Monday, April 16, 2007

Ear infections, Molars & Weaning OH MY

It's been a rough week in Liam's World... just miserable.

Liam's runny nose and whining has been a real fun-sucker the past few weeks, especially since Wednesday. The fact that he can't communicate his feelings/needs has been even more frustrating than the fun-sucking alone.

That whole "asthma" thing was, in my summation, a bad night with a molar breaking through. I found that pearly white a couple weeks later and had an AHA moment! You'd think the pediatrician would have checked his mouth when we went in for that "asthma" deal... not that I thought he had trouble breathing, I just had a relentless sobbing/moaning child for 15 too many hours... SOMETHING was WRONG! I guess being in that much pain and crying for that long with the right level of snot and congestion from teething can really mess one's breathing up!

Anyway, before I found that molar I was to the point of taking desperate measures to get rid of the high levels of snot and slime. I got a tip that dairy is a monster product that can really mess with histamine levels... furthermore that too much soy milk can effect my child's hormone growth... and even more horrifying that I have been pushing that soy milk so much so that I may have caused an allergy for my poor baby! My mind was twirling. I was so sure I needed to find a natural path to get him feeling good again. Teething shmeething, it had to be more than that!

WRONG!

After no dairy or soy for a week, a chiropractic adjustment in the middle of that week, natural immune boosters, creatively healthy and BORING diet choices... Liam is the same.

Then 3 days after that (Wednesday, April 11th) he has a temperature (won't eat, super irritable) so I take him to the doctor again suspecting his first ear infection. Tadah... Infections in both ears actually. Kids at that age with that much snot for this long can't drain it all properly, so it gets infected. Now I know. What a treat...

My poor kid was beyond miserable, flushed and zombie-like prior to getting to the dr. office and the same afterwards. In between though, while at the dr. office, absolutely ballistic! Liam would NOT calm down. He knew what that place was. I was so desperate to calm him that I nursed him (something a mom weaning a 17-mo-old should never do, I have since learned). I did feel fortunate that I had something to comfort him with, though. Liam cannot take meds orally... He. Will. Throw. It. Up. That said, a big needle was anticipated to be coming to a toddler leg near me... I prepared him by bearing his leg and nursing him until the nurse came to stab my child. All would be well until he felt the prick. He went nuts once again, but I was able to calm him down again.

So the aftermath of nursing a distressed and weaning child... it ain't pretty.

With more than the 3 additional molars breaking through, the ear ache and hunger pains, I think Liam is most upset at the fact that I am not nursing him in the day time (because of this one incident of me giving in). We have been down to one 5 or 6am feeding for quite a while now. Yes, there is the occasional feeding at earlier hours of the morning when he awakes and WILL NOT go back down without drinks, but I was only letting him nurse when he was basically asleep... the most opportune time for me to do it (so I get more rest and because alert/day time feedings are a real and literal pain when you have a writhing monkey attached to sensitive body parts).

Anyway, he wants to nurse so badly that he will get in my lap and literally beg me with "Peez, peez, peez"... it is a pathetic sight. What's worse is when I have said "no, I am sorry" more than once, he will throw the biggest and wildest fit you ever set eyes on! He does this sort of thing in the middle of the night, too, when he doesn't get what he woke up for. It's so so so sad! And since he had full access to me all of Saturday and Sunday, the fits and pleadings were amplified by like 100. I was at my wits end. I just didn't know what to do. I still don't.

I do know this, though. We took Liam back to the dr. this evening because he still isn't eating like he should. (He may be on a food strike to show mama that her milk is the only way to go.) The dr. said his right ear is completely clear and healed and his left ear is 90% clear. So the dr. checked his mouth and confirmed that most irritability was probably related to those dang molars.

In closing, I haven't blogged for over a week. Simply because I haven't had anything real sweet to say. I only took four photos of my darling snot box in a week's time. How odd is this for Liam's mom? Odd... very strange. But hopefully things will start looking up soon. Oh golly, it's got to get better!


Here is our tiny vulture mooching "Da Da's" VERY nutritious Cinnamon Toast Crunch. Liam would only eat "Da Da's" Trix the past few days. Don't judge me for feeding my kid sugar packed and color dyed cereal!
Seriously, he will not eat anything else. Sick indeed!

18 comments:

www.stepherz.com said...

Oh, I'm so sorry! I'm feeling your pain here. Noah MUST be teething. Not only is he nearly 10 months old with not a single tooth, but his grumpiness is so intense I sometimes just want to cry.

Noah is doing the opposite. He doesn't want to nurse at all. So my milk is slowly dwindling. He went from nursing 6 times in a day to 3 times. I'm so bummed.

Any chance you could just wean later, let him get through the tough time and then try weaning later? I know you have probably already thought of that, and you have to stick to your guns where you can. Anyways, I wish you both the best. I'm sorry about your struggles!

Jamie said...

I am so sorry that you are going through SO much tough stuff all at once.
It's hard to see it right now, but everything will get back to normal and your baby will start to feel like himself again...
And then you can be so proud of yourself for making it through all of the hard times, right??
Good luck to you!

Gina said...

Steph, yes, I have certainly thought of that... again and again over the past few months actually, because it's ALWAYS something. He has been sick since January basically. So I've been taking many steps backwards to comfort him since then. I just can't do it anymore.

Robin said...

I am SO sorry about the horrible week! And you're right, it's got to get better! Weaning is hard enough when your baby is somewhat cooperative, I can't imagine how it would feel to have my baby begging! You are doing great, hang in there! Liam will see soon enough that he can survive on food alone. And if he survives on sugar cereal alone for a few days it wouldn't hurt anyone! Charlotte is getting another molar, she's been lucky enough to get one at a time. When she won't let me comfort her with rocking I let her cry it out- it sucks!

Tori :) said...

Oh Gina. I'm sorry. What a crappy week. I sure hope things start to get better. They have too, right?

Anonymous said...

Remember--this too shall pass. That helped me through the rough spots! And I wouldn't worry about the cereal. My little one went on a food strike with the exception of oatmeal for a while. He won't starve :-)

utmommy said...

I feel your pain. I've been there, and it is not fun. I hope things get better for you and Liam soon!

Nicole said...

Poor Liam. ANd poor you!!! What a lot to deal with all at once! I have no experience with the weaning/not-weaning thing as Eli was one of the dream babies when it came to that...he never looked back once i cut him off (and I am forever thankful). As far as the rest of it, good luck is all i can say. The poor kid is going through so much with the ears adn the teeth...hopefully he will be 'back' soon. For your sake as much as his!

jolibe said...

You are a Super-Mommy! So don't beat yourself up - you are doing soooooo awesome!!! I'm so sorry to hear of all of the troubles that Liam is going through recently. I hear ya' about the "it's always something" comment! My 18 mo old son is cutting his 2 yr molars now (he's been an early teether all along) - and all I can say is Thank God these are the last of the teeth!

Just keep following those mommy instincts and trust in yourself - good times are heading your way! :)

Katie said...

(((Hugs))) I'm sorry you're all having such a rough time over there. I know what it's like to be emotionally done and physically exhausted when your little one is sick. I hope he gets better soon. And don't beat yourself up over the dairy/soy/asthma thing. We all do the best we can with the knowlege we have, you know? You did what you thought was right, and now that you have more information, you change your game plan. That's not flaky---it's good parenting.

Daisy said...

So sorry Gina, that must be so hard to wean when he is literally begging you for milk. It breaks my heart to hear it, but you are doing the right thing. You are the mom and you are in charge. You can't let a 17 month old (no matter how cute) be the boss.

I was lucky with Cameryn because she was ready to be weaned when I did it and never looked back. One day I was nursing her and the next I wasn't and she was fine. She was about 17 months also.

Cameryn always gets her molars in all four at the same time. She didn't have any trouble with her one year molars, but had a really high fever with her 2 year ones.

You are a great mom and are doing everything possible to help Liam. Sometimes they just need time.

I was pleased to see you even took him to a chiropractor. I'm a big believer in that. Cured my migranes completely and haven't had one in 4 years now when I used to have them at least once a week.

Holly Schwendiman said...

Don't you just wish motherhood came with a crystal ball? Hope you're all on the mend and back to regular routines soon!

Hugs,
Holly

Klin said...

sugar packed-color dyed cereal is comfort food for the kids. Girl, you need some chocolate and a hug.

Shelby teethed all at once and it was miserable- I am reminded that I know of your pain.

You are a good mom. I'd never 2nd guess you.

Anonymous said...

Hi Gina,
I saw your blog from Anissa's and thought I would check it out. You are so amazing. I don't know how you do it. I'm impressed with all of the pictures and life history. You are going to love it when you look back and get to rememeber.
I have one piece of advice, coming from a mom that has nursed 3 boys. My youngest nursed until he was 2. I tried to ween him so many times, but like you I couldn't not give in, when I knew it was the only thing that would bring him comfort. My husband had about had it with him in our bed every night wanting to nurse. I have to say, the longer a baby nurses, the harder it is to ween. I got the chance to go out of town for about 4 days. I was stressed out of my mind with the thought of leaving my husband with a child that could only be consoled by nursing. But I went anyway. My son had never slept through the night. The first night I called and my husband said. Oh it was horrible, I put him to bed at 9:00 pm and I had to wake him up at 7:30 the next morning. What!!!! I was so confused. It hit me, he slept because he knew that I wasn't there. Needless to say, we got rid of the binki and nursing in those 4 days and when I got home, he kind of looked at me, but has never asked to nurse since. He got to be a big boy the whole time I was gone and hang out with daddy.
I don't know if it would be possible, but leaving is pretty much the only way I know of to really break the cycle. You have to be ready though. Sorry for such a long comment. But I hope this helps. Its amazing how much our children have to go through to grow up. We just have to be there to help and encourage them and love them.
You are awesome. Good Luck!

Terri@SteelMagnolia said...

Oh my my...
you did have an awful hard week...
along w/ your little man...
I'm sorry...

OMG isn't it the hardest thing in the world to expose that little leg for that shot...
I haaaaatttte it! Matthew gets two of those every month for RSV...
this will be his last month...

I couldn't help but giggle to myself about the medicines...
I don't have that problem..
all of Matthew's meds go right down his Gtube! I'm sure I'll get payback when the Gtube comes out.. but that will most likely be years...

Being a mommy is a tough job...
it breaks our hearts to see them unhappy....

Big heart hugs Gina!!!!!

Love you!

D said...

yuck! Not fun at all! Sorry you've had one of those weeks. I like Cheryl's idea of taking a vacation and weaning them then. I wonder if that will work for Kaden. We aren't at the point of weaning yet but I am trying to nurse him less... sort of. He went to sleep last night without me nursing him. Don't ask me about the middle of the night though- I nursed him twice last night because that is all I have energy for at that time. I need to get tough on him again. blah!

Well it sounds like you are doing awesome even faced with all of the difficulties and frustrations. Kaden's been snotty nosed this past week too and sure enough he's getting two new teeth on the bottom front. I'd noticed him chewing on his fingers a lot. OH well- eventually they get all of their teeth and maybe then life will be more normal? :)

Shannon said...

Gina, your week sounds all to familiar and it helped me see that we are all in this together and it's healing to read others' experiences. Our little guy is teething, snotty nosed, ear-infected, not himself and I totally understand everything you are feeling. So high and so low is this thing called mommyhood. Thanks for sharing so much!

notquitestandard said...

I could've written this post the other week. Literally, molars, ear infections, snot, fits, meltdowns, and sleepless nights.

I feel for you and am glad things are going better lately (based on your latest post). ;)