Like I said before; putting your baby on solids can be both exciting and stressful… Some things I have come to realise gave me a bit of mom-anxiety are (1) Allergies, (2) Pain or sickness from indigestion, (3) No interest.
So lets talk about each…
ALLERGIES: Well the scary reality of it is this — if your infant goes into anaphylactic shock — you may only have minutes to get them to a hospital. This can be from a bee sting, bug bite, food or medicine that they are highly allergic to. So yes, you’re told to avoid peanuts and heavy medications until their at least a year of age but they could easily have an anaphylatic allergy to eggs or citrus fruit… you never know! Less severe allergic reactions have symptoms such as swelling, itching, chest congestion and other “cold-like symptoms”. Watch carefully for them and remember in the beginning to keep track of what you feed them – AND use the 3 day rule when introducing new foods so you can more easily track back to what the reaction could be caused from.
* Here is a little something to read about allergies in infants *
Infants & Allergies
PAIN OR SICKNESS FROM INDIGESTION: This is not something I even thought of before… I figured R would like the food, dislike the food, or have an allergy to the food. Well I was wrong. I noticed that even something as minor as the size of her food, or the texture can cause vomiting or cramps. The first time was after chicken and I immediately blamed myself for not cooking it enough. I was so scared to introduce meat to her for a while. But sure enough I did – and she LOVES chicken, turkey and beef! And most importantly she didn’t have food poisoning… turns out her tummy just “didnt like the chicken”as the doc said! Same with corn. While we were sitting at the patio table eating dinner, she grabbed my cob of corn, and was nibbling at it. She didn’t have teeth at the time so I didn’t think she’d actually get a bite out. Sure enough – she ate about 5 kernels. And was throwing them up for hours!
What I have learned from my experience in this category: Steam & Puree for as long as you need to. Right when I thought R was ready for whole peas or uncooked apples — she either got constipated, or severe vomiting. I guess its always trial and error when it comes to introducing foods but those guides as to what to introduce and when — FOLLOW them! Try not to panic either – there is a chance that your little one isn’t allergic, but just has a sensitive stomache.
Gassy veggies to avoid: broccoli, cauliflower and cabbage. Hard, round, bloated belly — watch for it! Could be why their fussing!!
*Common sense Tip*: Give them lots of fluids with or in between every meal rather its breast milk, formula, or water!! They are never too young for water!
NO INTEREST: As a mom pointed out in a comment on Monday’s post, its frustrating when your baby decides they do not like the taste, texture or temperature of foods you offer. That will be especailly frustrating in the beginning while you’re limited to what you can serve them. I was fortunate to have a very hungry, non-picky baby (much like her mommy as my husband likes to joke). R ate everything I served her and didn’t care if it was warm or cold, (which made it so very convenient when we were out and about) chunky or smooth, thin or thick. Watch for a post on Tuesday all about babies who are always gagging and vommiting from finger food and solids.
What were your biggest fears and how did you handle them? Have you had any experiences with difficulty or major scares?
Looking forward to it!
-Love Jamie
Oh the joys of solid foods!I guess i am one of the very few lucky ones who had no problem getting my little guy to eat solids. I started him on rice cereal when he was 4 months. I breast fed him till he was 5.5 months but NOTHING seemed to fill his belly!!he was literally on me every 20 mins. And no he wasn’t just sucking he was eating!So at 4 months i tried a little bit of the rice cereal with the breast milk and he did really well with it!Guess milk just wasn’t doing it for his big belly
.
As noted before on this blog, my little guy (now ONE and 26 lbs!!!) loooooves food! He was big to begin with (11 lbs 2.5 oz at birth) so I thought I was doomed for breast feeding. To my surprise we both did really well with the bf (and still are). I introduced solids at 4 months because I was confident that his growing body was going to need more than just breast milk sooner than later. I followed all the rules alternating betweeen Vegetable, Fruit, Protein, Cereal repeating and trying to capture the rainbow as I did it. Knock on wood we have not had any problems, no indigestion, no vommitting, no gas, no nothing!! He has had whole eggs, whole milk, citrus and other higher allergy items. At 8 months I started rolling in spices and herbs and he has had pretty much everything. The only thing I can think of to date that has caused any concern is Cinnamon. He isnt one to get a bum rash but would randomly get a red mark around his privates. After cutting out things, going to the doctors, really freaking out we figured out that it appeared after even the smallest amount of cinnamon was in his food… interesting! So for now we keep it away from him and all has been good.
One suggestion which I believe may have contributed to N’s strong stomach was I introduced probiotics to him as a baby. From birth I would randomly give him a few days worth of baby probiotics (Bio Gaia). I have taken probiotics as an adult for years and with researching the benefits wanted to provide this for my baby. Probiotics have also been said to reduce colic, which was a huge fear of mine pre baby! Its a personal belief but if interested this is the link to Bio Gaia which could be a good start…(http://www.biogaia.com)
I had a pretty bad scare once – my son was allergic to strawberries that he tried for the first time at 8 months. I wasnt sure that it was the strawberries specifically but I got an Epi Pen from the doctor in case. The 2nd time he had them, he had an anaphylactic allergic reaction and I had to give him the Epi pen and take him to the hospital VERY fast!! It was the scariest day of my life, and I highly recommend to all parents to get the emergency allergy kit! I am pretty sure that social stork posted it on Twitter. So maybe they can post it on here too…?
Tracy
Yes Tracy, here it is! I got it from @coolmompicks who got it from @medpax http://www.coolmompicks.com/2011/10/medpax_allergy_action_kit.php
Enjoy!
Thank you for having written this. That’s the most great info I have found on this topic.