The Pooperologist

I spent the entire first year of my daughter's life obsessed with her poop thanks to my foremilk imbalance and elimination diet.

It's amazing what motherhood can do to you. Running to check the poop if someone else changed it. Asking them not to throw it away. Holding it under the light.

I was a regular poop investigator. or "The Pooperologist."

So thanks to my prowess dumb luck this time, I figured out how to avoid the foremilk imbalance and my son's bowels have been fine. The Pooperologist was on hiatus.

Until I started solids.

Except now it's not poop, it's rashes. I mentioned earlier this week that we were dealing with rashes. Well, I think now that they are related to the food. I mistakenly became confident with his eating single foods (like sweet potatoes, peas, green beans, and carrots), so I started him on the Earth's Best #2 foods (Veggie Chicken Dinner, etc).

Then he became a cranky monkey who didn't sleep and would be wide awake at 3am needing to poop.

Apparently my prowess indicated to me that he was teething or hot. But I'm thinking now it was the food.

If you're curious, here's what happened.

Two Fridays ago: Rash all over back (looked like heat rash). Went away after a couple of days.

Following Tuesday: Shots

Wed - Saturday: Fever (low grade). Did not feed any food - just nursed.

Sunday: Fed food again

Monday - Wednesday: RASH on neck, torso, and back

Now, the rash went away when I put him in the tub, but came back in lesser form when I took him out. Since eliminating the good and just going back to rice cereal, he's been content, happy, and sleeping really well.

And no rash.

Plus, keep in mind that he'd been eating solids for the whole month before we arrived here and never had a rash. So, I'm thinking it must be something in the #2 Earth's Best combos that's bothering him.

(I know, I'm brilliant).

So two days ago, I gave him peas. There was no rash, but he woke up at 6:30am and pooped (he's been going to bed early so it wasn't that out of the ordinary). I didn't feed it to him yesterday (just rice cereal), and he woke up this morning (6am -- lovely) and had to poop.

Both days he's been pleasant and happy, and most obviously, there is no rash.

I'm curious now as to what I should do. Try the peas again? Would they appear to be safe? Or should I try something else?

Beef? Baked Beans? Chocolate cupcakes?

Comments

[Heather]

My all time favorite ped, who was a big breastfeeding advocate, told me that any solids before 12 mos was just for practice. Their main nutrition should come from breastmilk until that age.

So, in the spirit of my fav ped, I'd say only give him what keeps him happy and rash free for now. Boobie milk is taking care of his nutritional needs for now. Let the food stuff be for fun and practice. No need to cause rashes and bad sleep and nasty poops when it isn't necessary.

[Much More Than A Mom]

I'm with Heather, but yeah the peas do sound safe. I'd also stay away from rice cereal if you have any poopie issues, but that's just me. You can get organic mixed whole grain cereal that may be better for the whole intestinal situation. At least, that's what worked for my kid.

[divrchk]

I think knowing all of the ingredients in the rash causing food is a good start. Has he had every ingredient listed, on an individual basis? If you are wanting to give him more variety, which totally makes sense, try different combinations of the ingredients in the offender to try to narrow down which ingredient is giving him the rash.

[ImpostorMom]

Sounds like the peas are fine with no rash. The rice cereal always seemed to gum up the works for Booger so I generally stay away from it. I also put him on probiotic powder in his breakfast to try to keep that gut healthy.

We had a hives incident with the introduction of blueberries. And peaches, nectarines and other berries seem to induce vomiting so we stay away from those as well.

When I give Boog any of the combo stuff I check the ingredients to make sure there is no more than one food he hasn't been introduced to in it. Then I can use the combo to introduce whatever new food is in there. That has seemed to work for us.

It sounds like there was something in the combo that might not agree with Drew. I don't think combos are off the table all together if you can figure out what upset him in that first one.

[Wisconsin Mommy]

Those food rashes can be a pain - Little J never reacted to the "typical" rash-causing foods. He broke out head to toe the first time we gave him solids - the harmless rice cereal...not so harmless in his case. We had to do hit or miss and keep a detailed record of what he ate and how he reacted. (Sorry I don't have better news.) The bright side is that he out grew it and can eat anything now.

[Dana]

I can't even remember how the solid foods went down for Dawson. It feels like a million years ago.

My hunch says stick to peas for a bit, but I could totally be wrong.

[Christina]

As you know, Cordy has weird food allergies. You might try isolating out each new food that was in the Stage 2 combo to see what might be causing the problem. Sometimes it's something really odd, like Cordy's allergies to cinnamon and red peppers.

I'd also try switching him to the multi-grain cereal, just to make sure it's not a wheat allergy. It also doesn't constipate as badly as rice cereal.

[Patty]

I just remember our pediatrician saying to start only 1 new food at a time - if I remember correctly, we would give the one new food for a week (or maybe 2) before adding another one.
Good luck!!!

[VDog]

I'm TOTALLY a pooperologist. Was laughing right along with ya at wanting to see the diap when someone else has changed it. And holding it under the light. Oy, what we won't do....

Those EB dinners have a LOT of ingredients.

Rice cereal gave the Little Man wicked eczema, and after stopping for a week and trying again, he threw it all up. So ya just never know what the kids will react to. My ped said, "but no one's ever allergic to rice!" Heh.

Hope Drew's better now. :)