Need thoughts on babies, solids, reactions, etc.

[Chinese Pistache]

Ds is almost 7 mths old. This week, I've been giving him sweet potato (I roasted it, no other ingredients). He's had about 1 tbs per day for a week. He started getting a red ring around the anus, but I wasn't sure if he was reacting to something else (still haven't worked out all the kinks with him). He pooped once, and it was mucusy, but I wasn't sure if it was due to the sweet potato (he'd just barely eaten it and there were no food pieces in the poop).

Well, he just pooped again (after the 5 days or so of feeding) and it had a vinegary smell, lots of sweet potato flecks, and mucus. His bum looks even redder.

So, is he having a reaction to the sweet potato or is it just because his gut is inflamed? I eat sweet potatoes pretty often (and ate them on my TED a few months back) and he does not react to them in my diet. I'll hold off on sweet potato for a few months, but do I try another food? If there's inflammation, then I'm not sure if any food will "pass," you know?

[Wugmama]

I have no idea what to suggest because that is so different from what our problem was (eczema). I just saw food in the diaper for the first time today (that I can remember anyways) and it was those dehydrated peas - and who could digest those crazy things anyways? I just wanted to pop in your thread to give you a

Thinking of you and your littles tonight,
~Tracy

[changingseasons]

Really? 7 months already? I swear it was just last week that you had a newborn.

I think it sounds like a reaction. I would try another food and see how it goes.

[nalo]

I agree that it sounds like a likely reaction. I also am totally shocked that your LO is 7 months. How long have I been coming on this crazy board anyway????? Hope he gets over the reaction soon. Can you wait a week or something until trying a new food?

[Chinese Pistache]

Thanks for your support, mamas.

Yeah, I'll wait a week before trying something else.

I've been coming to this board way too long On the one hand, I'm so grateful to you all, for your amazing support and friendship. OTOH, I wish I wasn't walking this path. /end pity party

[MoonWillow]

I wish I had some words of wisdom or ideas for you.
Sometimes I feel like I am on top of this and everything will be ok but when the list of off limit foods just keeps growing, its pretty depressing. And the older she gets, the more she realizes that she can't have what other people do and she gets this sad look on her face .

[mtn.mama]

CP- I'm curious if you've considered starting with bone broth/meat or egg yolks rather than traditional American baby foods? I'm thinking that's where I'd like to start with our next child...

[Chinese Pistache]

I haven't considered those specifically. My foray into non-traditional foods was really only to nix grains until after the first year. But I have wanted to make bone broth, so that's probably what I should do next. His little gut obviously needs healing I'm too nervous about eggs, though. I cut them out along with wheat and that's when his symptoms improved.

[springmum]

I didn't realize our little guys were so close in age. We're approaching 6.5 months now.

We haven't started solids yet. I was going to give him a taste of avacado if the 2 good days continued, but sadly we had another reaction, so I'm holding off.
I think if I were in your shoes, I would consider that a reaction to the sweet potatoes...sorry he's suffering.

Maybe I will start with bone broth, since chicken seems to be okay.

Did you wait until baseline to start solids?

I hope he recovers quickly. I'm on the edge of my seat waiting for the poop today to see if we're through this last reaction..(oh the excitement!)

[Chinese Pistache]

Originally Posted by springmum

Did you wait until baseline to start solids?

I hope he recovers quickly. I'm on the edge of my seat waiting for the poop today to see if we're through this last reaction..(oh the excitement!
)

He *was* at baseline, but maybe 2 days before, I noticed a slight reaction (a little more mucus in the poop that had been normal). I think it was to cinnamon, but I'm not sure. I probably should have waited on the sweet potato.

I know what you mean about the poop waiting I was really surprised that it took so long for him to poop after eating, which is why I doubted it was a specific reaction to the sp and more along the lines of an upset gut. It doesn't matter either way; I just need to try something else in a week and do sp down the road. I'm going to make some bone broth tomorrow.

[waluso]

My DD will be 6 months this week so I am also thinking about what to do for solids. I'm going to discuss it with DD's pediatrician next week but I am definitely skippping the grains (I know she reacts to rice) and would be too nervous to try eggs. I get her ELISA test results back tomorrow so that will give me some guidance, but I am thinking of starting with winter squash and then maybe avocado. DD's pediatrician told me I could start giving her bone broth at 6 mos (starting at 1 T a day and work up from there). I am also planning to give her CLO and probiotics (trialing them seperately of course). DD never got to baseline so I am really nervous about all of this! I am planning to just give her small amounts and take it slow. Not to hijack the thread, but I would love to hear other thoughts about what to do with solids. I read the sticky but still unsure of the best way to approach this.

[changingseasons]

My only advice waluso is to not rush it!!! I started out giving DD bone broth at 6 months... and now, 7 months later after finally getting *close* to baseline and being better able to tell specific foods that are bothering her, I'm realizing that she is in fact allergic to chicken. Not saying that to scare anyone away from bone broth, because I still think it's an excellent first food... just maybe pick a different animal than chicken if your LO is really allergic to eggs.

DD is 13mo now, and she's just now up to about 2 T. of food per day, which is HUGE for her!!! She loves lamb, and we've also trialed (and passed) zucchini, broccoli, and beets. And BTW, lamb is the only food she eats that I don't see traces of in her poo, so apparantly she's digesting it well.

Anyway, my point was that there is no rush. If you're BFing, your LO is getting the nutrition they need.1

[waluso]

Originally Posted by changingseasons

My only advice waluso is to not rush it!!! I started out giving DD bone broth at 6 months... and now, 7 months later after finally getting *close* to baseline and being better able to tell specific foods that are bothering her, I'm realizing that she is in fact allergic to chicken. Not saying that to scare anyone away from bone broth, because I still think it's an excellent first food... just maybe pick a different animal than chicken if your LO is really allergic to eggs.

DD is 13mo now, and she's just now up to about 2 T. of food per day, which is HUGE for her!!! She loves lamb, and we've also trialed (and passed) zucchini, broccoli, and beets. And BTW, lamb is the only food she eats that I don't see traces of in her poo, so apparantly she's digesting it well.

Anyway, my point was that there is no rush. If you're BFing, your LO is getting the nutrition they need.1

Thanks CS. Interesting about the broth. Do you think you would have discovered the reaction quicker if you also trialed the meat (i.e., chicken) at the same time as the broth? Is there any reason not to do that as one of the first foods?

[changingseasons]

Well, at that time, DD was still reacting to SO many things, it was really hard to tell which ones were bad and which were good. I thought that the broth would be easiest on her digestion, so that there wouldn't be any undigested food rubbing on and irritating her gut lining... I think that meats are a good food for babes, but I remember my old ped (who didn't know much, so this could very well be incorrect) saying that babies didn't have the enzymes to digest meat until 9 months or something.

But if you're at a point where you can easily spot reactions to specific foods, then I don't see any reason not to do the broth. Just make sure to start slow. For the first foods, I probably wouldn't introduce more than one food every 2 weeks or so. That way you can spot really delayed reactions.

[mtn.mama]

I know avocado is a nutrient dense food with alot of good fats, but its pretty highly allergenic, and commonly reacted to by food allergic babes. I think, if I got to start over, I would wait on avocado until I had some other passes under our belt... FWIW.

[waluso]

Originally Posted by mtn.mama

I know avocado is a nutrient dense food with alot of good fats, but its pretty highly allergenic, and commonly reacted to by food allergic babes. I think, if I got to start over, I would wait on avocado until I had some other passes under our belt... FWIW.

What would you start with?

[mtn.mama]

Organic bone broth
Organic organ meats
Coconut oil
Sea vegetables

[kjbrown92]

Everybody is going to have a different vote on what foods to start with because of their own experiences.
For instance my DD is intolerant to beef and seaweed, so I'd nix those to off the list. Want what's at the bottom of the food intolerant survey that we did a month or so ago?
Out of 32 respondents, these were the ones with no reactors: pistachio and summer squash.
The ones with 1 reactor on each: asparagus, basil, bay leaf, beet sugar, black pepper, blackberry, blueberry, brewer's yeast, broccoli, brussel sprouts, cayenne, chicory, coffee, cranbery, eggplant, fennel, grapes, hemp, jalapeno, kelp, mango, okra, papaya, peach, pine nut, pineapple, psyllium, rhubarb, romaine, sheep's milk, spelt, winter squash, sunflower, water kefir, watercress. Each fish had 1 reactor (so what's high on the allergy scale isn't as high on the intolerance scale in that case).

And for me, DS only reacted to milk through BFing, but soy when he directly ingested. DD didn't react to anything through BFing, it was only on direct ingestion for everything....