5 Months and then some

At the recommendation of Tomato and our beloved pediatrician, we began Asher on solids at 4 months.  We started with organic oatmeal cereal, skipping stupid rice cereal all together since the formula with rice starch bothered him so much before (there is brown rice syrup in his formula now that is fine for him though).  He LOVED the oatmeal and was enthusiastic about it since the first bite.  We did 1 serving daily for 2 weeks, then 2 servings daily for 2 weeks.  Last weekend, we started his first "real" food... sweet potatoes!  I am making my own organic baby food, which was actually RIDICULOUSLY easy, super cheap, it yielded a TON from 2 sweet potatoes, and it was SO FUN to make  :)  Since it's fresh and has no fillers or preservatives, it actually tastes good!  Asher loved it from the beginning as well.  He could tell it was different and paused, then continued to eat it.  All.  He finishes most/all of his oatmeal/sweet potatoes every day now.  We are doing every new food for 1 full week from here on out.  This weekend, butternut squash!  Hoping that goes over as well.  We will then move to peas, then probably avocado, then green beans, and then maybe start with bananas or another mild fruit in the fruit world.  Desperately praying that his enthusiasm and approval of the solids continue!!!

We had a scare last week... well TWO HUGE scares, actually.  For one, there was a university that did a study on organic brown rice syrup in foods, finding that the formula we use had high levels of arsenic from the syrup.  We obviously freaked out, I did tons of research, and we immediately consulted with the company and our pediatrician.  The company assures everyone that they do their own testing and the brown rice/rice syrup has levels of arsenic that are undetectable and safe.  Apparently lots of foods have traces of it from the soil from when it was used on other fields in the past.  The company assures everyone it is definitely safe and they believe this one study did not "test" accurately.  Our pediatrician said he found no cause for alarm or concern and said we were fine to keep using it... he said the FDA is aware of this one study, and they have done nothing about it... basically saying if it were proven to be dangerous or harmful it would be recalled, which it wasn't.  Who knows.  We trust our doctor and think that everything will be OK... we were initially FREAKING out and devastated that after all the work and research I did trying to find a formula that Asher could tolerate, we would have to start ALL over again... knowing this was the best formula on the market for him.  The organic brown rice syrup is used in it in the place of corn syrup which is in literally EVERY other formula, and also in the place of the lactose/milk sugar (the lactose is what we think triggers the reflux to become severe).  What a headache.

Scare number 2:  Asher's teeth/gums have REALLY been bothering him, way worse than ever before.  We occasionally give him a dose of baby tylenol before bed on really bad days.  He was having a REALLY fussy day, so shortly before Ross was to be home, I went to give Asher the dose of tylenol, like we have done many times before.  He opens up for it and doesn't seem to mind it too much.  This time, he apparently took a big gasp of air immediately after I put 1/3 of the dose in his cheek, aspirating the tylenol, and choking.  Not just a little cough and spit up choking, like REAL CHOKING.  I flipped him to his side as I do when he refluxes (he never aspirates that, just pukes/spits it all out when on his back).  Nothing happened.  He wasn't breathing.  I immediately ran him in to the bathroom where the lighting is better and started the baby heimlich.  His face turned blood red, then started to turn purple.  Still, no breathing.  I continued the heimlich thinking only, "I HAVE TO SAVE HIM.  IF I CALL FOR HELP IT WILL BE TOO LATE.  HE HAS TO BREATHE".  He was silent and opening his mouth to cough/cry, but nothing.  The sheer panic on his face will be burned deep into my memory for all time.  Finally, after about 30 seconds of not breathing, he coughed, gurgled, coughed, gasped, screamed, cried, etc.  I was a mess for the rest of the night  :(  I've seen a lot in my life personally and professionally, and nothing comes close to ever being this horrifying.  PRAISE JESUS that only a few days before that, my sister and brothe-in-law were visiting (a pediatric PT and an EMT/fireman).  Out of the blue, I told them I had taken CPR/first aid a few years back, but was trying to refresh my memory on infant CPR and heimlich.  I told them what I remembered and they told me what was right/wrong.  Thank God.  He was fine afterward, but I was a mess for days, and unable to get it out of my mind.  I think I've blocked part of it now, the part where I thought I was going to lose him.  I think God has allowed me to push it way way back in my memory already so it doesn't haunt me constantly.

Asher is growing by the day.  His 6mo clothes still fit, some of them perfectly, but some of them very tightly.  He is not only rolling constantly, but pushing to crawl constantly!  He can get all the way up in the front and he can push himself (backwards!) on his arms.  I put him down the other day for about 90 seconds under his activity mat, went to the kitchen, came back, and he had rolled over and moved 3-4 feet by himself!  He's doing that daily.  He can get up in the front, or back, but not both.  If placed in a crawling position, he can hold it for a good while, but no movement in that position yet.  He is SO anxious and gets so so frustrated!  He is the sweetest thing ever  :)  He is doing better with the feeding aversion with me, but way worse with Ross  :(  Sleeping still sucks most of the time, but every now and then, he surprises us.  He LOVES his bath and goes CRAZY every time we put him in there, splashing like a wild man  ;)  My mom took a cute video of him in the bath but obviously he's naked, so I won't be posting that anywhere.  Here are some pics and video clips... there's a video from a month ago of him rolling over and trying to push up (he does this with ease now) then a short clip of Ross' weird noises that evoked a short, sweet giggle  :)  I have been trying literally for HOURS to upload 2 videos of him eating, but after more than a dozen attempts, it's STILL not working and my patience is done.  Just take my word for now, the kid enjoys his solids  :)