Hi my DD is 5 months old next week, she has reflux and suspected milk protein intolerance. SHe has been having baby pears for a while now with her losec and occasional baby rice, Monday I tried her with the watties fruit swirl and it has pears, apricots and ground rice in it and yesterday and today she has a rash on her cheek near her ear which I assume is excema? and has been having mucusy more frequent bowl motions, the mucus in the bowl motions were a sign of the intolerance which cleared up when we started neocate so I am assuming that its a reaction to something she has eaten? what do you recon? She has allergy tests next week

There's not much to react to in the fruit swirl. Apart from a rice allergy which is extremely rare she may be sensitive to the naturally occurring food chemicals in the fruit - salicylates. If you google you will find plenty of info on them - Sue Dengate's site will have a comprehensive list. Salicylate intolerance won't show on allergy tests. Otherwise if you are having RAST tests you could ask the doc to add rice to the list. Otherwise rice isn't tested with skin pricks (that's assuming your allergy testing is medical testing rather than natropathic).

The other option is to make your own baby foods. Make sure all skin is removed before stewing. Grind rice into flour in a coffee grinder and cook like porridge or buy alternative grains flours from the health food shop like quinoa, millet etc. Perhaps try plain cooked golden kumara as a first food.

http://wholesomebabyfood.momtastic.com/ this site has good info on homemade first foods.