{"id":7807,"date":"2012-05-09T20:45:53","date_gmt":"2012-05-10T02:45:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.thepickyapple.com\/blog\/?p=7807"},"modified":"2012-05-09T21:10:46","modified_gmt":"2012-05-10T03:10:46","slug":"hacking-our-way-through-the-brambles-again","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.thepickyapple.com\/blog\/2012\/05\/09\/hacking-our-way-through-the-brambles-again\/","title":{"rendered":"Hacking Our Way Through the Brambles&#8230;Again"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>I have attempted to write this post about 5 times in the past week or so, but all of my attempted posts just sounded whiny. \u00c2\u00a0So I deleted them and had my little pity party in private. \u00c2\u00a0But maybe now I&#8217;m ready to share with you what&#8217;s been going on.<\/p>\n<p>First, the good news: \u00c2\u00a0My sweet baby boy is now 4 months old and meeting all his developmental milestones. \u00c2\u00a0Yay!\u00c2\u00a0 And have you SEEN how cute Slingshot is?!\u00c2\u00a0 Here are a few reminders&#8230;<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.thepickyapple.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/05\/Slingshot-4-Months.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-7810\" title=\"Slingshot 4 Months\" src=\"https:\/\/www.thepickyapple.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/05\/Slingshot-4-Months.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"557\" height=\"588\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.thepickyapple.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/05\/Slingshot-4-Months.jpg 557w, https:\/\/www.thepickyapple.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/05\/Slingshot-4-Months-284x300.jpg 284w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 557px) 100vw, 557px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.thepickyapple.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/05\/Slingshot-4-Months-2.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-7811\" title=\"Slingshot 4 Months 2\" src=\"https:\/\/www.thepickyapple.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/05\/Slingshot-4-Months-2.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"557\" height=\"504\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.thepickyapple.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/05\/Slingshot-4-Months-2.jpg 557w, https:\/\/www.thepickyapple.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/05\/Slingshot-4-Months-2-300x271.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 557px) 100vw, 557px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.thepickyapple.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/05\/Slingshot-4-Months-3.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-7813\" title=\"Slingshot 4 Months 3\" src=\"https:\/\/www.thepickyapple.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/05\/Slingshot-4-Months-3.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"557\" height=\"417\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.thepickyapple.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/05\/Slingshot-4-Months-3.jpg 557w, https:\/\/www.thepickyapple.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/05\/Slingshot-4-Months-3-300x224.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 557px) 100vw, 557px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_7814\" style=\"width: 567px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.thepickyapple.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/05\/Slingshot-4-Months-4.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-7814\" class=\"size-full wp-image-7814\" title=\"Slingshot 4 Months 4\" src=\"https:\/\/www.thepickyapple.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/05\/Slingshot-4-Months-4.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"557\" height=\"505\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.thepickyapple.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/05\/Slingshot-4-Months-4.jpg 557w, https:\/\/www.thepickyapple.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/05\/Slingshot-4-Months-4-300x271.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 557px) 100vw, 557px\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-7814\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Husband&#39;s hairy leg, not mine....<\/p><\/div>\n<p>Now that you&#8217;ve had your fill of the cuteness, here&#8217;s the sucky news: Slingshot&#8217;s not even in the 1st percentile for weight (10 pounds, 15 ounces), battling some pretty yucky eczema, acting more and more colicky, and still spitting up so much we&#8217;re changing clothes about 4 times a day.\u00c2\u00a0 I&#8217;ve given up dairy and eggs (in addition to gluten, if you&#8217;re keeping track) to combat the eczema and reflux. \u00c2\u00a0Today, the pediatrician suggested we go ahead and see a pediatric Gi.\u00c2\u00a0 So basically it&#8217;s <em>deja vu<\/em> all over again, because this is exactly what happened with The Little Apple.<\/p>\n<p><em>Excuse me while I go bang my head against the wall&#8230;.<\/em><\/p>\n<p>We really don&#8217;t want to go down this path again.\u00c2\u00a0 We are familiar with this particular path through the brambles.\u00c2\u00a0 It&#8217;s full of thorns. \u00c2\u00a0You really have to hack your way through.\u00c2\u00a0 Its dark and scary in there.\u00c2\u00a0 Cuts and snags are to be expected.\u00c2\u00a0 If you wind up there, I hope you packed a bottle of water and a dairy-free egg-free-gluten-free snack or two, because you&#8217;re going to be in there for a while, wandering around lost and alone. Well, at least you&#8217;ve got your husband with you, but his sense of direction doesn&#8217;t seem to be any better than yours! \u00c2\u00a0And you can just forget about GPS or a map of any sort. \u00c2\u00a0This is uncharted territory. \u00c2\u00a0 You keep hoping to find that beautiful park on the other side- the one you&#8217;ve heard so much about. \u00c2\u00a0The one full of flowers and butterflies and sunny skies and all things wonderful. You&#8217;ll get there eventually, but wouldn&#8217;t you rather just stay on the nice, well-worn concrete path that (almost) everyone else takes? \u00c2\u00a0I know I would.<\/p>\n<p>Unfortunately, I think we&#8217;re headed for the brambles again. \u00c2\u00a0We&#8217;re hopeful we can hack our way out a little faster this time since we&#8217;ve been there, done that already. \u00c2\u00a0But last time, we were just stumbling around blindly&#8230;and not expecting to ever have to retrace our path, so we&#8217;ll see how much our previous &#8220;experience&#8221; actually helps.<\/p>\n<p>Ok, enough of the metaphor.<\/p>\n<p>Here are some of the questions and thoughts that have been swirling around in my head for the last week or so (welcome to my crazy mind)&#8230;<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Should we supplement with formula? \u00c2\u00a0Have we reached the point where supplementation is necessary? \u00c2\u00a0Is it avoidable? \u00c2\u00a0I had every intention of breast-feeding exclusively this time around (we supplemented with The Little Apple from about 6 months).\u00c2\u00a0 I know formula isn&#8217;t the end of the world.\u00c2\u00a0 I also know this is a controversial topic.<\/li>\n<li>Will formula even help?\u00c2\u00a0 It didn&#8217;t help The Little Apple gain weight&#8230;would it help Slingshot?<\/li>\n<li>Is a feeding tube in Slingshot&#8217;s future too?!<\/li>\n<li>Am I producing enough milk?\u00c2\u00a0 Should I be taking fenugreek <em>(mmm&#8230;.eau de syrup!<\/em>) or talk to my doctor about some prescription galactagogues?<\/li>\n<li>Should I be waking Slingshot at night every 3 or 4 hours to nurse?\u00c2\u00a0 (we&#8217;re waking up a couple times already, so that wouldn&#8217;t be a huge change&#8230;)<\/li>\n<li>Should I be nursing more frequently during the day? \u00c2\u00a0We&#8217;re at 2-3 hours now. \u00c2\u00a0Not sure I can handle going more frequently than that (again).<\/li>\n<li>Would it be possible to supplement with breast milk from a milk bank?\u00c2\u00a0 Would we even meet the qualifications (he&#8217;s not a preemie, not &#8220;sick,&#8221; etc). \u00c2\u00a0Would I even WANT to do that?<\/li>\n<li>What about that homemade formula I read about somewhere (Sally Fallon\/ Weston A. Price Foundation or GAPS)?\u00c2\u00a0 Is that a good option for us?<\/li>\n<li>What does The Picky Apple think we should do?<\/li>\n<li>And most of all, what on the world is causing this in BOTH of my boys, and who can get to the bottom of this mystery?!<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>It&#8217;s so easy to get overwhelmed and bogged down in all of this.\u00c2\u00a0 I&#8217;m trying my best not to let that happen because I&#8217;m well aware that things could be so much worse! \u00c2\u00a0 We have so much to be thankful for!<\/p>\n<p>That being said, I&#8217;m stomping my feet and pouting a bit as we gear up for another trek through the brambles.<\/p>\n<p><em>Stupid brambles.<\/em><\/p>\n<div class=\"linkwithin_hook\" id=\"https:\/\/www.thepickyapple.com\/blog\/2012\/05\/09\/hacking-our-way-through-the-brambles-again\/\"><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>I have attempted to write this post about 5 times in the past week or so, but all of my attempted posts just sounded whiny. \u00c2\u00a0So I deleted them and had my little pity party in private. \u00c2\u00a0But maybe now I&#8217;m ready to share with you what&#8217;s been going on. First, the good news: \u00c2\u00a0My [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[49],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7807","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-motherhood"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thepickyapple.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7807","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thepickyapple.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thepickyapple.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thepickyapple.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thepickyapple.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7807"}],"version-history":[{"count":27,"href":"https:\/\/www.thepickyapple.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7807\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7839,"href":"https:\/\/www.thepickyapple.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7807\/revisions\/7839"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thepickyapple.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7807"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thepickyapple.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7807"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thepickyapple.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7807"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}