Ruth,
My second born started to try solids at 6 mos, then developed a throat
infection. He then refused them for almost two months. During this time he
had a recurrence of the infection and I know that made eating uncomfortable;
I also figured that he was associating the solids with pain and thereby
"striking" against them.  Fortunately he thrived on my breastmilk alone until
he grabbed a piece of sandwich crust at 8 mos and decided that solids were
okay, after all.

Another aspect of your issue is the "allergies".  When it comes to avoidance,
there is usually a good reason for it, and intolerance/sensitivity/allergies
can be one.  Maybe the kid is having an associating reaction like my son did,
or maybe he is reacting because he truly is allergic and senses it.  My
thought is to be *very* careful in the choice of foods offered to this child;
it needs to be something very innocuous.  Take a verbal history of both sides
of the family to see what foods, if any, *anyone* on either side of the
extended family has any kind of difficulty in handling, and be sure to advise
avoiding those. What grain was used in the animal cookies? Wheat? Avoid it!
How about trying some yam, or cooked peas, or cooked carrots? Just place some
food on his tray a few times a day and allow him to play and experiment with
it; hopefully he will eventually decide to eat it if there is no pressure!
 Forget the juice/liquids from a cup; that is just extra work for less
nutrition at this point.  In the meantime, I like your thoughts about reglan
to help mom keep going if her supply really is suffering.  Baby will probably
do best if the parents back off of the pressure for a while. Since baby is
doing fine in the weight and iron categories, there really is no need to
panic at this point.

Maureen Minchin deals a lot with foods and allergies--- try her second book,
"Food for Thought".   You are right in saying that there is comparatively
little on this topic, however, and I've gotten quite used to peds
pooh-poohing the allergy/sensitivity issues while finding success with
mothers who pursue it. Good luck!

-Lisa Marasco, LLLL, IBCLC
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