I've finally caved and given up dairy. For 8 days. I've heard that you're supposed to give it up for anywhere between 3 days and 3 weeks. I'm splitting the difference and doing 8 days because it was recommended by the lactation consultant I've been seeing and because it is less likely to drive me completely batty.
We actually left Trader Joe's last night without any cow's milk. Normally there would be at least 2 gallons in the cart, along with cheese, cottage cheese, and yogurt. Mark is also giving up milk (at home anyway) in a stunning show of moral support. I picked up some goat's milk yogurt, goat cheese, soy cheese, and rice milk. I must already be getting delirious from dairy withdrawl because the rice milk was actually tolerable on cereal. Much more so than the almond milk (way too sweet with a funky aftertaste).
I've been perplexed by the number of foods that have dairy. Why the hell would chicken noodle cup-a-soup need dairy ingredients!?!? I have determined, however, that Scharffen Berger semi-sweet chocolate contains no actual dairy but was produced on the same machinery. I don't think we're gonna be that stringent so the moment this week is up, I'm getting me some chocolate to soothe the empty void left by giving up milk & everything with milk in it. Chocolate has been off the menu for over 2 weeks already, as has citrus, gassy (mostly cruciferous with onions and garlic thrown in) veggies, tomato sauce, and spices (I miss cinnamon the most). I've decided that (with the exception of caving to pasta with tomato sauce earlier this week) chocolate is gonna be the first item re-introduced into my diet.
The upside of all this is that I've hit a new weight low. I'm now down 36lbs from the height of pregnancy and down 10lbs from my pre-pregnancy weight. All in less than 6 weeks. I'm pretty convinced that about half of my pregancy weight gain (most of what came on in the 3rd trimester) was fluid that was related to the preeclampsia. The rest has been the extra caloric demand of breastfeeding combined with the diminished caloric intake due to the restricted diet and tending the baby (aka forgetting to eat). It will probably stabilize as I can start adding foods back.
On the other side of things, Zoe has *gained* 3lbs in less than 6 weeks, which is definitely a good thing, and is becoming a chubby little baby. She is approaching 8lbs and is about 20in long. The killer is clothing right now, as she's still on the small side for the 0-3 month clothes but she's outgrown almost all of the preemie clothes. We've been conserving sleepers for outings (because of the carseat) and keeping her in onesies and swaddled while at home. We took this picture last night:
Also, Squeak has finally found a place to sleep that we don't kick her out of (unlike the co-sleeper, the pack & play, the car seat...)
