Nothing to do with anything. Just a cute picture of my sweet, happy girl!... It's the next. I finally got over worrying about when, what and how much I would feed Emma. I was feeding her fruits and veggies with a little cereal thrown in here and there when it seemed like she was still hungry and had taken enough from her bottles for the day. We were doing well with applesauce, which I made this time, and sweet peas. We'd given her some butternut squash, but noticed a little red rash on her torso so we held off on it for awhile. The peas are not her favorite, but when eaten with cereal she seemed to like them and we didn't see any reactions to them. We'd even gotten her back to taking enough from her bottles. Things were going well!
Then I decided to try the squash again. The first time, it had taken 2 days for the rash to appear so I had planned to check her belly before and after each time she'd eaten to see if anything changed. I couldn't imagine that she actually could be allergic to butternut squash. Who's allergic to butternut squash? But, I wanted to be safe and not assume. There is, after all, a reason that parents are told to introduce one food a time and do so for at least 3 to 5 days before starting a new one. So yesterday morning, I went against my rule of not feeding solids in the morning. Okay, maybe it's not so much a rule as just something I hope will work from day to day! Anyway, I gave her butternut squash in the morning so that if she had a reaction I'd be sure to see it.
A few hours later, I still hadn't seen the rash that I saw before. I was happy because Emma really seemed to enjoy the squash. She took every bite eagerly. I knew we weren't out of the woods since the rash didn't show up until day two, but we were on the right track.
In the meantime, I noticed another rash under her diaper. It was one that I'd noticed a few days ago, but that had gotten a little better over the previous few days. It had me confused becasue it's not on her tushy, rather in the front under the top of the diaper where the sticky tabs cross. I decided finally to call the nurse line at the pediatrician's office. She suggested Triple Paste, but said that if it didn't get better in a few days that I could bring her in. A few minutes later she called back and suggested that I might try Lotramin as it might be a yeast rash. So I was off to the drug store to get Lotramin and Triple Paste. I didn't know where to look for the Lotramin but when I found it, it said it was for ... (GASP) ... jock itch and athlete's foot! I couldn't imagine this was what I was supposed to put on my sweet baby's rash! On the other hand, I had heard a nurse in the NICU say that it was a good remedy for yeasty diaper rashes. I called Stacey for her expert opinion since I was sure that I would take this home, put it in Emma's diaper and then have the nurses tell me what an idiot I was for putting athelet's foot cream on it. She assured me it was the right stuff. In the end, I remembered having a powder that we'd used before on her bum when she had a similar rash. Today it looks better, so it must be doing the trick.
When I got home from the drug store, I changed Emma's diaper, applied the powder, put vaseline on her chin, which is raw and chapped from rubbing against her drool soaked bibs and shirts, and was ready to put her pj's on when I noticed the little red rash on her belly. It was the same speckly red spots in the same area as before. Now it's hard to tell what red marks on Emma's skin are rashes, what are birth marks and what are there simply because I touched her with anything more than a feather's touch. I've never met a girl with more sensitive skin! So I have to conclude, at least for now, that Emma is allergic to butternut squash. The rash along with extra fussiness, lower fluid intake and extreme gassiness the entire day following the consumption of the yummy orange squash leads me to believe that she at least has a sensitivity. I guess it is possible after all. Looking back at the calendar, and what I'd written for the last time she tried the squash, I noticed she hadn't eaten much those days and seemed very gassy. I'd been blaming in on the cereal, but maybe it was the squash! Thank goodness I've been taking notes! Today, I didn't give her the squash - no rash, no fussiness, a full belly and much less gas! I guess I'll be looking for a recipe that calls for butternut squash puree since I have about 10 more servings in the freezer!
For now, we're taking a break from solids so we can get her appetite back on track and all the rashes cleared up. Too many things happening all at once for me to keep track of! I really thought that after worrying about and overcoming so many BIG things with Emma that we wouldn't sweat the small stuff! HA! I think I sweat them even more! I guess because I never know what really is small and what is something big disguised as something small. I have to be thankful, though, that when I called the doctor's office the nurse told me to try one thing and if it doesn't work try something else. Trial and error is not usually prescribed for the big stuff! I'll happily sweat the small stuff and thank the Lord for it!
PS I promise I won't always be writing about Emma's eating habits or rashes. It just seems to consume me these days. Sunday she will turn 7 months and I have lots of things to report and lots of pictures to share! Until then ... Happy Valentine's Day!
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