Baby Questions

[KayJay]

My baby has had a hard time digesting anything. I tried rice cereal when she was 3.5 months and it made her very gassy and constipated so we stopped and waited for her to grow some. At 4.5 months the doctor said to mix fruit in with the rice cereal tried that and the same thing happened. She stopped sleeping for more than 3 hours at a time too! Then I tried just the fruit and I added sweet potatoes and she broke out into a rash. It seems that she cannot tolerate formula, rice cereal, fruits or veggies. I know she is still quite young only 4.5 months to be worrying but did anyone have this hard of time with foods? We have had stomach problems with her since day one it seems. She had really bad reflux and diarreha that seems to be getting better only to be replaced with painful gas and constipation.

Right now we are back to just breastfeeding and supplementing with formula only when needed. I am taking her to a GI doctor soon but I thought I would get your thought too.

Oh I am gluten free and I am very careful at what I eat. I know that I eat some hidden gluten but I don't know if that would cause her any pain this young or not?

[Guest MyKidsMom]

I am not sure if this will help or not...with my daughter we had some similar problems and this was before we knew I had celiac.

We started her on orange vegetables (sweet potatoes, carrots), then green vegetables (beans, etc) and later fruits. I never fed her any cereals or grains until she was almost 2. We did this because of my history of allergies. My allergist said there is a certain timeframe in which you want to introduce certain foods to have a less likelihood of reactions.

But by far the most critical factor was that I didn't consume ANY form of dairy. She had blood in her stool until I eliminated it. I breastfed exclusively and tried to wean her at 12 months, but couldn't find anything to wean her to until I tried Lactaid which finally worked. I would have tried it sooner but my doctor didn't think it would work. I tried it out of desperation because I was pregnant again and the doctor was telling me I would have to tandem nurse. Can you imagine?

Hang in there...I know it is very scary when you feel like you can't feed your child without making her sick! Hope this helps.

[Guest nini]

with my daughter I couldn't afford to buy baby food, so I made her food homemade. Fresh fruits and veggies, simply cooked and mashed... I would freeze them in ice cube trays then store them in ziplock freezer bags... she was breastfed and supplemented with formula... I tried feeding her rice cereal but she would push it back out. She was at least 6 months old before I was able to get her to eat any cereal.

I was eating gluten at the time and I don't know if her formula was gluten free, but she would have terrible gas, terrible vomiting and diarrhea, and wouldn't sleep through the night. I do know that when she was mostly just eating the homemade baby food and breastfed that was when she gained the most weight and looked healthy for a while. She was still only in the 25th percentile, but that was much better than the 5th percentile. I know now that gluten was the problem, I think if I had made sure that her diet was gluten free and my diet was gluten free, then we may not have had those issues at all.

I don't know if any of this will help you, since when my daughter was that age I still didn't really "know" about celiac... maybe you could try making her baby food from scratch... it's really inexpensive (lots cheaper than the jarred stuff) and easy to make, you just need a food processor or a good blender and ice cube trays!

If you are getting hidden glutens in your diet, it very well could be affecting her. I don't think anyone really knows for sure if gluten goes through breast milk, but I've heard TOO MANY stories of cases where that is the only way the child could be getting it, so I'm inclined to believe it even if "the experts" say it's not possible.

[KayJay]

Thanks I never really thought about her formula containing gluten. We have tried 3 different ones so far. I think I will not give her rice cereal for a long while the next time we start eating it will just be veggies and fruit. I do want to try and feed her mostly fresh foods that I make. When should we introduce wheat in her diet?

[Guest nini]

I was told not to intoduce wheat into her diet until her first birthday...

I remember well that day! Fed her the first birthday cake, within hours she had hives all over her body and terrible gas pains... I'm still kicking myself that I didn't recognize then that wheat was a problem... I thought her reaction was from the sugar...

[lovemyboy]

My baby has had a hard time digesting anything. I tried rice cereal when she was 3.5 months and it made her very gassy and constipated so we stopped and waited for her to grow some. At 4.5 months the doctor said to mix fruit in with the rice cereal tried that and the same thing happened. She stopped sleeping for more than 3 hours at a time too! Then I tried just the fruit and I added sweet potatoes and she broke out into a rash. It seems that she cannot tolerate formula, rice cereal, fruits or veggies. I know she is still quite young only 4.5 months to be worrying but did anyone have this hard of time with foods? We have had stomach problems with her since day one it seems. She had really bad reflux and diarreha that seems to be getting better only to be replaced with painful gas and constipation.

Right now we are back to just breastfeeding and supplementing with formula only when needed. I am taking her to a GI doctor soon but I thought I would get your thought too.

Oh I am gluten free and I am very careful at what I eat. I know that I eat some hidden gluten but I don't know if that would cause her any pain this young or not?

Hi

I've done alot of reading now that we think Dylan has this and from what I've read I wouldn't even worry about the cereals and start introducing other foods the World Health Organization now recommends only formula or breastmilk till 6months so you don't even need to start any food yet. I've also read some stuff on how you can start with fruit and veggies and its really only a north american thing the whole cereal, I wish I hadn't introduced any grains till Dylan was a year but can't change that now.