Is this a sign ....that ds isn't ready for solids ?

[ruthydd]

OK, so we waited for the magic 26 weeks. DS was showing loads of "signs" ....putting things in his mouth, sitting up well, seeming unsatisfied with milk, and that guilt-inducing look of "how dare you sit there eating without offering me any?".

So, I gave him a steamed baby carrot, which he happily "gummed" his way through. A day later I see undigested pieces of carrot in his nappy.

Surely this is a sign that his gut is not ready for solids. What is the point in him eating something that passes straight through him undigested ? And isn't it the open gut thing that causes allergies ? That said, if I had pureed it, presumably I would never have known!

Nope, it often looks that way, get used to it !!

what goes in comes out .. carrot changes poo colour .. that's normal

I would worry if he gets distressed, bloated, skin conditions etc .. don't inspect the poo

If you'd pureed it, you might have seen orange poo?

That being said, I don't think things passing through essentially undigested is that odd. Do bits of carrot make it through the adult digestive system?

my personal favourite is when raisins re-hydrate and come out as grapes

They look like the raisins in rice pudding ... gah.

Nope. When dd was two she still wasn't digesting sweetcorn. Perhaps she still isn't, I don't have to see her poo now! Never inspected my own either... Maybe sweetcorn is a completely pointless vegetable.

nobody digests sweetcorn though .. have you never noticed?

sweetcorn , peas ,peppers, seeds , nuts, whole grains, rice krispies, raisins/sultanas ... all have a tendency to "reappear"

I think if you chew the kernels of sweetcorn, they do get digested. But otherwise, no, nobody digests them.

I think a lot of seeds go through the adult digestive tract unchanged. Certainly sesame and linseed pass through DS2 (17 months) easily.

So I don't have an excuse to spend hours examining poo. Shame!

I'm still confused though. What is the point in eating something that doesn't get digested ? Unless you're on a diet perhaps.

Well, fibre is food that, by definition, won't get digested. It's just there to keep the gut healthy and keep its contents moving.

At any rate, obviously your son didn't digest the bigger chunks of carrot. He probably didn't grind them up small enough. But I'm sure some smaller bits of carrot got digested. And at this point, anyway, food is all about giving tastes, getting him used to food, and maybe getting the gut ready for something other than milk.

By the opening post's definition, ds, who is nearly 3 is not ready for solids yet. If they don't chew something up thoroughly it reappears. But your 6 month old doesn't need the nutrients from a carrot yet, as NQC says, he just needs to get used to the idea of food.

Ah-ha ....nappy brain!

Well, you've saved me from a stupid conversation with my health visitor. That said, I have been avoiding her since she advised solids and formula at 5 months on the basis that my milk alone wasn't keeping him up with the silly red book graphs. Now he's 6 months she'd probably suggesting I give him MacDonalds.