With all my knowledge accumulated through the constant research I do concerning babies and what is best to feed them and when, you’d think I would have been smarter than to ignore some of the advice.

Remember this post and this one? If I hadn’t known beforehand, I knew by the time I was through with my research that there are certain foods to avoid until either one year of age or when your baby’s doctor deems it appropriate.

Call it overconfidence, or just plain stupidity, but not too long ago I found myself at the pediatrician’s office with 10-month-old Buttercup, who had a horrible diaper rash and the worst case of diarrhea we had ever seen in her short life.

Why? Because just a few days earlier, I had scrambled up a whole egg for her breakfast. She had liked it so much that I did the same the next morning as well. And within 24 hours of the second breakfast, she was crabby, crying, and going through diapers like they were going out of style.

I immediately made an appointment when I realized how bad the situation was getting, and found myself explaining to the pediatrician that I, the writer who specializes in pregnancy, babies, and parenting, had given my baby the whole egg a whole two months before is recommended.

It was not a comfortable moment for me and made me feel like the worst mother in the world. Sound familiar?

“But she can handle egg-containing foods,” I whined pathetically to him as he gently admonished me for my mistake.

“That’s different than ingesting the whole egg,” he told me. “Her digestive system simply isn’t ready for this.”

We left the office with a prescription for a powder solution to treat her rash and instructions to soak her tender bum in a powder/water solution three times a day for 15 minutes. And since the only thing I could find big enough for her to sit in was my turkey roaster, that is what we used.

That, too, was really our only comedic relief during the week following Buttercup’s egg ingestion. The rest of the time, I was reminded of how serious my mistake was every time she urinated and screamed in absolute agony as the urine in her diaper burned her raw bottom. Bowel movements were runny enough to run out the legs of the diaper, and only resulted in more screams of pain. And if that wasn’t bad enough, trying to clean her bottom with each diaper change required the help of another adult to hold Buttercup down as she fought to escape.

I’m sure Buttercup was more grateful than me when the endless butt-soaking came to a close, and her little bottom finally got the relief she and I were so desperately seeking. Finally, she could sit down without breaking into tears.

What’s the point of my story, you might ask? It’s just a gentle reminder that the food introductory guidelines are in place for a reason; and that there really is no reason to rush. And it also goes to show you that even a gooroo has plenty to learn when it comes to parenting.

And in case you were wondering, yes, I did wash the turkey roaster when I was through.