Solids confusion, Doctors confusion

I agree with Stacy. It’s so hard for you to know right now what’s
causing problems and Ian only just turned 6 months a few days ago. If
it were me, I would stop all solids and do the probiotics for a while
and give only that and his Elecare (and Prevacid of course) and give
him time to heal and mature and adjust. Then maybe in a month start
again – once you know he’s feeling better otherwise? Then at least it’s
not such a guessing game.

No rush to start solids – we learned that the hard way here.

If you are concerned there are still some “back door” issues – it can’t
hurt to see if you can get that figured out first too. But again, I’d
probably give the probiotics 2 weeks first (unless he gets worse) to
see if that helps things before doing more testing – since you say he’s
happy as a clam.

If its not the sweet potato then the only thing I could think of is a stomach virus. Tylers poos are mucousy on Elecare but not watery unless he has some sort of virus.

Our ped GI is not too worried about the mucous if its the only symptom and he seems quite happy otherwise. She has said before that the mucous can be a sign of irritation of the intestines which can take quite some time to heal. If however the mucous comes along with a rash, crying, nightwakings, bottle refusal etc then it would point more towards an allergy.

You could try stopping the SP and see if anything changes, but if the problems were there before, then it probably wont make any difference. It might just take him some time to heal.

I would also consider a trial of a different form of prevacid or zegerid, that way you can rule out any problems with the solutab.

Just one other thing. Everything seems to go in cycles for us. One week Tyler sleeps really well and eats and has no reflux, and then the next he is terrible. Some weeks his bm’s are perfect and other weeks they are like wet paint. What I mean is that things are always up and down so dont get too worried about the solids, there will be good and bad weeks and you just have to keep going and it doesnt matter how many foods you try, its about learning the skills of eating and enjoying it.

Hope you can get the poop problems sorted out. Keep us posted.

At least it sounds like you have a plan. I hope that you dont have to get all that testing done, but in a way, it would be good to make sure its not anything more serious. Although Tylers BM’s are mucousy, he has never been constipated, and always goes once or twice a day like clockwork (except for one horrible week on soy where he went about 10 times a day).

I will have my fingers crossed for Ian and I hope things improve quickly.

Glad you have a plan.

Just wanted to let you know that although we didn’t have stool issues with our baby, the food issues and other reflux symptoms got so complicated, that after beginning solids just before 7 mos, I stopped completely around 8 mos and exclusively breastfed until 10 mos…..just to know that I could control the factors going into his body and symptoms a little more. I also went round and round, is it meds, is it dosing, is it what he’s eating, is it what I’m eating, etc. etc. etc. My son eats VERY WELL now, and is 18 mos. At the time I was a wee bit worried that I might be affecting his progress with solids, etc. but knew that we had bigger fish to fry so to speak and needed to figure out these much more serious issues with his health and reflux first.

In your case, it sounds like solids can REALLY wait, and if you held off solids for a month, and he wasn’t on antibiotics for a month, and you tried probiotics, and did this testing you are talking about….you might have a whole new perspective. Also, when worrying about food problems and intestinal issues, etc. it seems like the longer you wait to introduce solids, the BETTER things will be. Their little systems are so sensitive anyway, you get a baby like mine or yours and it sounds like they are SUPER sensitive. Also, my ped told me, and I quote, “allergy tests on babies and kids this young (under age two) are notoriously unreliable” he then explained that I should trust my gut instinct with how my son reacts to foods, and not necessarily just run with the allergy testing results.

I really hope things improve.

Tracy – maybe hold off on ALL solids for now (I don’t think I’d even do
the rice) and do probiotics and Elecare and Prevacid only and do the
testing and then maybe in one month, when you know better from the
testing and see if the probiotics help him heal, you can restart foods?

I know this has been going on a long time, but I think it is possible
that the testing (barium enema probably) could give you answers and
that the probiotics could make a big difference. Were you on
antibiotics while pregnant? Did Ian have antibiotics shortly after
birth? Or was this the first time he’d been on them?

And didn’t you say he didn’t pass all his meconium in the hospital?
They probably should check for Hirschsprung’s at this point – even just
if to rule it out.

Arrggh- just typed a long post and lost it!

Tracy, I would try the probiotics. Antibiotics can worsen loose stools in people who are prone to problems already by destroying the good bacteria. This can start as long as 2 weeks after finishing a course of antibiotics.

Sarah- funny you mention the crying b/c I do everything I can not to cry. I find it just makes them take me less seriously. They think that I’m just being neurotic or am a stress case, or sometimes they seem to suggest PPD. I find this is more true if the doc is a man. Your doctors must be more sensitive than mine.