Possible Reaction to Dinners (Babyfood)

I'd say it's teething. Yes, there is the possibility it could be the food not disagreeing with his tummy, but all those symptoms are also symptoms of teething.

I'd try the baby-orajel swabs, and motrin or tylenol. (The swabs help numb the gums until the motrin or tylenol can take effect.)

It's so hard not to worry about everything, isn't it? But that is a great idea to keep track of what you're feeding him and how he reacts to it.

Good luck!

Hi A.,
I had the same problem with my son. I started him on fruits and veggies at 6 months and he was fine for about a week. Then once he was eating them more than once a day he began to have very loose stools. I thought it was teething but it continues for a while. I decided to take he off the babyfood and start over one by one (by this time he was nine months old). As soon as I started introducing it again the same thing happened. I then realized it had to be somthing in the babyfood. I decided to try organic babyfood next. It worked!! He did fine on the organic babyfood, no problems. It is a little more expensive but worth it because it is so important to your babies development. When he was itty bitty I nursed him for the first three months and then put him of formula. He spit up a lot, not too much that I had to change his formula, just more than my two other children did. So I think his belly is sensitive. Once he turned about 11 months he stopped spitting up. I was worried about him starting table foods because of his belly issues, but he has done really good (he is 13 months now). It would be worth it to try organic babyfood, or if you have the time and sanity make your own from organic veggies and fruits. Good luck to you.

I'd say you figured out the problem without even knowing it....he's teething. My dughter reacts the same way- fussy, short naps, up in the middle of the night, loose stool. Her gums hurt, so it wakes her up and she can't get restful sleep. I'm not dismissing your concern about reactions to food, but I would almost bet that it's his teeth. I had to give my dd Tylenol before bed at night so she could get some rest. Not every night, but when I could tell she was hurting and irritable. She sleeps through the night, except when she's teething, and this seems to help.

Dear A.,

It sounds like your little guy has a sensitivity to milk, and I would avoid it all together. I avoid it myself, and you'll see why in my message.

My grandson is highly allergic to dairy. We discovered this when he was an infant and his mom had left him with me, along with a supplemental bottle of dairy based formula. He had a violent reaction to the formula, and I had to call her to come home from work, I was so worried.

I have been seeing an integrative M.D. who has helped me manage several chronic health problems through dietary changes. One thing I've learned is that cow's milk is not natural to the human body, and in reality, all of us should avoid dairy products (with the exception of a fresh mozzarella now and then).

I use either soy or coconut milk in place of cow's milk, and I love it. In fact, I use coconut milk almost exclusively, and soy only in my 1 - 2 cups of coffee daily.

You can buy coconut milk in the grocery store. It' similar to cream in texture. I personally like the Trader Joe's Light coconut Milk, or the ones you can get at Whole Foods. They have a nice, uniform, creamy consistency with no coconut chunks. It is not particularly sweet, and it works well in most recipes.

Avoiding dairy is part of a plan that has caused my migraines (once as many as 2 - 6 per month) and fibromyalgia symptoms to come to a virtual halt.

You are doing the right thing by keeping a log. Pay attention to what he eats and what the reaction is. My daughter couldn't eat the sweet potatoes in a jar as a baby - she would break out in a horrible rash but she has never had a reaction to "adult" sweet potatoes.
I also recently found out that my 6 yr old is allergice to wheat and eggs, which explains so much. He gets tummy aches and acid reflux from that.
Your pediatrician can test your child for food allergies with a simple blood draw. An allergist has more intense testing but it is typically more accurate. We did the blood draw first to decide if we even needed to do the skin pricks.
Good luck

JUST MAKE SURE you consider that it might be the preservatives, type of processing, additives, etc that may cause the reaction rather than the food. Just a thought.....need to consider.

A.,
When kids were your son's age I fed him what we were having just really mashed up. I did not give him our meat as that part is a little harder to mash. I used a jarred baby meat, I think gerber had one, it's been a while. Even our daughter who didn't have any teeth until 11 months. They were at the table with us and were more interested in what we were eatting anyway. This way I knew just what they were eatting. Also, alot of that stuff just doesn't even look that appealing let alone the taste of it.
Hope this helps
T.

My 7 month old has an allergy to the protein in cow's milk and it sounds like your son might too. I had to put my son on soy formula as well and he almost immediately slept through the night and stopped fussing so much..I have recently tried re-introducing milk based products to him because his doctor says he will otugrow it by 1 year and to start slowly re-introducing milk based foods. He seems to do well with macoroni and cheese so far but nothing really else...I'm sure your son isn't allergic to milk itself just maybe the protein allergies to milk is pretty rare and has side effects like throwing up,diarrhea(this happens naturally when new foods are introduced so it's a little hard to tell what caused it) hives, difficulty breathing,wheezing, fever,inconsolable crying and swelling. ask your ped. to test your son for the protein allergy. good luck

I looked at the ingredients on these so called baby foods and some of them have MSG, HFCS, fillers, etc. MSG is often disguised with names like hydrolyzed vegetable protein. Cook whole natural foods(organic when possible) for meals for everyone and mash up foods for baby--puree those that he might choke on and ditch the "baby" foods which aren't good for anyone. I have seen some organic varieties at the natural foods stores which would probably be good for traveling--but special foods for baby are really not necessary.

Hello A.. Unfortuantly, for your baby's age, the list of possible problems could be endless :) Hurt and sore gums with teething are not constant; it comes and goes even for adults (I go for oral surgery in 2 weeks so I feel your baby's pain). As for new foods, my Doctors always told me not to try more than one new food per week. Pick something out, feed it to him every day for lunch for a week. If he is having trouble every day, you know it is the food. Also, be sure that all his other foods are ones he has had in the past and agreed with his system. If he is having troubles a few days that week, it is probably something else. Also be sure to be purchasing the same brand of baby food, different brands could be the simple problem. Also, his juice intake could be the cause of the loose stool, when my baby needs to poo I give her extra juice...too much juice leads to diariah. Being fussy could be lack of sleep, and if he is sleeping all night long that is great. Also, weather changes affect babies sleep. When the weather changes they tend to need more sleep. Also, at his age I am wondering if he is trying to go from two naps a day to just one a day, that messes up his sleep schedule, even though he would be the one trying to change it :) Best of Luck, I hope it works out quickly.

Hi A.,
My daughter had a milk allergy. You are doing the right thing if you are concerned. There is a website that is called godairyfree.com. They give you lots of things to look for. There are milk based preservatives in lots of things that you would never think would contain milk.
Keeping a food diary is a good thing to do. Do it every time he eats and how he naps and how many wet and dirty diapers he has and what the consistency is. If you go to a doctor about it this will give him something to base it on.
Good luck

It could be that your baby is reacting to an ingredient in the dinners, perhaps the modified food starch or preservatives that manufacturers use. If it were me, I'd ditch the commercial foods and get a baby food grinder and feed him what the family is eating. That way you'll know exactly what he's getting. I'd also keep a food journal on him to see if you can pin down what bugs him. I'd become a label reader and learn what all the forms of milk are that they put into foods, too, since he seems to be sensitive to milk. There are good websites for those of us who have food allergies that can help with this. Hope this helps.