Meet TED.

Well, the baby still isn't eating.

Don't get me wrong - since I figured out the business with the lipase, she's eating more than she did before.  She was taking in between 17 and 21 ounces of milk on average before, and for the week after she was between 24 and 26 most days.  She even took in 28 ounces one day, which is incredible!  The GI specialist said she should be taking in between 24 and 30 ounces a day, so this was great.

However, a week or so after we started on the fresh-milk-only plan, she started to not want to eat again.  Just making it to 20 ounces was a struggle.  I figured that it took 20 minutes to pump, about 10 or so to wash bottles and pump parts, and 1 1/2 to 2 hours to get her to finish a six ounce bottle.  She eats five times a day.  Feeding the baby is almost literally a full time job!

I cried a lot this week.

When am I supposed to give attention to my other child?  When am I supposed to take care of stuff like dusting and laundry?  When am I supposed to take care of myself?  Too many days passed where 2 pm would roll by and find me still not having eaten anything.  I swear to you one day I ate half a can of nuts I found in the pantry simply because it was something I could grab with one hand and eat while pumping.

So, the Maalox didn't work, she doesn't like the Duocal in her milk, not one of the three doctors that have seen her can find a thing wrong, and she rejects formula.  Oh, please don't get me started on formula!  I am not breastfeeding because I have some sort of hippie Earth mother militant lactivist dedication to only giving my child breastmilk.  I'm doing it because it's all she will take, even if it is just small amounts!  We've tried four different formulas, including soy and the result has been the same each time - she takes a couple of swigs off the bottle, realizes what is inside, then spits it all back out.

I cannot afford to try every formula on the market to just have to toss them after one bottle.  I don't need to be judged for being "stubborn" and insisting on feeding my child my milk.  If the girl would take formula I'd do it in a heartbeat, because her eating is the most important thing right now.

Which is why I'm embarking on the last resort suggested by the GI specialist.  It's the Total Elimination Diet - also known as TED.  For the next three weeks, in an effort to clean out any possible irritants from my system, I can only eat the following:

turkey
lamb (I don't eat this)
rice
white potatoes
sweet potatoes
zucchini
yellow squash
pears (don't particularly care for these either)

I can use salt and pepper for seasoning, as well as olive oil for cooking.

Keep in mind I've been on a pretty high fat diet in an effort to make my milk as fatty as possible, so this is going to be a shock to my system!  Today was my first day and all I can think about is food.  People post photos of food on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.  Every other commercial on television is for food.  There's still pumpkin pie in the fridge.  I've had my husband eating meals of leftovers all day so the stuffing and mashed potatoes and apple bread won't be around to tempt me.

I went to the grocery store yesterday and bought some zucchini and pears.  I picked up one each of the four kinds Target had to see what kind I liked best.  Luckily we have a lot of leftover turkey in the house and THANK THE LORD for having me discover a few weeks ago that I liked sweet potato fries!  I don't like sweet potatoes, but when they're fried they're pretty good!

So, that's where I am.  I'm so sad I'm going to miss the Peppermint Chocolate Chip shakes at Chik Fil A, and chocolate covered Peppermint Jo Jo's from Trader Joe's, and egg nog ice cream.  Every time I get tempted, I just need to remind myself of my Baby Doll, and know it's not worth it.

As an aside, I weighed 186.5 lbs this morning, which is two pounds less than I did five days ago.  Who loses weight over Thanksgiving?!??!?  Anyway, I'm interested in seeing how this affects my weight.