My son is 6 1/2 months old and has reflux. My older son had it to but by around 6 months old he pretty much out grew it. We have started my son on some solids about one month ago. But, ironically it seems like his spitting up has gotten WORSE, not better. I'm starting to wonder if it is the rice cereal?? This morning I gave him oatmeal and pears and there wasn't much spit up. Now for lunch today I gave him rice cereal and sweet potatoes and he is spitting up constantly and a lot! He is not bothered by it at all, just a lot of spitting up. Is it possible he has some intolerance/allergy to rice cereal or the sweet potatoes. Anyone experienced this?
Also, side note: I'm still nursing and when he was about 1 month old he was pretty fussy. So, my doctor recommended changing some things in my diet. As a result, I've completely cut dairy out of my diet. He is the happiest baby since doing so. I still don't know if it is a result of the no-dairy or just something he grew out of. At his 6 month appt we asked the doctor about possibly testing for a dairy allergy. but, she just suggested either adding dairy back into my diet or giving him some previously pumped breast milk that contained dairy. We have given him a few bottles with the "dairy" breast milk. He has had some fussiness, but don't know if that is dairy related or teething.
Sorry for all the rambling..just trying to figure some things out. Thanks in advance for any help!
Kids can be allergic to rice. Mine is. I didn't catch on for two years. She has delayed reactions to it but will break out in hives if she physically touches anything with rice in it.
So eliminate it for now and try again in a few months.
How does he do after nursing? Maybe a little bit later? Mine would spit up after nursing, and I figured out that I didnt' know what the heck I was doing! (Not necessarily the case with you, since you have done this before.) I didn't understand the whole hindmilk- foremilk thing, and he was getting too much fore, which was coming back up. I never gave him his reflux meds because we had another solution. I wish I could give them to somebody now.
My friend's son had a rice allergy! It s pretty rare, but I believe her ped tested for it b/c of his significant/severe reaction--projectile spit up/vomit. Not sure if he out grew it or not, but took rice and products with rice out of his diet and he was a whole different kid.
Most infant cereals contain soy. Our son had a milk/soy protein intolerance. We were able to use Beech Nut - they have soy free cereals.
OMG! I had the same thing and I asked my Ped. she said she went to some seminar and they said to try oatmeal first. I told her they have always said rice cereal first she said I know, they have found out that oatmeal is much easier on thier stomachs. It was like a mircle let me tell you. He kept it down like a trooper. Give it a try and wait a while for the rice. Please let me know if it works for you. Hugs!
it could be an allergy. my toddler couldnt tolerate any kind of apples when he was little. I had to read the labels on every single jar of baby food, so many of them you wouldnt think have apples, plus a lot of the baby juices had apple juice. he would get red splotchy patches all over his face within minutes. he eventually outgrew it and apples are his second fav snack. Does he spit up with plain rice cereal? could it be the kind of food you are mixing it with? i would do some trial and error eliminations. if you really want the allergy testing you can look into allergists that are certified in testing infants. good luck!
His dairy sensitivity is probably just that, and you can more than likely start reintroducing it into your diet in SMALL quantities.... like maybe an 8oz glass of milk per day, or 1 cup of yogurt. I had to switch to Lactaid with my son, but yogurt, cheese, etc were all ok. He outgrew it about 6mo, but remember that babies don't have the enzymes in their digestive system to handle cow's protein easily until around a year (although some babies are more sensitive than others), and his gut is just now sealing all the holes he was born with.
Personally, I'd spit up rice cereal as well, regardless of what's mixed with it. Have you ever tasted it?? YUCK! My son had MAJOR constipation issues with rice cereal that went away when I switched him to oatmeal. However, you don't necessarily need to feed him just baby food. A good rule of thumb for feeding is to give him the foods you want him to eat as he's growing, so pretty much anything you eat, minus the large, hard chunks (apple, hot dog, popcorn) and anything that isn't recommended before 1 year (milk, honey, egg whites).
Spitting up could be a result of his reflux, or it could just be because he ate too much. Also, Dr. Jack Newman (world expert on breastfeeding) just recently said that reflux is now one of the most common diagnoses in babies, and it's not necessarily what's wrong at all! Just as we throw up things that our bodies can't digest, or something that's made our stomach upset, babies do the same, especially if they've had too much. Their bellies are much smaller than we think, and a 6mo will drink no more breast milk per day than a 1mo... they just drink a little bit larger quantities, less times per day.
Hope that helps!
Alison,
My son did not tolerate the rice cereal either. He did not have reflux issues though. I switched to oatmeal and he did much better. He did not tolerate baby food pears then either. He loved them but they would come back up. He does not have any allergy to either of these things now. He just couldn't tolerate them as an infant. He is 13 now and eats rice and real pears just fine. Sometimes they just have an intolerance for things and you have to adjust what you are feeding. I would stick to the oatmeal cereal and forget the rice for now. It will make life a bit easier for the time being!
Good luck,
V.
Rice cereal is usually hard on the infant's stomach before they reach the age when the GI tract matures and closes... I'd stop solids for another month or so before starting up again and don't give rice at all.
Teething pain is gnashing, sticking fingers in mouth and whining... gas pain is fidgeting, arching back, and crying until a fart or burp is heard.
