Thursday, October 23, 2008

Farewell, rice cereal

Well, after ten fun days of feeding Porter rice cereal, we have decided to stop for a few reasons...One being that he has been a little crankier than usual, and paired with a couple of the other things going on, we figured he was trying to tell us something. His *ahem* bowels haven't been right since the third day of cereal. Our faithful at-least-4-a-day pooper became a once-every-two-days pooper, and turned into quite the tooter, too, which is very unusual. I know...poop details on the blog. Wrong, but so true, and quite pertinent in this case if you ask me. I suppose this is baby version of constipation...poor baby! He has also been spitting up exponentially more than he has in the past. Not fun. Developmentally, I know that Porter is ready for food. I studied all the "how do you know if your baby is ready for solids" websites and books, and I feel confident that he is ready. He opens his mouth wide, he can take the food off the spoon with ease, he doesn't spit any of it back out (his bib is clean every time!), and I can just tell how much he LOVES it!!! He cries when it's gone! However, I don't think his little body agreed with the rice cereal, unfortunately. So, now I am on the hunt to find the "perfect" first food for MY baby (I know they aren't all the same!) and I am REALLY surprised at how many differing opinions there are! I am a little embarassed, actually, that I didn't put more thought into this before I shoveled rice into my 4-month-olds accepting lips. In the mean time, back to exclusively breastfeeding, which now he is wanting to do more often, of course. I'm not sure if it's because he is actually hungrier, or if it because since giving him cereal I was breasfeeding him less so my milk production decreased, and now he is just nursing more often to build it back up. This whole experience has been much more stressful than I anticipated! So, if any of you Mommies out there have any experience with the first foods that passed through your tiny one's lips...do tell! I'm on the hunt for good, reliable info that will be the healthiest and best option for Porter...and not necessarily the most popular one!

7 comments:

Doug said...

I vote on a medium rare ribeye steak!!! I will even cook it for him.

Notme said...

you can try Gerber Oatmeal. He may have an allergy or something to the rice. My son has always been gassy so nothing new here..hehe

Also, it is normal for babies go to anywhere from 1-5 days between poops. Chayce poops every other day. Only assume he is constipated if its coming out in balls, or formed and dry. If its still baby poop looking then you are ok.

You are lucky he still wants to nurse. My supply decreased when we started rice cereal so i started adding 1 bottle of formula a day. Now thats all he wants, and screams when I try to nurse him. So I guess we are done if he wont stop this.

The Miller Family said...

Hey Barbie!

We had the same thing happen to both our boys! Our Dr. assured me that there was no way our babies could be allergic to rice cereal, since it was THE easiest thing to digest. Well, my boys' digestive systems disagreed! We switched them to oatmeal, and they did great! They loved it!

My only other advice would be to give him vegetables before fruits, as he likely won't want them after he gets his first taste of yummy sweet fruit, unless he's already used to them!

Good luck! I'm sure you'll find the perfect first food for Porter!

Kevin & Jessica said...

Barbie, we have been switching rice and oatmeal and Logan has been doing well. He just started veggies this week and is loving it. Logan is only pooping every other day, so as long as it is not hard don't worry, their ddigestive tracts just have to get used to solids. Good luck...Jessica

Kendra said...

I second the "veggies before fruits" comment. And not sweet potatoes because they might as well be a fruit :)

When Leah was about 2-1/2 - 3 months old, she started skipping days (as far as poop goes) and would sometimes go 5 days without a BM. I was freaked out, called the pediatrician and they said give her about a tablespoon of light corn syrup in 4-6 ounces of water. That should get things moving. But honestly, it's totally normal, and they said only do the corn syrup thing if I was totally freaked out and it went beyond 7 days. It happened with Russell for a while too, but he has definitely evened out by now. Basically, what I'm trying to say in my babbling, it may not be the rice cereal that's stopping him up, just his age.

And definitely try some other grains if you still want to give the solids a go. He may just be sensitive to rice. It's been known to happen. Sorry I have no better advice as to what to try. Good luck, doll.

Patti said...

oatmeal and prunes! I did organic and made my own oatmeal, without all the added "fortifications". that could very well be what was making him so gassy.

Unknown said...

That's just what happens when you have kids, you talk about poop morning, noon and night :)