Full of It

Check this video out of Emersen - Emersen Eats.  Eating her cheese, which she loves, all day long.

This is Emersen pooping. Or really trying to not to poop. Oh by the way, this post will be about poop - read at your own risk. I post stuff on the blog about Emersen that I want to know about other people and their babies. I mean, there is so much you don't know about babies because they can't tell you anything so I find it helpful to know what certain illnesses look like in a baby or what treatments have been tried and did or did not work, etc. So that's why I post about poop.

We found out yesterday at the doctor, by X-Ray, that Emersen is literally FULL OF CRAP. Pardon my french. Tennis size amount ready to deliver and backed up further up as well. Poor little girl. We've had issues since we switched to soy formula at the beginning of August. At first we thought it was just the switch, as our first experience with raw butts and weird poops happened when we went from some breast milk and formula to all formula. So we give it time. Unfortunately at some point, because of discomfort either from a raw butt or consistency issues probably caused by the soy (because of her body's reaction to soy), she decided she didn't want to poop so she started her "plank" pose for pooping. This turned into crying and getting upset while she did it. Which took us to the doctor the first time. New doctor as well. She recommended 2 tsp of dark corn syrup in every bottle (before when it was occasional, it was 1/4 tsp). Also, to give her milk of magnesia (1/4 tsp) once a day. We did this for about a week. Corn syrup serves as a softener, and milk of magnesia softens and serves as laxative. No change. And she had stopped wanting to eat her cereal, and just wasn't eating that well at all. Sometimes it was because she was squirmy in her seat while eating - we later learned this was probably because when you eat, your body gets a clue to start the process of emptying and because she's so full, she actually felt this happening. Also, she was taking like 2 hr naps all day, and running a low grade fever - nothing above 100.

So we upped the milk of magnesia to twice a day. We did this for several days with no real change - still crying while pooping and it seemed to me that 2 weeks of softener should have more of an effect and things were still formed. So we bit the bullet and switched back to Nutramigen, yes, liquid gold. Our doctor says this usually solves most stool issues. And we had some immediate success, but then back to crying and small results. However, she had stopped the long naps, fever and was back to eating normally. Thank the Lord. I called the doctor to ask about how to measure success and she said to give it 2 more days to adjust to the formula switch and adding back in the cereal. We had two HUGE successes Monday night and Tuesday night, but she had said to go ahead and make an appointment for Wednesday and that we might X-Ray. So, while we had some successes, there was still crying during the act. 

The picture above of her plank pose is one of several pictures I took to show her behavior and results. Yes, I took pictures of her poop. And it was very helpful at the appointment to show how HUGE her successes were but about how small her other results were as well. This led to an X-Ray and seeing the X-Ray afterwards of what she was full of - stool. 

Now we are on poop boot camp for her colon cleansing. Mirolax, milk of magnesia and enemas - oh my! The enema was a terrible, yet productive, experience. She HATED it, cried and just hated it. But of course, that's the problem, is that she hates pooping. The goal is to relinquish control so she has no choice but to let it go and have it not hurt. So I'm home with her today trying to get all this worked out. Things are moving in the right direction so far it seems. And now she's waking up! Time for lunch with Mirolax on the side. Yum.