I am delayed on Samuel's 6 month post because I've been waiting for the story to finish so I could give you the entire thing. Knock on wood, somebody, but I think I'm ready to tell you the saga.
So like a week or so before Samuel turned 6 months I thought it was time to try solids. I made my own oatmeal cereal from steel cut oats. I was so super mom. Only the healthiest for my baby. So Samuel did fine with it for a few days but then we started pooping a crazy amount. Like 7-8 times a day. And then it got worse. His little bottom became flaming read, his poop started having mucus in it, and my happy little baby was super fussy all the time. Then, at his 6 month check up he weighed 15 lbs 12 oz and had dropped to the 17% and was only 25 3/4 inches long, had dropped to the 10%. My pediatrician was not worried, just said it was an allergy to oats. But I, you see, I am in medical school. So, clearly, my son had some horrible, rare disease.
The rare disease I diagnosed him with was Celiac's disease, an autoimmune condition where the body cannot tolerate gluten and alters the intestine so it cannot absorb nutrients. People who have this disease are in horrible pain experience horrible diarrhea, and cannot gain weight. Oats are often contaminated with gluten. I was certain this was it. I talked with a friend whose son has a milk allergy (pretty common) when she has dairy in her diet (because, clearly, Samuel had developed a milk allergy suddenly, at 6 months old, as well) and learned that the mucus can stay in the poop long after the offending agent was removed. About 3 days after we stopped the oats, Samuel was much less fussy and his bottom cleared up, but his constant pooping didn't get better and his poop still had mucus. I fretted. I was convinced something was horribly wrong, so I went gluten free for a day until I decided...perhaps totally changing my diet was a bit premature.
He was doing better on the fussy scale, but I was so certain he wasn't gaining any weight. We were weighing him at home on our fool proof cookie sheet laying on top of a postal scale. Error free---for sure. And our scale showed us he was losing weight. Celiacs. For sure. I started him on rice cereal (store bought, this time, I was done being super mom) and that night he had one episode of diarrhea. I made Tim call Gerber who said that there is a chance it could have been contaminated with Gluten. Celiac's for sure.
The next day he came down with a fever. I stopped the rice cereal and continued him on just homemade fruits and veggies. THEN a few days after the fever was gone, he broke out in a rash.
An allergy? I didn't think so. I suddenly had enough clinical foresight to note the rash was viral, but I still took him to the doctor (who agreed with me...). I told her all about my woes, how he was certain to have Celiac's disease, how I was not looking forward to going gluten free. How he was losing weight. We weighed him. 16 lbs 8 oz (two weeks after his 15 lbs 12 oz) 20%, right back to where he belonged. He's not fussy at all now, and is doing quite well on his fruits and veggies and his pooping, praise God, is now well under control and fully back to normal. I'm still a little hesitant to re-introduce rice cereal, but I am hopeful his diarrhea that night was from his virus. The oats...I'm still out on that. But if he had Celiac's disease, I think he'd be reacting to the gluten in my diet and losing weight.
Crisis averted. So we will try rice again in a week or so. And who, knows maybe oats too (rolled this time, not steel cut). This whole incident may have just been a long virus.
But, for now, he is a happy go lucky (albeit short, he's still in the 10%) 6 month old baby who can now sit up (pretty well) and who loves to spend time on his hands and knees rocking back and forth. It will not be long now until he's chasing after his brother.
I promise, I do not over diagnose other people and other people's kids with rare diseases. Just me. And my own kids. It's exhausting, being me. I think its more exhausting being Tim, who has to listen to my nonsense. Medical school friends totally understand, because I know I'm not alone. Medical school and parenting don't mix.
Matthew's favorite thing in the world is to take pictures with my phone. Don't tell him that we got him his very own kid camera for his birthday. I think I'm more excited then he will be, cause then I can get my phone back. But here are a few he has snapped of Samuel:
At the doctor getting his 6 month shots...I had no idea Matthew even had my phone:
This one is from like 5 months old, but it's still cute. I am terrible about loading pictures from our camera onto my computer...so a lot of blog post pictures are limited by what's on my phone.
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