The Milk Protein Allergy

Gabe's been having a rough time. He grunts for extended periods after every feeding. Melissa has narrowed it down to being a milk protein allergy.

I had a problem with milk for a few months when I was a baby. My parents had to switch to a soy formula. Gabe acts like he's got gas or is spitting up after every feeding. This wouldn't be such a big deal except you have to feed a baby every 3 hours all day long. So Melissa has to fight the grunting every night to try to get him to sleep, so she can actually sleep.

A lot of websites say that Melissa can alter her diet to cut dairy and that should help. Cutting out ice cream is no fun. She'll have to find something else for her cravings (I'm hoping it's me). We also are going to experiment with different formulas to see if we can find one that makes a difference.

In another two months, Gabe should develop enough of a digestive system to handle the milk. Hopefully we can find a better solution until then.

Meanwhile, Luke's now completely "#1" trained. We still have to overcome some fear with "#2" in the potty, but I'm guessing it's not far off. That'll be a huge relief on the diaper expense.

Luke had an interesting week at the lake. I'd say the most interesting discovery we had was Luke's reaction to swimming. Apparently I need to teach him that putting your head under the water is safe. Luke's experience is getting his hair rinsed in the bath, and he usually chokes a little bit on the water. He doesn't quite understand holding his breath. Apparently he generalized that experience to meaning that having your head under water means certain death.

He went swimming with cousin Macy, and Macy would float around using water wings. However, whenever her head or face got near the water, Luke would scream bloody murder. He would try to grab her and help her up, which of course made her actually breathe in some water and start choking, reinforcing his fear. We picked him up and found his heart pounding; he was generally scared to tears for her.

Finally we realized what was going on, so I demonstrated that your head can go underwater and it's perfectly fine. It helped some, but he was still scared and crying for Macy a lot of the time. We're going to have to practice in the bathtub some before the next lake trip.