Non-illness snot and digestion

[stephienoodle]

Quick question... we had some prolonged toddler hysterics last night (we're horrible parents who asked him to hold, smell, or taste a single bite of pear) that generated a good bit of tears and snot. He's definitely not sick.

DS followed the hysterics by eating cherries, which have been iffy in the past but seemed fine when we tried them earlier this week. His stool was looser this morning (unformed vs formed which has been status quo for the last couple of weeks) and kind of mucousy and a little bit frothy.

Can crying/tears/snot change the stool this much, or do we need to rethink letting him eat the cherries?

ETA: And as a side note that is super, he also ate beets yesterday and passed the beet pee test for the first time ever in his life. Yay for improvements!

[rhesp1212]

Oh how I feel your pain....going through this same thing with my toddler right now (the hysterics that is)!!

I wouldn't think that a session of hysterics would produce enough snot to upset his digestive system. I think typically you would see that if he had prolonged mucus from sinus type allergies or a cold. I would opt to stop the cherries for a while and maybe retrial them on a day when he's not having a battle over something to make sure.

[True Blue]

I agree....retest on a calm day. Also, did he actually eat a bite of pear?

[stephienoodle]

Ok, we'll retest the cherries in a couple of days after we're back at baseline.

He sort of had a bite of pear. We actually used the cherries as a reward. He got a cherry after he sniffed the pear, he got another one for holding a bite of pear in his hand, got another cherry for licking the fork after it had been stuck in the pear but there was no visible residue, and then about a dozen times he received a cherry for licking the fork with a barely perceptible amount of pear on the fork. If he actually ingested any pear at all, it was far less than 1/8 of a teaspoon.

What can I say... we're at a point of desperation in getting him to try new foods. Once peaches/nectarines are out of season (which our favorite farmer says will be in a week or so), we're going to be struggling to get enough food into him. As we lose availability for fresh foods as we head into the winter, DS's already narrow food list is going to shrink even more. He's picky about quality and will only eat some things frozen.

[emilysmama]

Frozen peaches? They got us through many a winter until dd eventually was able to tolerate citrus.

Edited to add: Sorry, I read your previous post too quickly and overlooked what you said about frozen.

[jennybean0722]

The only reason I would see crying would make for loose poops is if he is stressed in any way, which I could see he was. My husband and I always wanted our now 4 year old to try whatever was on his plate, he is SUCH a picky eater! He has major food sensitivities, but on occasion, if we were stressed and mad about him not eating, it obviously wore off on him and he would get nervous/upset and poop liquidy gunk. Needless to say we felt horrible!

We gave up, got more diligent about his diet and sensitivities and just realized that his gut needed to heal and he needed to learn to enjoy eating again.

So don't worry about a PEAR!!!! Its awesome you are figuring everything like cherries, etc. BUT, if he doesn't like pear, it is probably for a good reason. It is a different texture than apple, don't ya think?

My son has mucho food sensitivities. We did the LEAP MRT test and the results explained almost all of his picky habits and behavior. Hope this helps!

[stephienoodle]

Yes, he doesn't specifically need to eat pear... but he does this with each new food that we ask him to try. Right now, he's down to eating:

-peaches/nectarines (will only eat home frozen ones - did as many as I could)
-blueberries (which are out of season and he won't eat frozen)
-cucumbers (picky about them)
-beets
-chickpeas
-roasted chicken
-turkey breast
-bacon (limited availability, he only tolerates it from one farm)
-potatoes
-almond butter

He's willing to eat a few other things, but they cause diarrhea or other reactions. We just figured out this week that broccoli is no longer safe for him which is sad because he likes to eat it. Testing has generally not been a reliable indicator of potential reactions for him... he tests as many things being ok that are very obviously not safe foods for him.

I totally get that food has not always been enjoyable for him, but he's got nutritional and weight gain issues (obviously) so this is something that we unfortunately have to work at even if he's not happy about. I'm almost certain that he isn't getting a ton of milk when he nurses now, so that isn't the blanket protection that we used to have to cover things nutritionally. Our plan is to try different foods using the reward system thing that we did the other night (which is a much calmer ordeal now that he knows what to expect) but if he continues to reject the food after a few licks, we aren't going to try it again anytime soon.