Bloody fool

Something is wrong with the boy. For a few weeks now he's had his nighttime fussiness just like many newborns. But now it's the regular fussiness mixed with bouts of painful crying and pushing. More specifically the painful sounds are during the night. I'm woken up by them or they start just after our nighttime nursing sessions. I'm telling you, he's got some kind of pooping issue. Imagine you were pooping and pushing but greatly overexaggerating the pushing part making your face turn read and loud grunts with an occasional tearful cry as if to say "It hurts Mommy, I can't get it out. Please help me!" That's what we're dealing with. Why is it worse in the middle of the night? He's not constipated because he still poops regularly and it's not dark or hard. Still looks the same.

Then there was the slightly bloody stool. My initial reaction was to call 911 and after I calmed down for a second I ran to my baby poop resource which I've stumbled upon from kellymom.com and her bloody stool info. And here is what I read:
Red streaked stools
This usually comes from bleeding in the lower intestine or rectum. Most often it is caused by rectal fissures which are tiny "cuts" around the circumference of the anus. This can be a reaction to dairy in mom's diet. Elimination of all dairy is the first line of defense in this situation. I have seen countless babies who had blood in their poop which resolved when mom stopped all dairy products and returned with even a small amount of milk or cheese. Other dietary changes may be needed for breastfeeding moms. Formula fed babies lose blood from the lower intestine when they drink cow milk formula and some have the same losses on soy formula. Occasionally, this "micro-hemorrhaging" can become visible as blood streaking on the surface of the stool.

It was just in one diaper so I'm no longer totally freaked out. But now I'm convinced I need to illiminate all dairy from my diet. EVERY breastfeeding thing I've read said that generally mom's don't need to change their diet. But I think something is going on and it may warrant an attempt from me to live with out dairy. But you know what? I can't live without dairy! It's in EVERYTHING. Even things I wouldn't think had dairy in them have dairy. I'm going to starve to death. I looked at this list of dairy to eliminate along with the things that may contain hidden dairy. This is my diet and I have no idea what to replace it with especially since it says that many times a baby with dairy allergies also have problems with soy. It would be easy for me to switch to soy but if I shouldn't have that then what?

Breakfast I always had cereal (dairy) but since it became harder to eat with J around I switched to a breakfast bar (dairy) or Carnation Instant breakfast (dairy). I can't even eat the pancakes I make because they have butter and buttermilk (dairy) or eggs because of the butter (dairy). Bryan and I were trying to go out to eat and I couldn't think of anything I could eat. Thai has dairy in the creamy sauces, anything Mexican I'd eat would have to have cheese and/or sour cream (dairy) , if we ate my favorite diner food that would be a grilled cheese (dairy) and pizza (dairy) is totally not an option. My favorite dessert, ice cream (dairy) , is out of the question. I can't even get a coffee because chances are they wouldn't have non-dairy creamer, which by the way has milk derivatives which is a no-no on the list. What the hell! And chocolate (dairy)! No chocolate! I'll be down to my pre-pregnancy weight in no time because THERE IS NOTHING LEFT FOR ME TO EAT. I'm sure I can find substitutes but I'm sorry that fake Rice Dream "ice cream" just isn't talking to me like Ben & Jerry's NY Super Fudge Chunk (dairy) . It would be easier if it were just a lactose intolerance thing instead of a full on dairy thing. Which it could be but I have to try all this to find out.

And it seems like the only way to determine if it is dairy causing the problem is to eliminate it for 2-3 weeks. What happened to trying it for a couple days, I may not make it for 3 weeks! But I'd do anything when I see him in pain like that. Do I really need to be this extreme with the diet though? Who knows it may not be anything even like this. But it's something and I don't know what else to do. I can't hear him like that and not do anything. So finally I lubed up a thermometer and stuck it up his cute little ass. About 10 seconds later the contents of his colon came pouring out. This is a quick fix but how many times can will he tolerate this?