Time to squeeze in a blog entry, It's been a busy week. I went back to work on Monday and left Heather on her own. Starting Tuesday we had 2 really bad nights. Allison was very irratable for two nights where Heather and I got very little sleep. Heather tried to take the night shift so I could rest for work. But we found out that it was just too much for one person.

By the time I came home on Thursday, Allison was so cranky. She spent the whole day crying and Heather was worn out and needed a break. I took the baby from Heather at 6pm and spent the next 7 hours walking around the house,trying to comfort her. It seems that she was bloated from her feedings and I found that if I hold her tight and walked with a decent bounce it was able to calm her down. Except for a few short
breaks I needed to be on the move. Eight and a half pounds gets really heavy when you carry it around the house for 7 hours straight.

I started reading about colic and it boggles my mind that they don't know what the cause if it is. Then it says that it can last for 3 months! I can not imagine dealing with a baby that cries constantly every waking minute like Allison has been the past couple of days.

On the bright side it seems pretty clear that Allison's crankiness is caused by bloating in her GI system, so maybe it's not technically colic, And it seems like it should be pretty easy to adjust her diet to releave the bloating. Heather called the Lactation Center at West Penn Hospital to discuss how feeding is going to see what adjustments we can make to help Allison.

Heather is going to give up Dairy until Allison activates the lactase enzyme. I can't find any websites that talk about how long it takes the lactase to start working but our pediatrician said that it would take some time, around a month I think? Also the Doctor said something about bacteria taking hold in the GI that will ferment Lactose. I can't remember if that is before or after, It may be before, and it could be what is causing all the bloating.

Friday was a great day until her 11pm feeding. She was content and happy all day, It took me another hour of trying to calm the baby and then Heather took her for a little bit and was able to calm her down. Things are much better than 2 days ago and hopefully we get to the point where Allison is not bloated hardly at all.

I can't think of any new discoveries about parenthood this week. Changing diapers is getting easier. And I can't wait for the weather to warm so we can take the kiddo outside.