Introducing solids may be the death of me!

[Breathe]

I'll spare you the mundane details, but ds (almost 11 mos) appears to have dairy & gluten sensitivites (and maybe corn & soy, too), AND struggles with a sluggish bowel, bordering on chronic constipation. All of this has made us very slow to introduce solids, but all of a sudden he is VERY interested, and mainly in finger foods -- I think he has lost all interest in being fed w/a spoon.

So we are having a time trying to find things to feed him -- no dairy, no wheat, rice is constipating, as are sweet potatoes -- and are especially challenged to find things he can pick up himself (little pieces of avocado, pear, carrots seem to be too slippery).

ARGH! Can someone rx a good book? I've found that the allergy books are aimed more at older children, while the baby books are clueless about allergens.

HELP! BF is so easy compared to this!

[Erin Pavlina]

I can help you with non-dairy, but not sure about the wheat.

Take a look at this list of non-dairy products, then find the ones in there that are wheat and gluten free. I know there are some in there, just not sure which ones.

http://www.vegfamily.com/product-reviews/index.htm

For constipation, try giving cantaloupe juice first thing in the morning. Just juice or blend it by itself.

[tessamami]

Feeding the Whole Family

Feeding the Whole Family by Cynthia Lair is a great book - lots of suggestions for wheat-free grains.

Also great bibliography. Lots of meals with suggestions on adaptations for baby. Lists snack foods. How about potatoes? Pretty easy.

Also, blueberries might go down easily, too. Rice cakes? Nori or dulse, pasta (wheat-free of course). Lentils/white beans. Bean dip, yogurt, prunes (easy on these) carob chips?

[amnesiac]

You definitely ought to make sure & include some type of probiotic daily. Pears & pear juice good for keeping bowel flow, as are raisins soaked in pear jiuce to plump. Mine tolerated spelt fine so I got spelt flour at my health food store & made breads, pancakes, muffins, pasta etc with it. Peas, broccoli, green beans, beets.

[Breathe]

Thanks for the ideas, mamas. I am SO sorry I never responded (I'm going back to all these threads I neglected, now that I know this is a pet peeve to many people here!).

We've had some success with organic, unsweetened rice puffs; soft, mushy cubes of fruit; frozen peas, steamed carrots & parsnips, even some grilled zuchini & squash, lentils & rice, and boiled potatoes. He is a happy little eater and his pincer grasp is developing beautifully!

Just a few Q's:

Erin: Are you sure cantaloupe is safe for babies? I was under the impression it's a little risky? If not, I know ds is dying to try some!

amnesiac: I thought raisins were a choking hazard? Have you not found this to be so? And yep, he's on a probiotic, as am I! Good suggestion!

tessamami: Thanks for the book idea -- that's exactly what I needed -- I will go ISO this week!

Thanks again!

[Jish]

Why would canteloupe not be safe? Is it because it can harbor bacteria on it's rind (sp?)? I gave it to both of my boys when they were young, but I was cautious about how I cut it for them so I wouldn't cross contaminate it when I sliced it.

[Breathe]

OK, this is really gonna gross you out, but I heard from an epidemiologist who often has to track down food poisoning epidemics that it is very common for farmers to inject melons, esp. cataloupe, with water bc they are paid by the WEIGHT of their crop. You can imagine that they may not use the most crystal-clear spring water when doing this.

Now I'm sure that good 'ole organic farmers would never do this, but I rarely find organic cantaloupe at my health food store, and even if I do, I'm not sure I can ever get that image out of my head.

Hope I haven't ruined it for you, too! (where's the "sheepish" smiley?!?!)

[Mama Katrina]

Where in NC are you??? I am in the outskirts of Charlotte, if you are near by I know where there is someone that can help you (Not to much me...) We are avoiding Dairy, Wheat, MSG (ofcourse), Dill, Cloves, Black Pepper, and the hardest Garlic... My nursling, ds, is allergic to them.... I'd stick to the fruits and veggies... Rice too.... I remember once making something like cookies, but not sweet enough for me to call them that, out of rice flour and something else (it called for a flour I didn't have so I subsituted) It was great for a teething type busciut...

[Breathe]

Hey Mama Katrina,

I'm in RTP, but who is your person? Maybe they'd do a phone consult? I do have a naturopath, but am always looking for more support!

And it sounds like you and I should stay in touch -- I've never heard of anyone who was eliminating as many foods as I was! Dill and cloves AND black pepper?!?! How the HECK did you figure that out?!?! And why is MSG so bad? (not that I think we eat any -- we eat almost entirely whole foods, to be safe, except when we eat out . . . I know it can sneak in then). Maybe we should PM each other, 'cause I would LOVE to hear your story!

[elismom]

Hey Breathe, here are some things that come to mind that ds liked or likes that should be do-able for an 11 mos old (ds is 15 months now):

Winter (butternut, acorn) squash--we bake it, then cut into chunks and freeze so we can defrost a chunk at a time. Just scoop it out and give him pieces (it's pretty mush, so won't be much practice for his dexterity, but still good). Maybe also spaghetti squash? For a while this was the only vegetable he'd eat.

Grapefruit and Oranges (yeah, I know, weird, but my kid LOVES grapefruit, oranges, and if we'd let him have it, lemons, like his mama. gave him a *tiny* taste of lemon the other day and he begged form more). So, it's worth a try.

Broccoli--the stalks might be too tough for him at this age, but what about just the florets (sp?) in pretty small pieces?

Peas??

Blueberries (too soon if he doesn't have a lot of teeth??)

Spinach--cooked

Ok, I'm not coming up w/much! If our ds had dairy and wheat sensitivities I honestly don't know what we would do, since he's a very picky eater (more recently) and has stopped eating any green veggies and lots of other stuff he used to like--ugh!!! Many days all he'll eat is carbs and dairy--bread, pasta, cottage cheese, that's about it lately!

[elismom]

Ack, I'm sorry, responded to first post without checking out your later one, sounds like you've tried a lot of these already!

[amnesiac]

Sorry so delayed!
Yes, plain old raisins are considered a choking hazard. What I do is warm up some pear juice & soak the raisins in it so that they re-hydrate & plump up. That way they can chew/gum them up easily because they get mushy. Kind of like a stewed prune.

[Jish]

Okay, now you grossed me out with the canteloupe thing. I think we'll plant our own next year. It seems that in this are they are sold by number, not weight, though. Do you think that makes a difference?

[Breathe]

I'm so sorry I grossed you out!!!

What I think happens is that the *farmer* sells his crop to the *distributor* by weight, you know like, half a ton of cataloupe, bc it would be impossible for them to count every one. KWIM?

I had another idea, though. What is you and dh ate the fruit first, and if you didn't die (hee hee), you could give some to your kids?

No need to reply -- Now I'm just being silly!

[beanma]

hey breathe,

we're in chapel hill!

my dd is almost 19mo now, but she had an early aversion to being spoonfed so we went with lotsa finger foods, many of which you already mentioned. if you're still having trouble with constipation (well your ds, not you) you might try spinach. we always try to have some of the frozen whole leaf from whole foods in the fridge. she loves it steamed or straight from the bag frozen. works wonders on the big "c", too.

cooked carrots are constipating, too, so you might not give him too many of those.

almost anything that starts with a "p" is supposed to help move things along...peas, pears, prunes, plums, peaches, but 'pinach was the winner for us.

hth,
-beanma.

p.s. if you're interested we've got an AP group that meets twice a month w/ playgroups in between. check out http://www.chapel-hill.nc.us/apioa .

[Breathe]

Thanks, Beanma. We're gonna try 'pinach this week!

But would you believe that steamed carrots are the ONLY things that keep his bowels moving? Prunes don't do a darn, and peas are constipating. OY!

And we're in Durham, but I'm a CH native, so I'm there every day -- Will try to make it to an API meeting soon. (Came once when ds was tiny, but it was a little hairy w/so many bigger kids runnnig around!)

Hope to meet you soon!

[beanma]

hey breathe,

how weird about the steamed carrots keeping him moving, but whatever works works, right? prunes never did too much for us except make her poop all fruity smelling: . she loves peas. they were one of her first finger foods. i don't think they plug her up, but they're not the wonder un-stopper that spinach was for us. is he getting plenty of water? that always helps, too.

hope you will come out to a meet sometime. we're pretty low key.

-beanma.