Early weaning due to reflux

[Clo]

Hello, my hv has suggested that it might be a good idea to start weaning my Lo soon (at 4 months) as he has reflux and is also a hungry baby.

I am bf'ing and he feeds every1.5 - 2 hours during the day and every 3-4 hours during the night. He is sick a lot but the reflux isn't affecting his weight really, its more that it causes him a lot of pain. He is on ranitadine but I struggle to get him to take it cuz its a really strong peppermint taste which he doesn't like.

Anyway, what I really wanted to ask was has anyone weaned early due to reflux and has it helped at all? Also, if you did, what food did u give (ie was it just baby rice?)?

Im just not sure whether to do it or not...

 

[georgebaby1]

ive been advised the same as my lo as reflux and also on ranitidine. my hv said to start on smmoth porridges and fruit & veg purees then progress more at 6 months

 

[anna matronic]

I started at 19 weeks because of reflux and just started with a bit of babyrice for a few days at lunchtime, then moved onto to fruit/veg puree and slowly introduced more meals. For Evan his sickness all but stopped and by 6 months he was eating finger foods and purees/mashed xx

 

[anna1986]

i started weaning early at 3.5 months due to reflux - sophie is also on ranitidine. i started her on baby rice but she would just spit it out so then went onto a single pureed veg or fruit each one i tried for 3 days to check she had no reaction. she is now on 2 meals a day she has fruit or porridge for breakfast and half a jar or 2 icecube portions of veg dishes around 4pm and her reflux seems to be settled at the moment (touch wood).

 

[chelseaharvey]

Zach is 18 weeks & i started weaning him today due to his reflux but he is also a hungry baby (just like his brother was) I have just tried the baby rice at breakfast

Last time i did weaning was 7 years ago so i cant remember what im doing

 

[georgebaby1]

Can i ask if the reflux stops can they stop on ranitidine. obviously we aremt weaning yet as lo is only 11 week but weve been told he can at 15 weeks because hes a very healthy weight and doc said it do more halm to keep him as he us than wean him

 

[Inge]

Leos had bad reflux and would bring up nearly his whole 6oz bottle he hates baby rice and spits it out but he loves his puree's. LO hasnt been sick at all when he has 1 or 2 meals of food. I didnt give him any today til bed time and he was sick earlier

 

[georgebaby1]

Leos had bad reflux and would bring up nearly his whole 6oz bottle he hates baby rice and spits it out but he loves his puree's. LO hasnt been sick at all when he has 1 or 2 meals of food. I didnt give him any today til bed time and he was sick earlier

can i ask when u started weaning??

 

[AP]

Weaning did not help our reflux baby - and reflux + weaning sick is awful

 

[Lou229]

We weaned Niamh at about 3 1/2 months due to the fact that her reflux was getting worse and the doctor would not give us anything other than the gaviscon. She did not like the baby rice but loved fruit and veg purees. DH loved concocting different varieties. I'd say the combinations with apples or sweet potato were her favourites. At first I didn't notice a huge difference with her reflux until we started giving thicker food like the baby porridges etc. Now she is older, the more solid her food gets, the better the reflux seems - although it is still there. Plus you have to remember that all babies will be sick - not always because of reflux.

 

[holidaysan]

I weaned at just over 3 months and LO's reflux was alot better. Since changing his milk to SMA Staydown and Dr Brown's bottles his reflux has disappeared. I think when you get the right combination you can completely control reflux. It's just finding what's right for you LO. My LO'sreflux is under control with no medication at all. xx

 

[georgebaby1]

I weaned at just over 3 months and LO's reflux was alot better. Since changing his milk to SMA Staydown and Dr Brown's bottles his reflux has disappeared. I think when you get the right combination you can completely control reflux. It's just finding what's right for you LO. My LO'sreflux is under control with no medication at all. xx

how did u find weaninh jim so early im considering it as advised by doc but a lil cautious tbh

 

[bunnie2]

my first DD had very bad reflux and we weaned at 12 weeks as she was dropping weight,the reflux didnt stop and back then you only had a choice of 2 types of milk and the doctors didnt give you anything (12 yrs ago),but she did hold her weight better and gained a little each week.
we are starting Xander soon as he has reflux and colic, hes on gaviscon,colief and comfort milk for it but its not making that much of a difference really.

 

[holidaysan]

I weaned at just over 3 months and LO's reflux was alot better. Since changing his milk to SMA Staydown and Dr Brown's bottles his reflux has disappeared. I think when you get the right combination you can completely control reflux. It's just finding what's right for you LO. My LO'sreflux is under control with no medication at all. xx

how did u find weaninh jim so early im considering it as advised by doc but a lil cautious tbh

He took to it fine. Never gagged and loved his food. Try some baby rice 1st. It doesn't tase much different than milk if you make it with milk so LO might not be so interested. Some babies like it. My LO loves fruit and veg. I also give him cerelac, its just rice and milk but somehow tastes different . It's LO's favourite.

Just follow LO's lead and you should be fine

 

[madcatwoman]

i started weening LO this week at 16weeks. he has silent reflux but also taking a great interest in food. He loves porridge for breakfast, and has started having fruit purees for tea!

 

[aliss]

Hello, my hv has suggested that it might be a good idea to start weaning my Lo soon (at 4 months) as he has reflux and is also a hungry baby.

I am bf'ing and he feeds every1.5 - 2 hours during the day and every 3-4 hours during the night. He is sick a lot but the reflux isn't affecting his weight really, its more that it causes him a lot of pain. He is on ranitadine but I struggle to get him to take it cuz its a really strong peppermint taste which he doesn't like.

Anyway, what I really wanted to ask was has anyone weaned early due to reflux and has it helped at all? Also, if you did, what food did u give (ie was it just baby rice?)?

Im just not sure whether to do it or not...

Weaning certainly wasn't a cure but it did help us a little. We used a bit of banana only (he had a bad reaction to rice).

When you start, try and be careful about times of sleep/weaning - you may find that meals too soon before sleep can cause a painful reaction. As you can see, all reflux babies are different (both in reaction and severity of reflux) so you may have to go through a few bad meals to find your 'groove', LOL.

Good luck!

 

[Miss_Bump]

Ive not read the whole thread but Evie was diagnosed at 2 weeks with reflux and still has it now.

In the early days Infant Gaviscon really helped as its a milk thickener and as she got older she needed Domperidome and Ranitidene. Now she only has Ranitidene and Domp twice a day and we have a regular check ups to assess her weight and adjust the dosage of her meds.

Regarding the early weaning sometimes it can actually make the reflux worse, weaning reflux is awful

My doctor referred us to a GERD specialist at the hospital who never once suggested early weaning.

How are you giving the medicine, i find that using a syring is the easiest way to do it

 

[hivechild]

Ronan had reflux too and his pediatrician advised against early weaning. When we did start, it made zero impact and certain foods actually made it worse. Nothing but increasing the dosage of ranitidine and the usual other methods like keeping him upright for a half hour after eating or drinking milk helped ease it at all until around 8 months when it started improving as his digestive system matured, and improved to the point we ceased medication around 11 months.

Remember that ranitidine dosage in infants is weight dependant and should be adjusted accordingly if it starts to become less effective. We had to adjust Ronan's probably every 8-12 weeks.

Also, have you asked your pharmacist if they can add flavoring to it? We did that because Ronan would fight taking it in the beginning as well. It's horrid on is own, but he loved taking it after we started getting it flavored. He would even hold the syringe on his own!

 

[Clo]

Thanks for all your replies ladies!

Ronan had reflux too and his pediatrician advised against early weaning. When we did start, it made zero impact and certain foods actually made it worse. Nothing but increasing the dosage of ranitidine and the usual other methods like keeping him upright for a half hour after eating or drinking milk helped ease it at all until around 8 months when it started improving as his digestive system matured, and improved to the point we ceased medication around 11 months.

Remember that ranitidine dosage in infants is weight dependant and should be adjusted accordingly if it starts to become less effective. We had to adjust Ronan's probably every 8-12 weeks.

Also, have you asked your pharmacist if they can add flavoring to it? We did that because Ronan would fight taking it in the beginning as well. It's horrid on is own, but he loved taking it after we started getting it flavored. He would even hold the syringe on his own!

It's the flavour of the ranitadine that is the problem! Here you can only get a strong peppermint flavour and he hates it! I tried it myself and it does taste really minty!

I tried a syringe but no matter how slowly I do it he always ends up choking on it
He takes it better off the spoon but he really screws his face up and keeps spitting it out so I have to keep scooping it up and putting it back in.

My OH tried giving him a little bit of baby rice yesterday (after I had bf him, just to see what he thought of the taste) he had a little bit of it but he screwed up his face at that too lol. His reflux has been really bad the past few days which the doc said could be due to the antibiotics im on upsetting his digestion a bit (ive got to take them for 2 weeks as well!) but interestingly he wasn't sick after the baby rice, even though it was made using my expressed milk!

I think we might try him with the baby rice again over the next few weeks and see what his reflux is like after having it but...i'm not gona push it if he's not ready or if it doesn't help. x

 

[hivechild]

If you're on antibiotics, I would look into giving him infant probiotics as his tummy is probably a bit upset from it before I would go giving him rice on top of an already irritated digestive system. Ronan's pediatrician actually recommended that I give him probiotics alongside anything else I was giving as it helps keep the stomach flora 'healthy' which may reduce the severity of reflux.