Damn You, TED!
Boden, as cute and snuggly and sniffably adorable as he is, is COLICKY~ DUN DUN DUN! Oh yes that dreaded C word. Every night from 1-4am he’s been howling and shrieking nonstop… well WAS. At my doctor’s prompting I dove onto a special diet in hopes of reducing his reflux without medication and, in turn, hopefully reduce the wailing.
I started out looking at the low acid / low gas diet (here, scroll down to #14) but that was so overwhelming - my head felt like exploding from information overload- that I turned to one of my favorite bloggers who went on a similar I will keep breastfeeding anti wailing crusade of her own. She pointed me towards this. MUCH simpler
at only range-fed turkey and lamb, baked or boiled potatoes and sweet potatoes (with salt and pepper only), rice and millet as your only grain, cooked green and yellow squash for your vegetable, and for fruit, pears and diluted pear juice. Drink a rice-based beverage drink in place of milk on cereal or in cooking. Do not yet use soy beverage. Take a calcium supplement. (Rice products, such as rice beverage, rice-based frozen dessert, rice pasta, rice flour, and millet are available in nutrition stores.)
Only I can’t even eat everything on that list. Sweet potatoes seem to cause issues; heck, veggies of any sort outside of avocado seem to be fartoriffic so the yellow and green squash are out for now too. Then there are pears, ewww pears. I am not a fan at all. I rarely will willingly consume a pear. They are MEALY and gross unless picked at the peak of pear harvest perfection and even then I loath them unless slathered with some type of caramel sauce and sunk into a torte or dumped over ice cream. I’m just NOT pear person and the thought of drinking pear juices makes me gag.
Then, where does that leave me? I’m SO glad you asked. That leaves me with oven roasted turkey on millet bread. Jasmine rice with sea salt, white pepper and avocado and on occasion a boneless skinless baked chicken breast. I also found some puffed rice cereal that’s been sweetened with the tiniest touch of honey. I could have vanilla rice milk over said cereal but I gave that a whirl the other day and nearly vomited in my bowl of $5 a box cereal. It wasn’t a problem with the rice milk, nor with the cereal but apparently when combined the two became vomitrocious.
In any event, that is it. That’s all I’m eating and while it IS helping Bo, I on the other hand have become a snarling raging beast of a woman. I’ve had a headache now for three days. I’m not a headache person, never have been, and coping with one is not my forte. “Coping” and I use the term loosely means jabbing my finger into my temple as counter pressure while I yell at people to be quiet and stop breathing so loudly. I generally do this while pacing back and forth through my galley kitchen rifling the fridge and pantry shelves for ANYTHING mild I might add to my diet. There is nothing in there to add, I know it, but I still persist, longingly staring at shelves of forbidden foods like eggs, cheese enchiladas, peppers, blueberries, beef stew, hummus, ice cream, shrimp *drooling*…. you get the picture.
My body is reacting in other ways too. On day 3 of the diet, my face massively broke out. I looked like the teenage fry cook at my local fast food joint- much worse then i ever did in my teens. Day 3 also brought about the BO plague- I smell so bad I can’t live with myself.
I have to leave the house tonight to pick up more food supplies for my self imposed torture TED diet. I’ll be easy to spot. Just look for the woman crying in front of the cheese case with a horrible case of body odor and some whopping festering facial zits and heck by then I may even have a scrumptious case of backne.
June 23rd, 2008 at 3:00 pm
Oh Fidget! We feel for you, truly we do. . .
Some suggestions which might help - carrots are clear for the diet, as are cherries, peas, french beans, mushrooms, pea shoots, and, of course, the lovely avocado. Try nectarines (which are in season soon) instead of pears and use maple syrup (the genuine stuff) instead of sugar or honey. Watch out for that white pepper - it’s often a hidden source of gluten. Try snacking instead of three-meals-a-day (small meals seem to create less of everything). If milk-less cereal doesn’t float your boat, try cooking some rice in a little rice milk; a splash of maple syrup and a handful of raisins (also okay!) and you’ve got breakfast. You could also try walking screaming Boden around your backyard - it works a treat with every colicky baby I’ve ever met.
For headaches, (assuming you are right-handed, if not, swap hands) hold your left hand between the thumb and middle finger of your right hand, put your right thumb into the soft fleshy spot just to the right of your left thumb and push gently, making small circles without lifting your thumb. . .trust me, it helps.
June 23rd, 2008 at 9:00 pm
Wow! That does not sound fun at all. But the rewards are so worth it, both for you and Boden. Is there anything you really would enjoy and look forward to doing, that could serve as a reward throughout the day? Just a thought. Hang in there.
Jill’s last blog post..Natalie Prayed
June 24th, 2008 at 3:29 pm
Poor Fidget. I just felt so bad for you I found this on Wikipedia:
“Fennel, however, is a safe, natural remedy that has been shown to practically eliminate colic in 65 percent of babies, and reduce symptoms in nearly all the remaining test subjects (”Pediacalm” was the fennel preparation used in the study). [18] Fennel, along with dill, chamomile, and some other herbs are known for their digestive health benefits in infants as well as adults. They are primary ingredients in gripe water, which is believed by some to relieve the symptoms associated with baby colic, teething and baby’s gas.”
Might be worth a shot. And since you’ve got to go out anyway… Good luck!
Amber’s last blog post..Dulywed: What’s Beneath All Those Vows (a series)
June 24th, 2008 at 6:17 pm
My mother in law swore by fennel, and I would give my kids water after I boiled fennel seeds in it and strained (cooled of course) also Mylacon infant drops became my best friend for many months with all 3 of mine.
June 25th, 2008 at 9:01 am
OH you poor thing. How horrible!!! As for your headache, if you can afford to go have a massage, DO IT!!! I would bet its an anxiety headache from lack of sleep, food worries, Boden worries and just general fatique and anxiety. As for Bodens colic - my boys were terribly gasy when they were born, take after there dad of corse, and I had to burp them HARD after each meal. The were not easy burpers and it sounded like I was beating them!!! BUT I always got every burp out and man did that help. Another thing that helped was laying them on thier tummy and rubbing their back with your thumbs going up each side of the spine - usually they elfarto right away. Another thing would be to try to find a way to confine yourself and him in a room where its cool and somewhat dark - I did this when my boys would not sleep - play lullabys LOUDLY not base bumping loud but relativly high volume and try to relax together. BTW - rubbing the bottoms of his feet may also help as it is relaxing - all of the nerves in your body have a spot in the foot - relfexology - and it can be VERY soothing.
As far as your diet - cant help you my dear but I will pray for you !!!
BIG HUGS hang in there and keep your finger out of your eye!! LOL
Heidi’s last blog post..‘Fwimming’
June 25th, 2008 at 5:33 pm
http://www.mamac-ta.com/…check out this blogger she was on the TED diet…lots of good advise. and funny too it was a couple years ago her son is 3 now so check out the archives..good luck and try peppermint oil for the headache…smelling it helps me
June 26th, 2008 at 8:37 pm
I can’t help you with the diet, I don’t think I’d have the perseverence–you go girl! But white noise was my salvation during my son’s colic. I busted our vacuum cleaner before I learned the sound of the hairdryer worked just as well. Good luck!