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!