Transitioning from Formula to Baby Food

Your question contains a whole lot of variables. I hope this information will help.

The first thing I would suggest is calling the babys pediatrician regarding your childs defication issue, which may not be an issue at all. My daughter constantly deficated, till about 8 months old, while I was feeding her in the morning, it was just her time to go. But I would seriously keep in mind she is probably passing the prior days solid food while you feed her and you won't know that for sure because she eats the same thing every day.

Carrots are a fiberous food and may just be helping clean her colon-too well! I would definitely start adding other foods!!! Eating the same food every day can be boring and may be upsetting her stomache. The fact that she has a sore bottom tells me the food may be to acidic for her (jars have added citric acid). During the short time I used jar food, I used only Beech Nut-Gerber upset my daughter.

4-6 months is the ideal age to start solids and 10-11 months to start the transition from formula to milk. I make all my babyfood, which significantly helps with digestion. The rule of thumb for starting solids is to try one food for 3 days then try another, until you have given the baby all the stage 1 foods. When you start a new food, give about a TBSP the first day (1/3 a jar) then a little more each day. I gave my daughter 1 jar over the course of 3 days to make sure she didn't have any issues. The stage one foods are avocado, carrot, green bean, peach, pear, apple, sweet potato, bananas, and squash. Peaches and pears loosen the stool while veggies are a neutral. Applesauce and bananas are constipating. At 6 months you can introduce water and juice (juice should never be the constant though-it is useless calories and a bad habit) Apple juice is a laxative, so if your child gets bound up, give a 1/2 water 1/2 juice drink with lunch. All this information came directly from my daughters pediatrician.

Now, here is what I did. I started introducing all the stage 1 foods, including rice, barley, oatmeal and mixed grains one at a time. 1 meal per day of solids; I always did mornings so I could monitor any reactions. Once all the stage one foods have been introduced, I added a second meal a day of solids for about a month, then moved to stage 2 foods. My daughter started solids at 4 months and by 7 months was eating stage 2 foods and more. As an example, once you introduce green beans, sweet potatoes, rice, barley, oatmeal, banana, peach and pear...mix them up. Give her barley with peach and banana for breakfast or rice with green beans and sweet potato for lunch...just get creative. If you have the time to make her food, I would highly recommend it!!!

If you want more suggestions and ideas, let me know. I can definitely help you.

B., I am not sure about the baby food but I would ask you Dr.And about the rash, I know this may sound funny but I now only use Vasaline and Malox mixed together in a small container they won't mix very well but it took my 1 yr son's rash from really bad and starting to bleed to normal in less then 36 hours. Good Luck

I would first suggest to consult your pediatrician. I definitely think she might be having some type of reaction to the baby food. I found this excerpt from www.babycenter.com on allergies. You might want to read more of this article. Here is what it said:

In many infants, an allergic reaction to a food causes hives or swelling, chronic eczema, or trouble breathing. Sometimes the symptoms are gastrointestinal — your baby may have vomiting or diarrhea. If your baby has a severe allergic reaction, it can be life threatening.

I do know, however, she might just be sensitive to the amount of carrots she's eating. I would try introducing a new food every week. This is what we did with my son and it worked out really well. For instance, we were able to determine that the bananas were causing constipation and that pears made his bottom raw and were too acidic, which might be the case with the carrots. Definitely consult your pediatrician, mine knew my voice when my son was an infant because I called so much.

I just started my son on baby food as well and the doctor told us to be sure to stick to the same food for four to five days to be sure there isn't any allergic reactions. He also told us to always feed him before 1:00 so there is plenty of time to observe your child before bed time. As for cereal you might try mixing it with baby juice (apple or white grape) to add more flavor and I guess it helps to absorb iron better or something like that. Unfortunately I dont really know what to tell you about her BM I might switch to a different flavor baby food and see if there are any changes. Good Luck

Try mixing the rice cereal with the carrots to thicken it up. Apple sauce is another thng I used to mix in cereal. You can really mix anything in it to make it more palattable to them. The poop is runny because it is new food in her system. I would stop the carrots and try something else to see if she reacts the same way..........but you should stop all food until her bottom clears up so you know exactly what food gives her diaper rash