[drs0410]

<p>I'm not sure if this is the best place to ask about this, but I figured I'll give it a try.</p>
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<p>My son is officially 7 months today. He doesn't really want to eat anything, so he gets breast milk most of the time. His body has been fine with the small amounts of fruits and vegetables I've managed to get him to eat, but not when he eats grains. I've tried baby oatmeal cereal and brown rice cereal. An hour or so after eating those, and only a very small amount, he was throwing up. Last night I gave him only two pieces of Gerber Graduate puffs and 2-3 small bites of chicken noodle dinner in a jar and he started throwing up in his sleep. Every time this happens, I get him up and give him a bath. Then he wants to go right back to sleep without any help (which isn't like him).</p>
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<p>Since anything with grains seems to make him throw up, I'm going to give up on those for now. Still, I'd like an explanation for this problem. The doctor hasn't been much help.</p>

 

[littlest birds]

<p>I think at the very least you should stop feeding him grains for a month or longer.  Seven months is really pretty early for solids so it's okay to wait if there has been any problem with a food.  There very well may be no problems when he's had a couple of months to mature.  I personally would not use the cereals as a first food at all.</p>
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<p>Dh and I went grain free for a while ourselves and haven't eaten wheat for months.  A lot of people feel better when they don't eat grains as they can be difficult to digest and cause blood sugar issues and tissue irritation.  Many people also presoak grains before using them to make it easier for their bodies to deal with them. </p>
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<p>Carbohydrates can often cause a bloated sleepy feeling and sometimes people just accept it as normal and get accustomed to it, but a diet change can make that effect disappear (my very fit and very active dh's weird expanding belly shrank within a couple weeks off grains)</p>
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<p>Doctors only seem helpful with things that fit their expectations and methods of addressing problems--how foods affect health is often a weak area for them.  Intolerances that don't look like traditional allergies are often ignored.  We are often somewhat on our own with figuring them out.</p>
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<p>Try searching for grain intolerance and wheat intolerance online and maybe grain free diets.  You may not see so much that's vegetarian but you still may find some useful info.  You might also try the Allergies forum here, and if you are interested in grain-free eating then there are threads in Traditional Foods about that.</p>

 

[JMJ]

<p>I'm not a veg*n myself, but I saw this thread and had to respond.  Grains are actually pretty difficult for little ones to digest.  When I tried rice with my daughter around that age, she had the only blow-outs she's had in her life.  I've heard some places that kids aren't really able to digest grains very well until around 18 months.  Even then, I would be careful to make sure that they are soaked to make them more digestable.</p>
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<p>At 7 months, your son does not need solid foods.  If he is not interested, don't force the issue.  Your breastmilk is enough for him for at least a year if you are well nourished.  If you are vegetarian, I recommend lots of eggs.  If you are vegan, I recommend a good Vitamin B-12 supplement.  This time that he doesn't have to eat is a great time because you can put only the healthiest foods in front of him, and he can eat them or leave them in favor of just having your wonderful breastmilk.  There's no reason to try to entice him to eat by giving him sweet or processed foods.  Fruits and vegetables (with fat added for better absorption of nutrients) are fine for now.  If he is not being raised vegan, egg yolks would be great.</p>

 

[drs0410]

<p>So now grains are a bad thing? I thought they were good if you're eating whole grains. I'm also hearing lately that dairy isn't good for you, and for verious reasons, some people don't eat meat. So what CAN you eat? Just nuts, fruits, and vegetables all day every day?</p>

 

[JMJ]

<p>Well prepared whole grains, beans, and nuts (soaked, fermented, or sprouted) can be a part of a very healthy diet.  There have been traditional cultures that ate a whole lot of fermented grains and remain healthy.  (These cultures also tended to eat fish, but obviously, the grain did not hurt them.)  I eat grains, and my daughter started eating them regularly and tolerating them well around 18 months when she would no longer put up with me eating bread or rice and not giving her some.</p>
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<p>I'm not trying to convince you that grain is bad (though there are those who believe so).  You are dealing with a situation where your son is reacting very poorly to grains, and I'm just saying that kids not doing well with grains for the first year and a half is really not that uncommon.  You are welcome to come to your own conclusions about what foods are healthy and what are not.  I think that the evidence is strong that foods that are chemically processed and packaged are unhealthy, and foods that are grown or raised without hormones, chemicals, or genetic engineering in ways that make the organism healthy, and then naturally processed (cooked, sprouted, fermented, etc) or left raw (for some foods) and served in a way to maximize nutrition are going to be healthy for your body.  For at least the first year of your son's life, that means breast milk, drunk warm and unprocessed from your breast.  Really, that supplies all the nutrition he needs.  You can add other foods as he is ready for them, but he is not ready for grains right now.  If you want to give him starches, consider sweet potatoes cooked with coconut oil instead.  I hope that helps.</p>

 

[littlest birds]

<p>It is true that conventional wisdom says that the bulk of one's diet should be whole grains.  There are many people who disagree for fairly compelling reasons.  A lot of people are somewhere in between.  There big questions about this subject and it's not clear which answers are best.  It can often be a good idea to question the conventional wisdom, and it can be helpful to see that others have questioned it as well and have found some interesting answers.</p>
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<p>My main point is that grains aren't always good for everyone.  As far as I know, they might be mostly good for most people.  <span><img alt="shrug.gif" src="http://files.mothering.com/images/smilies/shrug.gif"></span> But if they are bothering your ds then right at this moment they aren't good for him and that he will be okay without them for now. </p>
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<p>If you follow every group's food restrictions, it won't leave you a lot of options.  I was a vegetarian for many years but now I eat quite a bit of meat and other animal foods (including raw and cultured dairy) and lots of vegetables, and lesser amounts of fruit, nuts, legumes, and non-wheat grains and am content with that.  It was really cool when I discovered it was not hard to eat this way nor did I feel undernourished without grains.  We've all been taught to think otherwise.</p>
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<p>I don't think you should follow <em>any</em> group.  I think you should respond your son's needs as you see them.  Knowing that there are people out there who go grain-free long-term as a healthy option may help you realize your son can definitely be healthy omitting them for a while as well.  It can be interesting to read about and form your own opinions.  That's all.  I personally wouldn't go so far as to say that grains are bad thing overall.</p>
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