All better now......

Well blogosphere it’s been a while and so much has been going on for the family (does that sound too mafia?) that it’s difficult to know where to start.

We’ve moved west to more peaceful environs and had a busy Christmas and New Year. But by far the biggest change has been in Primrose’s quality of life. We’ve discovered the root of her discomfort, irritability and reluctance to travel or sleep.

She’s always been a vocal and energetic little thing but has suffered terribly from wind. Early on I cut dairy out my diet, tomatoes (which used to cause her sister upset), onions, and all the usual suspects. Things would often be ok for a few days but she never slept very well and no amount of winding seemed to ease her pain. Every time I’d think we had got to the root of it there would be another horrendous few days where she couldn’t bear to lie down, be in the car seat or be out of mama’s arms. I don’t know what I’d have done without my slings. Doctors suggested colic, one said that it was probably something I was eating, the next said it couldn’t be anything I was eating. I knew my little girl wasn’t right: I was beginning to suspect there might even be a problem with her digestive system. But, she was alert and thriving and putting on loads of weight. In the dark hours I’d wonder if it was all in my head and she was just a cranky baby. But that’s not something that I really believed.

Once Primrose started on solids everything got worse and I slipped into the fug of sleeplessness where it is impossible to figure out what exactly is going on. This coincided with moving house, a round of colds and a bout of tummy bug in the house .After a particularly horrendous few weeks, there came a moment of clarity that resulted Primrose and me both going on a serious elimination diet. We gradually began reintroducing foods into my diet and paying close attention to her reactions. Wheat and gluten were reintroduced successfully (thankfully) and after reactions to goats milk cheese and other dairy products we deduced that she has milk protein intolerance.

Since we’ve both been totally dairy free (goat and sheep too), and neurotic about reading the small print of ingredients, the happy little girl that used to appear periodically is here all the time. We await an appoint with a paediatrician but are delighted to have our tiny ball of energy smiling all day.

And now that mama has two content babas and is getting some sleep herself, there may even be time for blogging and updating the website:)