10/26/10

Tummy Troubles?

For the last week or so, Gemma has been having poops that have been on the softer side. It gradually got a bit runnier and she has been pooping a lot more frequently, like 4-5 times a day. Sometimes it's a full diaper, sometimes it's just a little bit. The food she eats comes out almost exactly the way it went in. I would say she probably has diarrhea. When the poops are more liquidy, she gets a really bad diaper rash that oddly seems to clear up again in no time, only to come back with the next liquidy poop.

At first, when her poops were soft, I figured it was just teething. She was crabby and very moody with tons of whining, always chewing on her fingers. Now, I'm not so sure. The thing is, she isn't acting sick or feeling sick or anything like that. She has no fever, she doesn't seem to cry in pain, she is sleeping very well at night and napping well, she still wants to eat all the time, etc.

When i weighed her on the home scale yesterday, she was an even 20 lb. In over a month, she hasn't gained a full pound. I don't know if that's because I weaned her off or it's because she's been pooping like crazy. I think actually this rate of weight gain is kind of normal and i think i might just be paranoid because she isn't gaining weight as quickly as she once did.

I tried to make a doctor's appointment, but they can't see me for a week (next Monday). She doesn't seem sick enough to take her into urgent care. I've been avoiding fruits and veggies for the last day or so and just giving her cereal and banana, as well as crackers and cheerios for snacks. We had also switched her formula about a few weeks ago from Goodstart to Kirkland. Even though she had a can and a half of Kirkland already and i doubt that's the cause for her messey bowel movements, we decided to try Goodstart again (and it was on sale!).

Does anyone have any pointers on getting through this? She hasn't pooped yet today (though it's only 7 AM) and so i don't know if all the changes i made yesterday are working yet. I'll keep you posted.

*** update***

so I called Health Link just to see if there is anything I can do to improve Gemma's situation. One interesting thing she told me is to avoid high fiber foods - I was thinking high fiber would be good in this situation because it would provide some bulk, but apparently not. She told me to give her yogurt with active cultures and things like white rice, white bread, white pasta, etc. No raw fruits or veggies. Ripe bananas and apple sauce are good also. Also, I need to keep up the formula. She said Gemma should be seen by a doctor within 3 days from now, but that won't be happening. our doctor, for some reason, has cut down his hours to half days only and it's hard to get into see him now. Well, I hope her recommendations work!

1 comment:

  1. Hey Grace, we had Eli on Kirkland but one thing that I quickly learned (after our issues started with Eli's tummy & ears) is that Kirkland changes distributors all the time, so that means that the formula changes as well. It is safe, and meets requirements but is not the same from month to month. We switched formulas off of it as well... and Im sure as you know that anytime you swtich formula your going to see a change in bowel movements. When we switched we did it cold turkey not slowly onto a new formula and we definitly saw an issue with diarrhea. Some people say to slowly incorporate the new formula in the old formula so its not as much of a shock. Keep me posted!

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