Our poor baby... she's been having quite a rough time the past week or so. And the worst part is, we can't seem to figure out what the problem is. Actually, I think the cause of the problem keeps changing.
Last weekend (a week and a half ago), LM was quite cranky. She seemed to have a lot of gas and wasn't eating well. She didn't have a BM at all on Saturday but she also didn't eat much solid food so I wasn't worried, and Sunday she had a normal BM. She had a low fever Saturday but felt fine on Sunday, so Monday she went to daycare. Well, turns out daycare had a run of rotovirus going around and LM was one of only 2 or 3 kids in that day... and they ended up sending her home anyway because of diarrhea. In the evening she'd be happy one minute and screaming for no apparent reason the next, so we eventually chalked it up to either teething or gas/upset stomach/other symptoms from the rotovirus. We continued to send her to daycare that week because she always seemed fine to us in the morning, plus she wasn't pooping at home so we didn't know if she still had diarrhea or not. Daycare said she was pretty cranky Tuesday and Wednesday, but she seemed to be back to herself by Thursday.
Unfortunately the screaming fits didn't stop completely. She may have been doing better at daycare, but Friday night she started the screaming fits again. LM didn't want to eat or take a bottle, or chew on anything for her teeth, and this time the tylenol and anbesol didn't help, so we suspected gas. By Saturday it became clear that she was constipated... then Saturday afternoon she finally passed a HUGE (adult-sized) rock-hard BM. Poor baby! She immediately stopped crying and then slept for another hour, so we thought we might be able to go out to dinner. Bad choice. She ate ravenously for the first 10 minutes we were there, but once she was full the screaming started again (just as we got our salads), so I took LM out to the car to let Jen and her aunt eat their steaks, until Aunt T came out to take over for me.
Sunday LM had another screaming fit and then passed some more hard poop, so we thought for sure that this would be the end of the screaming fits, but it wasn't. Last night (Monday), LM fell asleep on her way home from daycare (as she often does), and I carried her inside and she slept for about a half hour. I was sure she'd be hungry when she woke up, but as soon as I put her in her high chair she started kicking and screaming and flailing, and absolutely refused to eat or drink anything, including goldfish (her favorite). She also refused to be held or consoled. The only way I managed to get her to eat anything was while she was running around, I was able to get her to take a few spoonfuls of peaches -- when I tried again with the bottle, she started screaming again. I eventually had no choice but to leave her lying flat on her back in "snow angel position" on the kitchen floor, crying. Of course after a few minutes, the crying stopped just as suddenly as it had started and LM popped up and came trotting over to play with her toys.
At this point I felt I really needed to get her in to the doctor and see if we could figure out exactly what was wrong with her. Was it something we missed, like an ear infection or some other infection or gastrointestinal issue, or was it just teething or more constipation? I managed to get the last appointment for the night, at 8:50pm. Jen got home from class around 7:45 and tried feeding LM again, and again she had a screaming fit but this time with two of us I was able to get some anbesol on her new tooth and that seemed to do the trick. Jen was finally able to get her to sit still long enough to eat half a Graduates chicken stew, and she continued to munch on goldfish until the doctor's appointment.
By 8:50pm LM seemed like the happiest girl you've ever met, running around the exam room exploring the heater, the magazines, and everything else. I'm sure it makes the doctor's exam go a lot smoother, but it also makes her parents look like total loons. The doctor ruled out an ear infection but she did notice a big blood blister between the cusps of LM's newest tooth (her first molar), so I'm pretty sure that's the cause of her latest distress. It's just been so tough because she doesn't want to chew on any teethers. And if I knew for sure that's what was bothering her, it would be a lot easier to deal with the screaming because at least we could try to treat the root of the problem -- plus we'd have something to tell daycare when they tell me she was cranky or wasn't herself and they make it sound like she's coming down with something.
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3 comments:
Poor sweetie!
Question: Are you feeding her baby vitamins? If so, are they the kind with iron in them? If so, you may want to stop giving them or cut down the dose. Too much iron can cause rock-hard, dark-colored (almost black)poops.
Another potential issue - does she eat a lot of cheese? This constipates some kids very badly, others it doesn't bother at all. Other than that - it can take several weeks for a kid's appetite to return after the rotavirus. Miss K lost a full pound when she had it, so that could be part of why she doesn't want to eat.
Finally, last possibility - what time does she go to bed? Most kids this age need 11-12 hours at night and another couple during the day. If Miss K doesn't get to go to bed at 7:30 and sleep until 7, she has off and on screaming fits all day.
Thanks for the tips. LM seems to be doing much better now. We do give her vitamins but our doctor said that shouldn't cause constipation (but who knows). We don't give her cheese at home but she may get it at daycare. As for sleep, right after the rotovirus she was going to bed by 8:30 and sleeping till about 8... normally she goes to bed closer to 9:30, especially if she has a second nap.
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