Food Allergy or a Cold??

C.,
Oatmeal is not recommended for a 5 month old. It is best to hold off on solids until the baby is at least 6 months old. If you are still breastfeeding, continue to do so and often to flush out the baby's system. If you are formula feeding, it is still better to wait and the first recommended cereal is a rice cereal. Rice is easier for the baby to digest.
The baby does not have the enzymes to digest cereals until at least 6 months and this is variable. Sometimes later than 6 months is better for some babies.

Signs of readiness for solids include:
Absence of tongue thrust.
Able to sit up with support.
Baby can grasp food and put it in his/her mouth.
The baby is clearly not satsified after breastfeeding.

Putting things into the mouth is not a sign of readiness. It is imitative behavior. If this is happening, give the baby "mouth toys" - certain toys to put in the mouth when the family is eating.

I hope this helps you.
J. Bouchet-Horwitz, NP, IBCLC

I'd stop the oatmeal in order to see if the symptoms go away. If you want to give cereal at 5 months - I'd move to the rice cereal, it might be easier as a starter food. Also - are you mixing with breast milk? Formula? water?

I'd also stop the Tylenol cold medicine - babies don't need that for a cold.

Make sure you talk to your doctor about the stools though no matter what - even if it is just to ease your mind. You can just call and ask to talk to a nurse practitioner, and see if they would want to do any tests. If your baby has had diarrhea more than a week - they will probably want to do some tests (just to be careful).

Hope this helps.

My daughter is now 8 months, but at around 5 1/2 months we tried rice cereal. Then she became very congested. Her nose was so stuffy, but other than that she was fine. We thought it was a cold, but it turned out to be a reaction to the cereal. She just wasn't ready for solid foods yet. We waited until she was 6 1/2 months to start solids again and by that time she was ready so there wasn't a reaction. I would stop the cereal and see if that clears it up, but to help her congestion try saline drops, personally I would only use tylenol as a last resort because it is not good for her organs. You should try rice cereal before oatmeal because the chance of a reaction is less.

Hard to say, it could also be teething. But I would not give a 5 month old Tylonol even it is is for a baby, b/c she could be having a reaction to that. Let everything clear out and feed her oatmeal again and see what happens.

G.

Sounds like a cold...I would also suggest pedialyte or gerber liquilites

Congratulations on having a baby girl with such an appetite!! However, I agree with most of the moms that say oatmeal is a little too tough for most babies that age to digest (when my son was 5 months old, I started him on rice cereal mixed with formula and worked my way up to rice cereal/oatmeal mixed with pureed veggies - and yes, seperating his introduction to the new food by 3-4 days to isolate for reactions/allergies to those foods).

Moreover, my son acquired his first 2 teeth at 4 months old and had the same symptoms you describe with your daughters BMs: loose and watery stools and congestion. Like you, I assumed it was a cold when his nose ran slightly throughout the day, and babies drool anyway so i just figured my son was a big drooler. Despite these symptoms his demeanor was always pleasant and cheerful so I was hesitant to start giving him medication in case he wasn't truly ill (btw, I'd consult your pedi before giving your daughter Tylenol cold drops since doing so without symptoms like a fever could be harmful). Even when my doctor told me my son was fine and advised to use his cold mist humidifier to alleviate discomfort - I do this most winter evenings anyway when the air is drier - my instincts told me something else was up.

Sure enough a week after his 4 month visit, his teeth came in and the loose stools and runny nose stopped. Your daughter may very well be teething right now! Good luck with you and your daughter's foray into foodland and I hope you solve this mystery soon :)

maybe the cold medicine is causing some diarhea. Also the congestion and drainage down the back of the throat can do it. Suction that nose as much as possible!! (Even though she hates it)

everything I have read says consult your doctor if you suspect she has a cold because cold medicine can be bad for babies. So talk to her doctor as soon as you can-most offices have a person who you can ask or leave a message and someone should call you back by the end of the day (I have gotten a call as late as 7:30 pm), if they think its serious they'll have you come in most likely and just check her over.

I hope this has helped.
K.

Why are you feeding her oatmeal? The rule of thumb these days is not to feed any solids til at least 6 mos or so. sounds like the oatmeal is the culprit. I would stop it and see what happens. I agree with the others on cold meds. if they are stuffy use a humidifier it will thin the secretions. give plenty of fluids. I am betting when you stop the cereal the diarrhea will stop. oatmeal is also the hardest of all the baby cereals to digest. good luck.

She could just be getting used to digesting the cereal, but I wouldn't give her any cold medicine, she's too young. My pediatrician didn't tell me to give my daughter cough meds until she was almost a year old. The stuff in over the counter cough meds can be very dangerous for babies that young. If she's having stool problems give her lots of fluids and some pedialyte and learn the difference between a cold (congestion, possibly fever) and a tummy ache which does not require cough meds.

i wouldnt worry too much unless her cough gets tight or if she gets a fever...she most likely has a cold..it wouldnt be from the cereal

There is a good chance the congestion is just because of the change of weather/cold and the diarhea is because of the change in food. Still though, you should mention it to the doctor. A few months ago my son (now 7 months) had a cough and slight wheeze (not life threatening or anything). They gave me a nebulizer to use as needed and with in a few days his congestion was all cleared up. As for the diarhea, the same thing happened. My son was cheerful and not feverish, just had a stomach bug. They only wanted to see him to make sure his weight was fine, which it was!
Good luck.

My doctors advice has always been to call after diahreaha last more than 24 hours. Then hydration issue start to come into play. There are alot of somach viruses going around so you might want to give a buzz over to the office and speak with a nurse and see what they think. It can't hurt to call. Good Luck I hope you daughter feels better really soon.

C.,

The general thought is that you should separate new feoods in a baby's diet by 3-5 days, in order to detect a rreaction. If she was fine for almost two weeks, then it's probably not the cereal. Try the switch to rice just in case, but that's probably not it.

Do call the doc about her change in stool appearance, you don't want to wait too long on that kind of thing. He won't tell you this, because docs are never willing to admit to it, but my best guess would be teeth. Babies drool a lot when they are teething, and they swallow a lot of it. The saliva gets into their intestinal tract, and loosens the stool.

Jess

I am not a pediatrician but I was told that under the age of 2 years you are not supposed to administer "cold" medicines to your baby. It doesn’t sound like your baby has a cold based on the symptoms you have listed. Usually diarrhea is not a sign of a cold. As for the diarrhea, your baby may be having trouble digesting the oatmeal cereal since his/her digestive system is still developing hence the green watery diarrhea. Have you tried rice cereal? That is a more digestible cereal than oatmeal. Maybe back off on the oatmeal cereal until your baby is ready if he/she continues to develop diarrhea. If you are still worried that it is a cold it couldn’t hurt to call your pediatrician. By the way this is a link to a really good article about colds…hope it helps!

http://www.babycenter.com/refcap/baby/babyills/78.html