What now ??? First meal a puky disaster!

[marensmama]

My DD2 is over 7 months old and recently started showing signs of readiness for solids.  She has reflux, kidney trouble and a heart murmur, so i really wanted to delay the introduction of solids until as late as I could (she's now grabbing food from us, so it's time, plus the public health nurses and dietitian are concerned about anemia in babies who start solids too late).  I have always thought that there would be food issues just because if one of my girls will have a problem, it'll be Hayden.

So today, at lunch time, I gave her some rice cereal and she ate amazingly well.  I wanted her to feed herself (kind of BLW-style), so I made it really gloppy and put it in her hand and she went crazy.  She loved it, she was all smiles and frantically grabbed at the bowl and my hands.  I mixed up probably 1/4 cup of it, she ate maybe 1/2 of that.  When she was full, she was very clear that she was done (this girl is so good at letting me know what she needs!) and I declared this first meal a resounding success.  I breastfed her later on at 3:30 and she was fine.

Fast forward six hours, we were out for dinner with family and Hayden was really fussy.  It was catnap time, so I put her in the sling and she fell asleep.  When she was sleeping I noticed her face was red like she was hot, but she didn't feel warm IYKWIM.  Suddenly, 20 mins into the catnap she wakes up and barfs EVERYWHERE, three times.  It was all in the sling and all over me, and she was upset by it.  Sorry if it's TMI but the puke looked greeny, don't know if that means anything.      Poor babe.

She has eaten a few tastes of a Baby MumMum before which contains rice and was never bothered by it.  So, is this a food allergy?  A common reaction to first meal?  DD1 has a stomach of steel, so I never had any trouble with her and I don't even know what to do next.  I don't even know where to put this post, because I'm also concerned that this is delayed gastric emptying or the reflux (which had flared up last week and required an increased dose of her med.) rearing it's ugly head.  I should mention that she suffers with silent reflux, so she actually rarely spits up.

Where do I go from here?  Do I try something else in a few days or try rice again?

[Freya'sMum]

I'm going to pop you over to allergies and ask the Reflux Mods to have a look too - I'm not really sure of the cause, your lo seems to have a lot going on, and in the first instance I'd be wanting you to consult your health advisors just to be sure

Ax

[marensmama]

Thanks Alison, I'm stumped!

[marensmama]

I tried organic rice, but not brown.  I agree that it's not worth ever feeding it to her again.  Maren hated rice cereal so I moved to oats on the third day.  I don't necessarily want to go the cereal route, I feel like BLW is a more natural process.  I just didn't want her to get anemic and didn't know what meat or other iron rich food I should start with, and I was feeling pressured to start her since she was already 'late' starting anyways.

As a small update, she didn't develop any rash, had two large bowel movements that were usual (but usual for her is very runny anyways as a side effect of her reflux med), and seems a bit fussy today - but that could be because of the heat or teething, or developmental as she finally rolled the other way this morning.

[marensmama]

OK, another small update.  Sorry, it's a graphic one....  I just changed her diaper and there was a big blob of mucous and tiny little dots of blood (like three or four dots).   *sigh* I knew solids would be an issue for my cheeky monkey.

[JennŠ]

Nic my friend, time to check with the docs as to what they suggest. 
Hayden, no more scaring mama! 

[marensmama]

As in don't feed her anything else but don't panic?  It's a long weekend here of course, paed won't be open until Tuesday!

[marensmama]

Ya, but I don't need to call the doctor between now and then, right?  FWIW she was all smiles and cheek this afternoon, so she's no longer uncomfortable.  Plus she's moving around a lot working at getting toys and rolling and playing with her hair, which she hasn't been doing for a few weeks (since the reflux flared up), so that tells me that she feels pretty good.

[Mydreamcametrue]

No more solids until you talk to the doctor...  I would also make sure they give you a referral to an allergist. 

My first thought was maybe she was coming down with something and it was just all coincidental, but when you said a pile of mucus and blood, sounds like a major reaction to me.

Keep in mind though, she may not be having an actual allergic reaction, but an intolerance.  In my opinion they are the same, but an intolerance to a food will not show up  on an allergy test. 

Most kids do not react to rice cereal, but it is not unheard of. 

If she is feeling better today with no solids, then you pretty much have your answer. 

I would ask your doctor about other foods than cereals.  Maybe they could even give her some iron drops instead or I know you breastfeed, but maybe one bottle a day of formula may be enough for her??  Not sure though.

Very scary sweetie.  I am going through this with my 8 mo old also.  We go to the allergist Monday morning. 

Hugs to you and please keep us posted.
Wendy

[marensmama]

It wasn't a pile of mucous and blood, it was a blob of mucous about the size of a nickel with several other strands, and in the blob of mucous there were three or four dots of blood, although the mucous seemed to be a teensy bit browny (I'm sorry, this is so graphic) so indicating maybe more blood was present.  Is that still major?  I'm kinda freaked out now.  She has so much going on with her health that I just don't know when we'll stop having issues.  And I KNEW solids was going to be an issue.

So, a call to the paed first business day is appropriate but not leaving it too late?  Sorry if I sound stupid here, I'm just worried and want to make sure I don't hit the panic button because of all the other stuff going on.

Thanks everyone for the support!

[Mydreamcametrue]

The brown in the mucus, was it black?  Bright red blood is better than black.  She more than likely just has some irritatation from the reaction (if that is what it is).

I would not put on your panic button yet.  I think she will be fine.  I would just be sure to call the doctor as soon as you can and also ask them to check her Iron level.  They can do a simple prick test. 

Hugs, Wendy

[marensmama]

We do have a nurse's line but they keep you on hold forever, so I didn't call today.  TBH, Hayden was acting so active and bright that I didn't think too much of it until I saw the the mucous.  It was just a few dots of red blood, and the mucous was just tinged kinda brown (like spotting IYKWIM).

I will call Tuesday if she's fine tomorrow.  If not fine tomorrow, then I'll call the nurse's line.

And Stacy, I think it's just too much of a coincidence that she seemed perfectly healthy until the day I fed her the cereal.  She's not feverish or acting ill in any other way, and again, she's pretty clear with those signals.  But I agree, the supplements may be the way to go.  I'll ask the paed and go from there.  And besides, so what if I breastfeed her and swaddle her until she's 19 - I'll be changing Maren's pants until then too! 

[Mydreamcametrue]

Keep us posted.  Hugs, Wendy

[Samuel's mum]

Stacy asked me to pop in here with some words on iron and breastfed babies. Please don't panic about needing major sources of iron just yet.
Studies have shown babies that delay solids until 7-8 months DO NOT have lower iron levels than peers who start solids at 4-6 months.
From kellymom.com:
"In one of these studies, done by Pisacane in 1995, the researchers concluded that babies who were exclusively breastfed for 7 months (and were not give iron supplements or iron-fortified cereals) had significantly higher hemoglobin levels at one year than breastfed babies who received solid foods earlier than seven months. The researchers found no cases of anemia within the first year in babies breastfed exclusively for seven months and concluded that breastfeeding exclusively for seven months reduces the risk of anemia."

All the panic about iron levels and needing to start rice cereal asap come from a time when scientists did not detect how bioavailable iron in bm was. However it is more relevant if a baby is a preemie and they miss the iron levels laid down in the final trimester - it's difficult for them to catch up. It also seems more relevant if babies are very low birth weight (even if full term).

Iron is not a worry for *at least* 6 months and 6 months end of the spectrum is rare. There are people who exclusively feed up until virtually 12 months and get iron levels tested and have no difficulties. As a PP says you can get iron levels tested but it's unlikely to be a problem.

Good link here:
http://www.kellymom.com/nutrition/vitamins/iron.html

AND rice cereal is not a requirement. There are iron rich alternatives. My DD was 6 pounds and will start solids at 6 months but we're doing BLW and she won't be seeing any rice cereal until she's old enough to go out and buy it with her first pay check!

[marensmama]

Thank you Emma and Stacy.  When Maren started solids, she hated rice cereal right away, so I gave her oatmeal and homemade purees for about two weeks... She then started refusing food entirely unless she could feed herself.    Little Miss Independence knows what she wants!  Maren is a textbook kid though and everything except the 'terrible twos' has been so easy with her.  With Hayden, I am almost neurotic over her.  We just keep running into so many problems... the most recent being the kidney stones.  There is some speculation by my paed (who admits she knows nothing about this, hence the referral to the nephrologist) that my accidentally high doses of vitamin D, combined with the vit D supplement that I've been giving Hayden since day one may have contributed to the stones (it's possible since the kidneys are the organ responsible for metabolizing vit D).  With this latest cereal incident, I am almost sick over the fact that I gave her something that made her so ill.  The poor thing wants food so badly she is crying in frustration at all of our meal times and grabbing whatever we've got.  I've been giving her large pieces of apple and carrots to mouth (I know it's a choking hazard but all she does is gum them and the pieces are too big to fit in her mouth).  I wanted to do BLW, but the nutritionist at the health unit said they recommend rice cereal because it's the least likely to be an allergen and it's high in iron and TBH I didn't want to do anything that wasn't the 'norm' because Hayden has such rotten luck.  I feel like now I just want to BF her forever and hold her in my arms so she's safe.