The Gatorade Calamity

Last week Maisie was not her self at all. It was easily the hardest week I have ever had. She had got her shots on Friday the 16th and she was totally fine through the weekend and then suddenly on Monday Maisie had made a total 360. I was so worried that it was the immunizations that put her in a funk. She was screaming all day long and wouldn't let me put her down for anything. She would fall asleep in my arms and the minute I would try to transition her into her crib she would wake up and start the screaming all over again. This was so unlike her. She was such a happy, content and mellow baby and now suddenly she was a handful (literally since I couldn't put her down). On Friday the 23rd (one week after her shots) I decided to call the advise nurse because it got to the point where the calm baby I once had was no longer in the picture. The nurse asked me a bunch of questions like is she still eating the same? Yes. Is she still wetting and dirtying her diapers regularly? Yes. Is she sleeping at night? Yes (Thank heaven for that because if she wasn't I am pretty sure I would be bald!). Does she have a fever? No. Have you changed anything in your diet? No. She then said that as of right now there is nothing really to worry about, but if we wanted to bring her in we could. I told her I would give her another day and see if there is any improvement. I believe babies cry for a reason and it was breaking my heart that I couldn't figure out how to make this better. I started doubting the decisions I had made to get her vaccinated and started to feel like a crummy parent. Austin tried to reassure me, but when my baby girl is crying her lungs out, it's hard to feel reassured. Saturday morning (the morning of our birthing class reunion) I was in the shower and suddenly it hit me... Lemon-Lime Gatorade! Austin and I bought a massive amount of lemon-lime Gatorade powder at Costco. I got out of the shower and asked Austin in a very serious tone "When did we get that Gatorade?" Austin raised his eyebrows and said "Um, last weekend sometime I think." Bingo! Oh man, it makes sense! I realized that I had been drinking a lot of that instead of my normal water intake. I then stopped drinking it cold turkey and sure enough my sweet Maisie has returned! It must have been upsetting my poor Maisie's tummy! Now I am trying to figure out what exactly in the Gatorade was upsetting her. I just read that citrus can change the properties or at least the taste of breast milk, but was that it? Everyone that I have told is very surprised that the culprit was something as meager as Gatorade, but it definitely was. I would like to figure out if it was an ingredient in it that was bothering her or was I simply drinking too much of it? Either way I think I will stay clear of it for awhile and then maybe later on I will try to reintroduce it in small amounts. I am just so thankful I was able to figure it out and that my Maisie is back to her sweet normal self.

Lemon-Lime Gatorade = A very unhappy Maisie.