Rice Cereal and Tummy Troubles

In typical #2 baby fashion, I don't have a shot of Blake's first meal. Here's Liv 

So in between breastfeedings Blake's been chowing down lately on all kinds of homemade baby food - avocados, pears, apples, sweet potatoes, butternut squash, and papaya. Unlike with Olivia and under the pediatrician's advice we started him on the fruits and veggies rather than the traditional rice cereal.

But the last few days it doesn't seem like the pureed produce has been satisfying this growing boy. So I figured we should add in some rice cereal to give him some real substance. I made him a decent size portion yesterday morning and served it to him with the pears. He ate it all and seemed to like them together. Plus, he seemed to stay content longer.  I gave him more rice cereal at dinner along with some squash. He ate that, too.

I put him to bed like normal and about five hours later - around midnight he cried out. I let him cry for a few minutes to see if he'd settle himself down, but he didn't. So I went in and he was all curled up. He likes to suck/play/bite on his feet so I figured he was fine. He went back to sleep for a little while (not sure how long since I was half out of it myself) but then woke up again. This continued forever, it seemed. Thinking it was teething I gave him some tylenol....when that didn't work I realized his poor stomach was in knots. That's when I realized the rice cereal must be causing his tummy troubles.

The next morning I checked online and sure enough rice cereal has been known to cause upset stomachs in babies who are already have sensitive bellies. All the advice was the same - switch to baby oatmeal.

So we switched and wa-la - no more tummy troubles! Happy Baby = Happy Mommy!