Wednesday, May 6, 2009

The Proof is in the Pooping

Peeper's newest nickname (she has many): Broccoli Butt!

We've officially seen what the British mums on the Baby Led Weaning Forum refer to as "nappy evidence" that Peeper actually did actually swallow a teeeeny bit of broccoli yesterday.

Unfortunately, we've also seen evidence that Ritz crackers do contain dairy, after all.

(Cue Debbie Downer wah-wah-waaahhhh sound effect.)

Sidebar:
Why yes, I do intend to inspect the poopie diapers for a while. This will definitely be my job. Shrike will change the diaper, but has no desire to inspect it. This afternoon, She said, "She's got poop, if you want to come read it." I know it's gross, but it's the only way to know these things. Also, I hear that it will be fascinating as she starts eating a wider variety of solid foods.
Yesterday, Peeper had a diaper that I thought might have the tiniest bit of blood in it, but then I decided that at least one thing that I thought was a streak of blood seemed to actually be a flake of cracker. So, I figured the rest must be as well. I hoped.

Then, I got the following note from Frappa (LadyKay's Kiddo#2 - who, herself, started on solids by snatching a saltine at 5 months old), via Facebook:

There are no dairy ingredients listed, however - they are kosher dairy. It's something you might want to look into if she starts acting like she's had dairy. Momma and I thought maybe they use a dairy based flavoring of some kind because there are "flavors" listed in the ingredients that they don't tell us what are. On the other hand it could be something like dairy processed in the same plant.

Today, we saw broccoli bits, but also what is almost certainly a bit of blood.

Damn it.

I know that she didn't eat much of the crackers, but I did.

Between the two of us, we've been through about a "tube" and a half in two days, and I think we gave her maybe six crackers - of which, she may have swallowed a few crumbs.

She probably got more cow's milk protein via the breast milk than directly from the crackers themselves.

I guess we've learned a few things from this little experience:
  1. Ritz crackers do have milk in them
  2. Peeper is still sensitive to dairy
  3. Mama's not having mac and cheese any time soon.
So, we've made the Ritz off-limits to both of us, and Peeper will stick with bananas and broccoli for a few days while I keep an eye on her poop, before adding anything new.

We've been thinking, the past couple of days, that her gums might be starting to hurt her, because she's been kind of whiney, and maybe kind of chewy. Or maybe she's no more chewy that usual - or maybe now she's hoping more things will have flavor and will break off in her mouth and be swallowable - and maybe she's been whiney because her belly and/or booty have been hurting.

If that's the case, it shouldn't take long for that tiny bit of dairy to clear out of both of us and for her to be back to normal.

If it's the gums, all bets are off.

5 comments:

  1. Have you determined that the Ritz actually DO have dairy or are you just going by the symptoms? Could her little tummy (colon?) be freaking out from having new stuff? I mean, let's hope it's the dairy, rather than a new issue, but just wondering.

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  2. No, we're just guessing at this point.

    We figure if we drop the most likely culprit and just stick with the bananas (which didn't seem to cause any issues on the first day) and broccoli for now, we'll narrow it down.

    Actually, we might just stick to bananas for a bit. She did have some broccoli earlier today, because it was already cooked, but now that it's gone, I'm thinking we might just do bananas til we see a day or two with no blood, then add the broccoli back and see what happens.

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  3. That's probably a good plan, since broccoli is such a gas producer.

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  4. Is there a phone number on the Ritz crackers to call and ask about the dairy?

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  5. LK - Yeah, we've already noticed that :-)

    Anonymama - Good idea. I'll check.

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What say you?