Mystery Solved, Maybe

It appears my little N is lactose intolerant. I was supposed to go diary-free but misunderstood my sister in law's doctor-fiancee's instructions and instead gave him lactose-free milk. Doing such an experiment is less than ideal while traveling, but it was worth it because about day 9, he had his first normal bowel movement in perhaps months. Hooray! Also, his behavior has improved, an unexpected and welcome change. He's more cooperative, less irritable and all around more pleasant. Dr. K. Explained that a lactose intolerant person, if he's drinking milk all day like N was, will feel crampy, bloated, and gassy. While N never complained - and how could he know it should feel different if it always hurt.- he did always have a bulging belly. I just thought he had a round tummy. Now it's as flat as a board.

So now I'm researching lactose intolerance. Everything I read says he shouldn't have it due to his age (3years, 2 months) and ethnicity. The only hint of a possible cause I can find in my still-limited research is that sometimes premies have it. He was technically a preemie at 35 weeks, 3 days and was the smaller one at 5lbs 5oz, but I've been told all those numbers are good for twins.

I found Lactaid ice cream and Yoplait's lactose free yogurt at my grocery store yesterday and he gobbled them up. They taste normal to me, so I suppose if He has to have something, this we can live with. I'm still hesitant to call his pediatrician because Dr. K. Says that he'll tell me to do what I'm already doing and that any test he orders will make N feel miserable (not to mention expensive).

During the experiment I put N back in diapers and we are giving potty training a break, for the most part. I'm waiting to see if the bowel movements continue to be normal and if they will become more regular, which I hope will make potty training go more smoothly in the future. I also expect that dropping M off at the Thursday morning "On My Own" class and taking him back home becaus ehe's not potty training will just the right incentive (because I haven't found it yet).

In other potty news, M wears underpants all day long. He had a couple accidents on the trip, but we are back home now and getting back into the swing of things so I think he's done, until I decide to tackle bedtime, which, at this point, may be never!