daughter, who will b 2 in less than a week. We had to do the same thing. Switch back and forth for what seemed like for ever. She was on Soy formula, we had to slowly switch her to regular formula by mixing it with Soy, then had to switch to Soy milk, back to formula, then slowly integrated regular 2 milk into the mix. At this point, 2% is the only milk that she can tollerate (which is good bc that’s whats good for them). She can’t even drink chocolate milk while we are out, it upsets her tummy. I wish you the best of luck in finding the balance for you little.
Poor Ava! And you! Are things better after these past couple of days?
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Blah. That’s a major bummer. I seriously hope it’s just a minor hiccup. Maybe if you told her it’s formula, but really just slipped her milk? Would that work? No?
Ok, so yeah, maybe try the competitive drinking thing then.
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I’m terrified to start the switch to cow’s milk. Lyla’s eleven-months old now so it’s definitely soon upon us. She seems to tolerate yogurt and cheese well so I’m hoping we don’t have too much trouble, but ugh. Exactly what you’re going through is my worst fear.
Did they consider a dairy allergy? Could you try soy milk or rice milk?
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Did they tell you to try soy? I know some docs don’t like it, but some kids just can’t handle dairy at all. My oldest still can’t do much of it and she’s seven and a half years old. In fact, I even had her on soy formula. I’d try that in small doeses instead of milk again. Silk is a great one and has tons of nutrients and crap in it. If you do regular flavor, it’s healthy. Not the vanilla my kids will drink now. Ha.
Poor girly, but really poor you. I just can’t believe theyd be like, oh lets try it again. Dumb shits. Sheesh.
Avasmommy Reply:
August 6th, 2009 at 9:21 pm
She handles dairy products, like cheese just fine. But it’s a processed product, so who knows. I am hesitant about soy unless absolutely necessary. If we have the problem again, I’m going to rip the doctor a new one.
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