Would you intro yogurt at 5 months?

[sarahsthreads]

DS has an ear infection and is on abx. I asked the pediatrician about whether if *I* take probiotics that would help him avoid tummy difficulties or rashes (he's EBF) and she suggested that I mix them into whatever food he was eating instead, and seemed surprised when I told her we hadn't started him on solids yet. She feels he's plenty old enough to start him on yogurt if we wanted to.

I'd sort of planned to wait until at least 6 months to intro food just because we had with both girls - and I feel like the recommendations have changed a lot and quite frankly I'm lazy and didn't want to start researching everything yet. We did the traditional rice cereal -> thin purees -> chunky mashes -> finger foods path with DD1, and then just waited a few extra weeks and went straight to chunky mashes and finger foods for DD2. (See the part where I'm lazy? Too much work to puree stuff.) I kind of feel like it's crazy to give a five month old baby yogurt, but...he's also been arching his back and crying a lot since starting the abx and I'm guessing they're making his tummy feel a bit off. :(

WWYD?

Sarah :)

[essnce629]

I waited till 6 months to intro solids with both kids, so I wouldn't give yogurt at 5 months.

You can just buy powdered baby probiotics and mix it on a spoon with a little bm or formula and put it in his mouth directly or with a syringe. The baby dosage is usually really small-- like a 1/4 tsp. Both Jarrow and Udo's Choice have infant probiotics that you should be able to find at the health food store.

[Melaine]

Biogaia is really good too. I wouldn't do yogurt or any other solids that young. We dissolved probiotics in a bit of water and gave it rectally using a syringe. It did help his tummy issues (blood in stool, MSPI).

[sarahsthreads]

Yeah, I felt like it was a strange recommendation, but like I said, I know things change all the time about when and in what order foods should be introduced, and it's been many many years!

I'll see if I can find the powdered baby probiotics tomorrow. I'm not so sure about the syringe bit...so far I think he's maybe managed to consume 2/3 of each dose of abx, and we've worn the rest. I'm hoping Target will have one of those medication pacifiers or mini-bottles, because the two drug stores I've tried so far didn't. :(

On a side note, I obsessively read labels and do not buy things with artificial colors in it - including infant tylenol - and here I am trying to force the kid to swallow pepto-bismol pink amoxicillin. Why do they have to make it so...colorful?

Sarah :)

[123LuckyMom]

As PPs have said, you don't have to use yogurt. You can use breast milk or formula. I wouldn't do yogurt at 5 months, because cow's milk can be problematic for some babies. I did baby led weaning with DD, but she didn't get any dairy until she was a year old and already eating lots of other foods. I don't think it's terrible at all to give a 5 month old solids so long as their main source of nutrition is still BM or formula, but I'd hold off on dairy for a while longer.

[georgiegirl]

Hey, are you me? DS was also diagnosed with a bilateral ear infectin 1.5 weeks ago. We are giving him the bioGaia probiotics (under the name Gerber soothe available at walgreens ). We are don't with the antibiotics but have a wicked yeast rash thanks to the diarrhea from the amoxicillin. It was difficult to get him to take it, but I just did little by little with dd distracting him.
And my DS seems too young for solids. He's not sitting independently (though he can crawl)

[essnce629]

I'm not so sure about the syringe bit...so far I think he's maybe managed to consume 2/3 of each dose of abx, and we've worn the rest. I'm hoping Target will have one of those medication pacifiers or mini-bottles, because the two drug stores I've tried so far didn't. :(


Are you nursing? If so, just slide the syringe into the corner of his mouth while he's nursing and give the probiotics that way. He probably won't even notice. You can do the antibiotics that way too and your milk will dilute the flavor.

[mikala]

You can also have baby lick the probiotic powder off a damp spoon or pinkie to avoid any more syringe battles.

Re: probiotics, ask at the pharmacy counter if you want a brand that's normally refrigerated. One of our Walgreens stores also carries a couple options in the refrigerator case with the food.

[georgiegirl]

I just put the drops on my nipple. You can also do that with the powder.

[lizzywednesday]

Are you nursing? If so, just slide the syringe into the corner of his mouth while he's nursing and give the probiotics that way. He probably won't even notice. You can do the antibiotics that way too and your milk will dilute the flavor.

:yeahthat:

We did this with DD's heart meds, though we used a pacifier.

[HipMama]

You can open up a capsule of Cultrelle and just dab some on his tongue. That's what I did. I wouldn't give yogurt at 5m. That's too early for solids IMO but I'm a weird BLW mama, lol.

[BabyBearsMom]

With DD1, I waited until she was 6 months to introduce solids. With DD2, she was DEMANDING them by 4.5 months. Dive bombing my plates, wrenching food out of DD1's hand if she got close enough. Screaming her head off when she saw other people eating. I am a firm believer in following my kids' leads and to me this was an indicator that she was ready for solids. She was definitey eating greek yogurt by 5/5.5 months and loved it. When she was sick, I gave her additional probiotics in her bottle though.

[trcy]

I also used biogaia probiotic drops when DD was on antibiotic as an infant.
http://biogaiaprobioticdrops.com

[Tondi G]

I used Jarrow Baby probiotic powder when my boys were infants. I just mixed the powder with some water to make a paste and spooned it to them ... or let them suck it off of my finger. You can also put it on your breast right before you nurse.

[sarahsthreads]

Thanks all! I found the Gerber Soothe probiotics at our local Walgreens and it does seem to have fixed his tummy issues. (At least, I no longer need to change his clothes nearly every time I change his diaper!) He's been sucking that off of a baby spoon without too much complaint.

All the tips and tricks with the syringe, though, have been less successful. We have 8 doses left to battle our way through. At least we're more than halfway there! :)

Sarah :)

[lizzywednesday]

...

All the tips and tricks with the syringe, though, have been less successful. We have 8 doses left to battle our way through. At least we're more than halfway there! :)

...

I'll venture a guess that it's because the medication syringes they give you at the pharmacy are VERY thick while the ones I used for DD's heart meds were very narrow - they were ring-finger diameter at the pharmacy vs. ball-point pen refill diameter from the hospital. (I may be dating myself on that.)

The hospital syringes had a lower volume, but they fit easier between the cheek & the pacifier, so it was super-easy to get the meds into her.