Allergy to Rice Cereal???

I would totally stop the cereal and wait a month. If you think he needs food and not breast milk exclusively, try a whole food, such as "peas" or "carrots", and not something from a box. I'm putting off feeding Em for as long as I can. As long as you're breastfeeding, you know he's getting exactly what he needs!.
p.s. my sister would say never give him rice cereal. too many ingredients.

If he's doing well on the breast milk, why rush to give him solids? His corrected age is just 4 months; introduction of solids really shouldn't start until 6 months old. What were the test results of the stool sample you gave to the pediatrician? If giving him solids causes bleeding then definitely wait to give him solids. If you don't agree with the pediatrician, don't be afraid to question him and change doctors if need be. Good luck.

Hi J., I would probably wait another few weeks to make sure his digestive system is ready for solids since he was a preemie even though he is doing great. Wait for the stool sample results also. They do get full when starting solids and the amount of milk they consume will change but talk to your dr. to see how much he needs per day. Good Luck I.

Hi J.,
I did not breast feed my little guy, but he also has an allergy to milk and soy. We had him on Nutramigen for 5 weeks and then one day I noticed blood in his stool. I called my pediatrician right away and he said that that is a sign of a food allergy. My son was allergic to Nutramigen, too! The doctor said that Nutramigen still had milk protein in it, but it was broken down for babies w/ allergies to handle it better. Well, not my little guy. He spent two days in the hospital due to this allergy. Now he is on Neocate formula. He just turned 6 months and is currently on rice cereal and fruit. He seems to be doing well since the formula change, although his bowel movements have lessened. Sometimes he is even constipated (due to the rice).
If you see blood in your son's stool, please let your doctor know ASAP. My doctor always told us that blood in the stool means an allergy.
Good Luck!
C.

i'm not convinced that rice cereal is the best first food for a baby!
grab a copy of Keeping Kids Healthy with Chinese Medicine by Bob Flaws. His description of introducing foods to babies is the best I've seen if you want your child to steer clear of allergies.
If you're interested, I wrote an article about introducing solds ( mostly based on Flaw's book) email me at
____@____.com and i'll send you a copy!

s ;)

J.,

Go with your gut. I exclusively breastfed all 4 of my children. I never rushed into solids...they don't need them in their first year at all, so why rush it? Eating solids is just practice at this point, and since your son is a preemie, I dare say that 6 months is way too early to be starting solids with him. What is his age when you consider his due date, 4 months? If so, I would wait at least another two months before attempting to introduce solids, and then I would start with bananas and avocados...the best first foods. I never listen to doctors advice when it comes to feeding...so many of them are still of the opinion that you should start solids early. The fact that your son is having increased gas (burping) would be a red flag that his digestive system is not ready for solids.

Oh, and my first child, also a son, also nursed for 40 minutes at a time. He also nursed every two hours during his first 5 months, then went to every 3 hours, so I know a thing or two about what seems like constant, forever nursing. You are doing great with him! He is nursing less because of the solids. I would think that especially because he is a preemie, you should just keep focusing on nursing with him.

Request a referral to a pediatric gastroenterologist. It is possible that your child has an intestinal issue that IS producing blood in his stool that your pediatrician may not be thinking of.

DO NOT THINK THAT YOU ARE CRAZY. If believe you see blood, you might be seeing blood. Yes, it could be something else, but it could be blood. There is nothing wrong with ruling out the possibility of a larger issue.

They say that premies are more like the age they would have been if they had been born on time. No harm in waiting to introduce solid food. Maybe his gastro-tract is not ready.

looks like your are doing everything right. A more solid diet would make fewer bowel movements. Does your pediatrician see blood? A little change in disposition is not unusual. your baby is developing a greater awareness to his environment.

I don'k know aout the blood part- that would freak me out, but the fact that his feedings are spreading out is a good thing. The rice cereal is helping to fil his belly and make him feel full, the more food you introduce the less he'll need to BF. Don't worry, he's still getting plenty of nutrition from you. He'll only eat what he needs... and if he's hungry he'll tell you. I mixed my rice cereal with breastmilk, he seemed to like that.

Nothing wrong with waiting on the cereal for a bit more if your uncomfortable with it. It wouldn't be uncommon for him to spread out his feedings with the cereal as it seems to last longer in ones stomach than the breast milk (or formula for that matter), but the burps and and the stools are understandable. But it might be worth saving a diaper and taking it to the ped to get it tested for blood-- for your sanity.

I know that rice cereal can be harder to digest- my breast-fed daughter had constipation problems and our pediatrician reccomended switching to baby oatmeal to make digestion easier for her. That doesn't help your concerns about the blood, though- I would be nervous enough about that one to check with a second pediatrician. Good luck and congrats on making it through the fist 6 months with a preemie!!

Hi Jen,

My son is also exclusively breastfed. He is now 8 months old. I waited until he was 6 months old to introduce the rice cereal to him and at first he loved it but after about a week he wanted nothing to do with it. His stools were actually thicker when he ate the cereal, kind of pudding like and VERY stinky.. not like breastfeeding poop. I tried babyfood when he was seven and had the same reaction. Now at 8 he is eating more of what's on my plate (mashed) and is not too keen on babyfood. From all this, I never saw anything that seemed like blood in his stool. I think you did the right thing by sending a sample to the lab. I would suggest you wait until the sample comes back or wait another month before giving him any more solids. As you know, he can do just fine on breastmilk alone so why risk that it may be an allergy or something more serious.

By the way, congratulations on breastfeeding. It's a lot harder than people think and it takes a lot of patience. But of course, the bonding and knowing that it's so good for the baby makes it all worth it. Good luck with the baby & God Bless.

I didn't breastfeed, but definitely remember my daughter's diapers looking VERY different once we started food. Those differences included some very loose diapers and some that were much, uhh, easier to clean up. ;) It may just be his system is not quite ready for food. I started cereal at almost 5 months, but could only do rice because anything else made her seem "off". I chalked it up to a system not quite ready and just took it VERY slow. It worked and now she can eat anything. Since he is a preemie, even though he is 6 months old, don't they consider his developmental age closer to 4 months? If that is the case, he may just need more time or to eat just the teeniest bit at this time. HTH :)

J., put your foot down if you are seeing blood in the stool, put your foot down and get him to ER or something!! There should be no blood in the stool. Sometimes when they get to a year old and start spaghetti with tomatoe sauce, there will be redness to it and that is normal, but not if he 's eating cereal or drinking formula or whatever and there is blood, whoa, stop there and go to the ER. In fact, get small containers and put some of the BM in it and each time he goes put them in a clean container and date them and write what he had to eat previously and write them down on paper too and that way to see if there is any consistencies or if not, medical situation needs to be checked and corrected. Don't let the pediatrician tell you what you are not seeing. I get soooo annoyed with pediatricians and try to tell a mother what sheought to and not to be doing when we mothers are with our children daily and all the time. You know my second and third sons had loose bowel movements and some time so loose that it ooze out of their diapers and I did the sample procedure with my seond son and it came out fine and then it finally got a harder the bowels. Now my third one is the same and I am beginning to wonder if he can't drink milk. Because I put milk in with chicken alfredo and he has diaherra with it all the time and it stinks and sometimes it smells like chicken alfredo. I gave it to him before I think without milk and it was alright. You'll keep learning about your children and PLEASE put your foot down and demand tests and to see the dr it's an emergency and if they dont do it emergency appointment then bring him to ER, but it'll help if you do the bowel movement and put into each clean containers with dates and previously eaten or drank and write them down and that will help speed things up alittle. Please let us know how it goes and I will definitely be praying for you and your son and for Jesus to give you His Wisdom what is going on.

As a mommy to a boy who had food allergies pretty much from birth..... there's no rush to start solids. Because of the allergy situation, I didn't start my second child on solids until she was 7-8 months old, and so far it's worked out well for us. And, as someone else pointed out, since he's a preemie he just might not be ready yet. Not all kids are ready for solids at the same time. He's doing well on breastmilk, so stick with that and maybe reintroduce solids later on.

Check the ingredients of the cereal. If Soy is in the top five, don't use it. My daughter went through the same thing.

If you think your Pedi. is not taking you seriously, get a second opinion.

Nanc

Hi J.,
If you think he's having an allergy or reaction to the cereal, then stop feeding it to him. It isn't really giving him additional nutrition above what your milk gives him. In the first year, their primary nutrition is from their milk, food at six months and older is just a supplement. When you do give him food, it's suggested that you breastfeed first, then give the food so that he continues to get breastmilk as his primary food.
Good luck