Frustration!

This dear, sweet, cute, lovable, huggable, squeezable, happy little guy has had a rough time lately. It all started last week Wednesday with the doctor appointment where he was diagnosed with the "start" of an ear infection. Adam said the doctor said, "If you had come in yesterday, I would have told you there was nothing wrong. If you had come in tomorrow, it would have been a full-blown infection." Okay, so one would think that a little antibiotic and our guy would be good to go, right? Well.... instead of going with one of the 3 other antibiotics that Jeremiah has had before, the doctor prescribed yet another new one-- Cefdinir? I had never heard of it. And we were supposed to give it once a day for 10 days! All for just a mild infection? Seemed like a lot to me, but what do I know?

So we gave J his first dose Wednesday night.... and by Friday we had a changed boy on our hands. Our normally GOOD (maybe a little picky) eater had started refusing all foods, even his favorites, and not acting one bit hungry! You should have seen the look of pure joy on his face when we used to break out a Nutri-Grain bar! Oh, he LOVED those things! But all of the sudden he started not wanting ANYTHING, no baby food, no animal crackers, no chicken nuggets, no Nutri-Grain bars, no PUFFS! Seriously, NO Puffs?!?!?! We could get him to sometimes eat a little bit of yogurt or cheese sandwich, but that was basically it. And it was hit or miss with the bottle of milk-- sometimes he would drink all 6 ounces, sometimes he'd scream at the sight of the thing. Weird. Oh, and if he DID eat anything, after a few bites, he would start gagging and sometimes vomit (our child has an extremely strong gag reflex, unfortunately), even on food he normally devours! He wasn't acting hungry at all, even after going days without eating hardly a thing!.

So, Adam and I were left to wonder what was going on. Was the antibiotic making his tummy hurt? Making him nauseous? Were his teeth bothering him? Did my mother's curse that I would have a strong-willed, picky eating child just like myself coming true? We had no idea. So on Saturday, I called the Mercy nurse and explained the situation. She assured me that this is completely normal and ALL antibiotics mess with a baby's tummy, and as long as he's getting fluids and not vomiting all his food up then he's fine. Hmmm. I was still skeptical, but she said to continue with the antibiotic. So we did. Then Monday rolled around and our little guy continued to not eat. He just cried when we would even put him in the highchair! So AGAIN, I called the Mercy nurse, and she basically told me the SAME exact thing I had heard on Saturday. ALL antibiotics do that to babies (nevermind the fact that he's been on other antibiotics and has NEVER had this side effect before), and as long as he's keeping some food down and getting fluids then he is fine, and we should continue with the antibiotic for the full 10 days. So, I gave him his daily does on Monday evening (the antibiotic, by the way, can be taken with or without food), and that was a big mistake. He was crabby ALL evening and was up many times just crying and crying between 8 and midnight, and he was crying like something HURT, and I am sure it was his tummy. :( I think it was about midnight that Adam said to me, "We are NOT giving him that antibiotic ever again." Finally after midnight, Jeremiah went to sleep for the night, and was happy as a clam when I woke him up in the morning on Tuesday.

So we got 6 days worth of the antibiotic into him. And now here we are with a boy who still won't eat. Adam and Jeremiah came to visit me at school last evening (I had P/T Conferences) and we tried to feed Jeremiah his dinner. He took one bite of bananas and refused the rest, then gagged on the first bite of Nutri-Grain bar we offered. That's all he had for dinner! Thankfully he took a 5 oz bottle before bed, and then drank another 6 oz bottle this morning. But now Michelle (his daycare provider) said that she struggled to get him to eat ANYTHING today! To me, that is just not right! He's 1 year old, he should be eating/drinking more than milk in a bottle! It's frustrating that the nurse says this is "normal." Not for MY son! Dinner tonight consisted of... a yogurt. He actually at the whole thing, which is an improvement. But everything else we offered was refused.

So I just called another nurse for Jeremiah's pediatrician, and she said that this is probably NOT from the antibiotic (HUH?!?!?). She thinks that because he didn't get the full does of Cefdinir AND because his appetite is not improving after going off the antibiotic, his lack of appetite is probably from his ear still being infected. Soooo.... maybe this stupid horrible antibiotic wasn't even helping?!?!?! Grrrrrr.

So, for now, we are not giving Jeremiah the antibiotic, he's still not eating anything, and we have an appointment to see the doctor AGAIN tomorrow morning at 9:30. Oh, and one other thing... this antibiotic is white, but is strawberry flavored, and turns a baby's poop bright red. What the heck is in that stuff?!?!?!

Thankfully, even though the little guy has not been eating, he has still been acting normal and happy.

Here's a video of the fella playing tonight. A couple things about this video: 1. Grandma Wiers, your are going to love this one! He does your favorite lip-smacking/kiss thing at your picture! 2. He's shirtless because we had just cleaned him up after dinner-- he had totally demolished a pop-tart all over himself (getting none of it in his mouth, of course). I think in the video he even still has some on his face.

And here's another fun video of Jeremiah having fun in the bath! He would play in there all day if we would let him, and he always cries when it's time to get out! :)