My last post on Colton was at his 6 month mark - he had just started sleeping through the night, and I was so excited we'd made some progress on his sleep. The first 6 months of his life we're pretty rough (mostly for me) since he wasn't a great sleeper. Several weeks after he started sleeping through the night, Colton started having diarrhea. I wasn't concerned at first - I assumed he just had a bug, or maybe I'd eaten something that didn't agree with his stomach. But then a few days turned into a week, and then 2 weeks. I had recently started him on solid foods (rice cereal, veggies & fruit) and thought perhaps that was the cause of the diarrhea. So I cut out fruits and veggies - no improvement. Next I started mixing his rice cereal with formula rather than apple juice. Still no change. Finally I switched brands of rice cereal; again, no improvement. By this point, the poor little guy was pooping so much that his bum was always raw, and he was waking up 3-4 times a night with a poopy diaper. So much for sleeping through the night! Finally, after 5 weeks of diarrhea, I insisted that we look into things a little further. I took a stool sample into the lab at the hospital for some testing. Dr. Morgan filled out a lab sheet of what to have tested, and it came back with a positive result for "c-difficile." The interesting thing about it is that most people who end up with c-diff are older. I'm not talking kids or even adults, I'm talking senior citizens-older. Dr. Morgan later told me he didn't know why he even had the lab test for that, because it is so rare in babies. I honestly think he was inspired! Anyway, to make a long story short(er), c diff is typically caused by an antibiotic. Colton had an ear infection in February, and since it was a fairly bad one, we put him on an antibiotic. The antibiotic "overdid" it's job and not only took care of all the bad bacteria, but it also started eating away at the good bacteria in his intestines - thus, the diarrhea. The irony of it all is that the way to treat c diff is with another antibiotic! So that's what we did. After 10 days of the new treatment, he was as good as new. No more diarrhea and right back to sleeping through the night...yea!!! Now we just have to be extra careful about ever putting him on antibiotics again. Hopefully ear infections won't plague him like they did Ryan!
On another note, here are a few things about Colton at this age:
- He is a happy boy! Now that he's getting some real sleep, he's a much more content little guy.
- So far he likes solids...I'm gradually reintroducing them and he hasn't tried a lot of different things, but everything he's tried, he's liked. He especially loves rice cereal.
- He LOVES his older brother. They play so well together, even at this age when Colton can't really "play."
- He is crawling everywhere. So funny for me to watch since Ryan never crawled. He's all over the place and he's fast!
- Colton is no longer nursing. He gradually just decided he wasn't interested anymore and weaned himself. It was really hard for me to give up - I wanted to stick with it for a few more months, but he really just did better with a bottle. After a month of fighting it, worrying that he wasn't getting enough food, and watching his weight drop off the charts even more (partly due to diarrhea and partly due to not eating well), I gave in and started solely bottle feeding. It was a sad day for me, but in the end, I think it's been best for him.
- At his 9 month check-up, Colton weighed a whopping 13 lbs, 6 oz. He still fits in 0-3 month clothes, although he is starting to fill out a few of the 3-6 month outfits!
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