Little Miss Messy

Since the dreaded "Cereal-Incident", I am afraid to start any new food with Ellie.  Given that her reaction to the infant oatmeal was so severe, I am actually paranoid.  Since the ER visit, I have decided to carry Benadryl with me everywhere.  That way, if she does have a reaction, I can give her the benadryl and have it kick in before her throat swells shut.  Granted, she might not have another food allergy.  Or, if she does, it might be something like a rash or tummy upset.  Still, I am petrified.

I have been bad and started with fruits first.  Now there are 2 schools of thought.  One is that it doesn't matter which comes first--fruits vs. veggies.  The other is that veggies should come first because otherwise babies "develop a taste for sweets" and will not eat the veggies.  That last one is the older school of thought.

One of the reasons I started with fruit is because of constipation.  Yes, you heard me.  Children with DS have low tone everywhere and that includes the gut.  Low tone in the gut means impaired movement of waste through the intestines thus resulting in constipation.  Common treatments for constipation in infants are diluted prune juice and apple juice.  Ellie has had both of these juices without reactions so I figured that prunes and apples would unlikely instigate an allergic response.  We have since moved on to carrots.  She loves carrots.  This morning I gave her cereal with apples and she would not eat it until I added the carrots.  Picky Picky.

Look Mom!  I can hold my own spoon.

Yummy Yummy I have carrots in my tummy (and everywhere else).

All done now.

Remember my lovely picture showing Ellie holding her own sippy cup?  Well, apparently that was bad.  The developmental therapist informed me that sippy cups are not good and that she should learn to drink through a straw in order to maintain good oral-motor function.  After running to a few stores, I was finally able to find a cup with a straw and handles--Nuby Brand.  We have not tried it out yet.

Oh and does anyone know how to get carrots out of clothing?