I'm going to regret this post

I know for sure I'm going to regret this post, but I want to start this blog the way I intend to keep it. Open and honest. So today, this week, my mum is annoying me. (If you are reading this mother, think long and hard before you read on.)
She means well, and I know she is excited about having little girl (lg) when I go back to work. But just for now, I wish she would shut up about it.
I don't want to go back to work, right now for us its a necessity. We can't afford the mortgage and buy food etc on Miki's wage. For the last few weeks I want to enjoy the time I have left with LG, I don't want to think about someone else looking after her. I don't even want to think about Miki looking after her.
I know this is selfish, and I hoping over time once I'm back at work I'll feel a bit better about it.
(I'm not really expecting this to get any easier ever, but I can't face that either.)
I"m also annoyed that mum keeps talking about how she's going to take her to garden, go to the library etc and I start to feel bad that I haven't done any of that stuff. I just sit at home with her, but thats what I love too.
I'm starting to worry that my mum is going to dash her around all morning and when I get home LG is going to be so overtired that all I get a cranky baby who can't even get to sleep because she is so tired.

Finally on top of all of this, I can't seem to get across to my mum that she is not going to be the primary carer. She is just looking after LG when Miki can't do it. I keep telling her, but she doesn't seem to listen.
I'll be so glad when this first term is over and we can set up a more settled routine in term 4.
OK Rant over.
Mother if you read this, don't talk to me about it. I don't want to have that discussion.

Diet update

We are still working our way through the food challenges.
Since my last post about the diet we have tested
* Goats milk
* Amines
* Nitrates

I think the goats milk had a mild reaction, but it just made her a bit spewy. So I'm not completely sure that it was the goats milk. But I hated the taste so much of the goats milk that I couldn't be bothered continuing the test.

The amines seemed OK, but again the test required eating 3 bananas a day and I don't like bananas. I'm now eating foods with amines but monitoring it carefully. I must admit there wasn't that much I could add that had amines but not Salicylates, so I'm not to worried about them.

In the last few days we have tested nitrates, this has meant eating bacon and ham. YAY!!! I've really missed these. Thankfully they don't seem to have reacted, but I'll keep monitoring for the next few days.

I'm not sure what I will test next, it will either be milk or soy. I'm thinking soy as I'm pretty sure the milk will react and we'll need a few days afterwards to recover.

Flavours in Breastmilk

I found this article very interesting. The fact that their research showed that it only takes at the most 8 hours for the taste to disappear is interesting in relation to Saana's response to food I've eaten.
When doing the food challenges I can always tell if there is a problem with the food within 12-18 hours. IF she hasn't reacted after 24 hours I can pretty much be assured that the food is not a problem for her.
I must admit I've always suspected that breastfeeding helps develop a babies tolerance to flavours. I also think that a broad diet while pregnant help to develop the babies tolerance to different foods, but I don't know how you would research that idea.

Diet update

I've lost track of exactly how long we've been doing the diet now. Miki has been very grateful for all the foods I cooked and froze before Saana was born, I don't think he would have coped on the diet. Each time he eats my food he comments how bland it is. But that's life.
We have tested several different foods
She no reaction to
• Wheat
• Yeast
• Eggs
Her nappy rash flares up if I have lots of yeast, but generally OK.

But last thursday I tested Salicylates and we knew about it by that night.
Over the day I ate
• 150gm of canned peaches
• 1 granny smith apple
• Pumpkin soup (cumin & onion)
• 150 ml of freshly squeezed apple juice
• Half a mango

Approximately 10 hours after first food was consumed she started to react. Our evening and night ran like this
• Noisy reflux sounds but very little vomit
• Started making her “I’m in pain” cry
• Would start to fall asleep then wake up with a jerk and start crying again
• The strong reflux occurred for her evening foods on the 10th and her overnight/morning feeds the next day.
• Her day feeds on the Friday still had reflux, but wasn’t as intense.
• Friday afternoon and Saturday she appeared to have colicky tummy pain
• On Friday her stools had blood in them
• By Saturday evening she was pretty much better.

So now I've accepted that for now I'm not eating anything with even moderate salicylates> After we have finished all the other food challenges I will test her tolerance levels.

Diet update

Today I had an appointment with a nutritions, after the MACH nurse recommended I see her to check that my diet is OK while on the elimination diet.
Well the nutritions suggested I go the whole hog and do the complete elimination diet recommended by the Prince Alfred Hospital in Sydney. I was pretty overwhelmed by it all when I left. The diet combined with what I have already eliminated doesn't leave me with that much to eat. As I was driving home I was sure I wasn't going to do it, but I've changed my mind now.
If I'm going to do this it is worth doing well. So now I'm learning all about Salicylates (I can't even say it yet), Amines and other natural food chemicals. I've found at lot of information and resources at Sue Dengates website. So we'll see how it goes.

Sling, Pappose or carrier

Hi. My name is Sally and I'm a sling-o-holic!

I now have 3 slings and I love them all. Let me tell you about them.

When I was pregnant my mum brought me a baba-sling.
I used this when Saana was very little and she could lie in it. She would often fall asleep while in it and it was so easy to get on and off while she was tiny. I must admit that as she became bigger it became uncomfortable to wear and she didn't seem to like it much either. I now keep it in the car for when I want to duck into a shop or something and I want at least one free hand.

Then my dad brought me an ergo. I think this one will be a favourite for a long time. It is great for walking and outside things. The only time it is not perfect is for around the home which brings me to my third sling.

I brought myself a hug-a-bub. This one is for around the home, while wearing Saana is the HAB I can cook, clean, deal with washing etc. I think this is Saana's favourite because she can face outwards and see everything that is going on. It took me awhile to get the hang of putting it on, but it gets easier pretty quickly.

Now I've written all this, I'm going to go and put Saana into the HAB because she is sik of playing on the foor or sitting in my lap.

sally

Diet

I have decided to do an elimination diet to try and see if what I'm eating is triggering Saana's reflux. Before her UTI and kidney infection were diagnosed I stopped eating anything with caffeine, including chocolate :( and tomatoes.
We've now cut out
* dairy
* wheat/gluten
* soy
* rye
* eggs
* Plus all the original things.
I'm planning to do this for at least 2 weeks and then I'll start testing foods.