Weight

UPDATE: Please note that there has been a correction to the post below. We were weighing Laney on our home-baby scale and the scale was showing her to have lost significant weight. We went to the doctor this morning and praise the Lord above, our scales are WRONG!!! I'm SO happy to say that Miss Laney weighs 12.8 lbs and not the 10 lbs our scales were telling us. Shew! I CANNOT tell you how much I can breathe better and how happy I am. I could have floated out of that Dr's office! Laney still has trouble with gas hurting her, especially during feedings..so I am changing some things. Read below for details as to what I'm having to do to try to fix this gas problem with Laney.


I started to bottle feed breast milk to Laney a few days before she turned 3 months. We were in Georgia at the time and the transition worked well. The reason I switched was because Laney had so many problems with trapped gas inside (causing her to be very colicky) because she had a bad latch. Every time she ate, you'd always hear a clicking sound, and that was never good. Feedings would last centuries and it would always be a WWF match between Laney and I to get at least some milk into her little body to cause her to grow and gain weight. When we went to the bottle, she continued the clicking sound while she ate, but she consumed more milk in less time, thus getting more milk before the gas prevented her from finishing her bottle. (Now, THAT was a mouthful.) Laney started to gain weight and it was such a joy not having to "wonder" how much is Laney getting and if she gaining enough weight, etc.. She was indeed gaining when she was nursing, but this way it took the wonder out of it, and I was able to relax more. She got up to 12 lbs and maybe a few ounces over. I was so excited!!! She grew out of the 0-3 month clothes and was filling out her new 3 month clothes nicely.

This past Sunday, a few days before turning 4 months, I decided to weigh Laney before church. I was so excited to see the next weight gain on our baby scales. I wanted to log it into the memory so that next time, her weight would put that last weight gain to shame. I couldn't believe my eyes as I saw the number....Laney had lost weight, and a significant amount of weight. In less than two weeks, Laney lost 1.5 lbs. I gasped and was completely stunned. How could this be? I knew that the last 2 weeks, Laney has been extremely colicky during feedings, her stomach would always hurt her and cause her to stiffen up, arch her back and try to get away from the bottle. Lately she hasn't been finishing her 6 ounce bottles because of the abdominal pain. It's almost as if Laney associates pain with eating because it's been rough from the very beginning.

Of course, I'm worried and a bit sad now. How do you get your baby that's losing weight to drink out of a bottle when she refuses to do so? So, I called my parents to tell them, and after chewing on it a bit, we thought that maybe Laney is lactose-intolerant. If you are lactose-intolerant, you have problems with gas and it causes a baby to be colicky. To make a long story short, cow's milk is the main culprit in causing colic. Thus, I'm eliminating all dairy products from my diet to see if that's what's wrong. However, this is not a quick fix. It takes up to three weeks to get cow's milk and all dairy for that matter out of my system. So, for short-term, I'm giving Laney lactose-free formula. I despise giving her this, for she's so used to breast milk..but after a few days, I'll be able to discern if #1 she's gaining weight and #2 if her feedings are going better. I just want the best for her and gaining weight is essential to her health and well-being. We are going to the doctor tomorrow (Tuesday) at 10:00 a.m.

I'm still having to pump to keep up my milk supply as well as fix formula bottles...so I've got my work cut out for me. I have so many bottles to wash now and I'm still having to get up to pump and fix her a bottle around 5 am. If it turns out that she is indeed Lactose-intolerant, I'll have to throw out all of my breast milk that I will pump in these next few weeks, as well as my whole supply that I stored from the beginning. AH! It's like throwing out liquid gold!!! :(

Please pray for us, that Laney will gain weight, that I will trust in the Lord in this issue through prayer instead of worrying and adding more stress to my days, and that we'll figure out where this abdominal pain is coming from and have a solution to fix it. She is in so much pain when she eats, as well as when she passes gas. She cries out in pain when she passes gas, so that's never a good sign. Thank you for your prayers. I'm headed to bed to rest this weary head. Blessings to you all.

Hollie