Liquid Diet

Well, we made the decision to start the Neocate only diet a week ago, last Friday morning. The week has gone just as smooth as it's gone terrible, if that makes any sense. She has done exceptionally well with it, but her meltdowns have been terrible.

We've done pretty well with distraction and I was quick to catch on when she was getting hungry. At the first sign of crankiness, offer a bottle. We've done a lot of snuggling and rocking in the chair. She's been taking enough in and I've been weighing her daily, every morning, to make sure she's maintaining her weight.

One evening this week, I was away. I received a text from Brian letting me know that I needed to come home, that Kara was really upset and consolable because she wanted to eat. Her words were "no more owie tummy, my owie tummy all betta!" Talk about heartbreaking. I couldn't get home quick enough to hold my girl. Last night we had another one of these instances where she was crying inconsolable about food. I understood at that point what Brian was going through that night. She just sobbed and sobbed on my shoulder. I just have to remind myself that we have one week down and one week to go and this is to help her get better.

I have had to be reminded a few times that despite Kara not being able to eat, we still need to eat as well as feed our four year old. I wish it was as simple as to be able to say that no one is allowed to eat or even talk about food in front of Kara but we still need to eat. This has been trying, perhaps the most trying phase of our lives so far.

Despite how difficult this diet has been on Kara and our family, we are seeing some improvement. Kara hasn't complained much of a tummy ache and her diapers have been almost normal. We have quite a problem with eczema which is nothing new but the fact that tummy aches are better is promising. Are we beginning to see a baseline again? Only time will tell, but I sure hope so, so we can get back to food trials again!