I spent 2 hours yesterday with the chronically fussy baby and her mother,
ostensibly for tea and a chat, actually partly because I wanted her to see
how calming a sling can be. It wasn't. Baby *screamed* as she was put in,
as if shifting to the new position was painful. She finally quieted, but
spent an hour being restlessly awake, never really relaxed, with red-rimmed
eyes but unable to sleep. Mom had not seen any difference following giving
lactase directly a couple times.
That's the bad news.
The good news is that we decided to try 3 hours per breast, reasoning that
prolonging time on each breast was the *only* thing that had clearly made a
difference in the past two weeks (vomiting stopped and stools returned to
yellow following the 2 hours per breast regimen). The rest of her day was
moderately good, the baby slept a 3-hour stretch last night for the first
time in weeks, and today was a good day!
The mom gave her 2 bottles of lactase-treated breastmilk this afternoon,
but the good day started well before that. She'll continue to pump for a
couple lactase-treated bottles for the next day or two, but she feels it's
the longer time at each breast that made the difference today. If tomorrow
is a good day too, we'll be pretty sure we're on to something, because they
haven't had 2 good days in a row for 6 weeks.
I'll keep you posted. I'm *so* pleased for them, and mom feels *so* much
better after her 3 hour sleep.
Diane Wiessinger, MS, IBCLC, LLLL Ithaca, NY, who'll sleep better herself
tonight!
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