Early weaning for reflux mentioned.. But I don't know what to do?? Help.. (Long)

[Eliza_V]

Ladies, please let me start by saying that this is not a thread for you all to argue and rip each others faces off, and if that happens I'll just request to have it locked, and (like many others looking for help/advice/support) be left feeling even more confused (and guilty) than before I posted.

Okay? Good!

Basically, my LO has had some awful issues with what has been diagnosed as reflux. It was an arse to get it diagnosed in the first place, as the GP said "breastfed babies don't get reflux" The other GPs I encountered just told me to stop breastfeeding. To get a referral to a paediatrician, I had to take my screaming/vomiting/choking daughter to A&E.

She's had Gaviscon, then Ranitidine, and is now on Lansoprazole and Domperidone. The first two did absolutely nothing, and the Lansoprazole and Domperidone appear to only be having a minor effect (still being sick but in smaller amounts) but she's on the maximum dosage.

She was born on the 75th centile. She's now on the 9th. She has been steadily dropping since she was a few weeks old, no matter what I do or how often I feed her. I have been accused of not having enough milk (which is rubbish, as it often ends up party-digested all over me!) and it's a nightmare trying to get clothes for her - she's still newborn on the waist but at the end of 3-6 months in the length!! She only weighs 11lb 11oz and was 8lb 5oz at birth (yet only lost 50g of her birthweight?)

At her first consultant appt 3 weeks ago, I gave up dairy to try and rule out a cows milk allergy, and got those two new meds. 3 weeks later (yesterday) I went back, and saw the *cough* registrar (who was a paediatric rheumatologist, wtf?) who as brought down last-minute as the consultant was called away. She was just asking stupid questions like "Does she pull her legs up when she cries? Does she arch her back?" Then she was asking me what I want to do, if I wanted to stop her meds or go back onto dairy.. Sorry, who's the doctor here?

Anyway, she then started suggesting forumla top-ups coffee to which I got rather defensive and said it won't solve the problem, it will just make her look good on the charts! She had forumla at 3 and 4 days old, and threw it up both times. I'm not risking my supply for no good reason. Then she suggested weaning her as it's been shown to really help babies with reflux. I don't know what to think of this? LO can't even sit up, or show an interest in food, so I don't know whether this will actually help? Will she just throw this up too and be in even more pain?? Basically, I said no (party due to all the abuse thrown around on BnB for people that do, it made me feel dirty for even considering it) but I am at a loss of what to do. She even started saying she was going to start consulting with a dietician to "keep them in the loop"

Also, as I thought this registrar was rather incompetent, we got her to go and find the consultant and discuss what she's said with im before we left, as she was happy to just send us on out merry way with that. She came back a while later and said that we had to take her for a chest x-ray, blood tests, and abdominal and pelvic ultrasounds that day after the appointment (the urine tests last time showed nothing). If she hadn't gone to him, we'd have been sent away with nothing..

I also decided to try dairy again, and see what happens.

I really don't know what to do. If she keeps gaining this slowly, and keeps throwing up her feeds, she's going to get ill Plus the screaming is breaking my heart!

So, long story short, has anyone been advised by a doctor to wean early due to refux? How early did you start, what did you do, and did it work for you? I still would much rather BF to 6 months and do BLW, but I'm so confused as to what would be best for LO?

(BTW, I know there are plenty of threads around on this, but I don't fancy trawling through all of the abuse to find one or two useful posts and people feeling the need to defend themselves to people unnecessarily judging them. Once again, if you don't have anything nice/helpful/constructive to say, then please don't post. Thank you).

 

[tallrach]

No idea about the early weaning, sorry, but just wanted to sympathise with the reflux. It is awful watching your baby in so much pain. I will be watching this thread with interest, we have ranitidine for LO's reflux, although we have silent reflux and he comfort feeds so no problems with weight.

 

[Eliza_V]

Sorry to hear your LO isn't well. From what I've heard silent refux is awful, and harder to get diagnosed too! Our nephew had it, and no-one believed his parents for months Hope the Ranitidine works for you x

 

[BabyJ'sMummy]

My son had silent reflux and when he was born was on the 91st centile but dropped to the 25th centile because of the silent reflux. I totally sympathise, when it was at it's worst I felt like I couldn't cope anymore, it's one of the worst things to watch your child go through. I managed to hold off until 5 1/2 months before I weaned - I phoned up the Health Visitor and told her I was thinking about weaning and she agreed that at this stage it was the best thing to do, it wasn't long before the reflux symptoms started to disappear. I know that for some babies it doesn't always help the symptoms but for us it definitely did. I hope things look up for you soon. xxxxxxx

 

[Eliza_V]

Sorry to hear your LO had a tough time of it too! I'm glad that things are better now. Did you use purees or did you use finger foods when you weaned at 5 1/2 months? x

 

[tallrach]

Sorry to hear your LO isn't well. From what I've heard silent refux is awful, and harder to get diagnosed too! Our nephew had it, and no-one believed his parents for months Hope the Ranitidine works for you x

Thanks. The ranitidine seems to be doing the trick for now, he is like a different baby since we started it. x

 

[BabyJ'sMummy]

Sorry to hear your LO had a tough time of it too! I'm glad that things are better now. Did you use purees or did you use finger foods when you weaned at 5 1/2 months? x

The purees until he was 6 months and then we just mashed. To be honest I pretty much followed one of the Annabel Karmel books. I did give him finger foods shortly after he was 6 months as well though. Things do get better, I can't tell you how much he loves his milk now, it's the strangest thing.

 

[summer rain]

To be fair I don't think anyone has been rude with regard to early weaning for reflux; just when it comes to very early weaning most of the time it isn't reflux related and there are other better options available to mums in the UK as opposed to very early weaning (well before 17 weeks and even before 10 weeks) whereas in the US and elsewhere they do not have feed thickeners, thickened formula and other medications as widely available (and some are not available at all) like we do here.

With regard to the early weaning for reflux; my eldest had reflux though at the time it was called extremely bad colic and just being a sicky baby. Overall his weight gain was on the extremely low end of average-though at his 20 week paediatrician appointment we found he had been gaining 8oz a week since 12 weeks, it took him over 3 weeks to regain his birthweight so he dropped from 50th centile to between the 2nd and 9th and between then and 12 weeks he gained 4 to 5oz a week at most. Weaning at 16/17 weeks was never suggested to me as something that would help with the sickness and pain he was in but I thought it may help, and back then in 2004 it was very new that the recommended weaning age had been upped to 6 months. In some ways it did help; he seemed to be less windy and the sick he did bring up seemed less acidic and so he was a bit happier; but he still was very sicky even though I made the baby rice much thicker than advised and gave him very thick purees. Also him having thicker purees/rice than usual plus his digestive system not really being ready for weaning meant he had really awful constipation which didn't resolve for about three months if not longer. It also didn't really help with his weight gain; despite him eating loads, weaning foods are lower than milk in calories and fats and with him still sicking a lot of it up he dropped from 8oz a week gain to 2 or less oz a week gain for the rest of his first year. xx

 

[Eliza_V]

I've been given an Annabel Karmel book actually, I might have a nosey I hadn't even thought about weaning properly, I just figured I'd look at it when the time came.. I didn't even consider I may have to do it earlier than planned lol. x

 

[Eliza_V]

Thanks summer rain - I guess there are advantages and disadvantages either way then! x

 

[Divinebeauty]

I really wish I had some advice, I can sympathize.

Your daughter sounds exactly like what Ava was we were put on ranitidine, gaviscon a whole bunch of meds, and nothing helped.... I was honestly at a loss of what to do too..

My dr did suggest weaning too, and (please dont rip me apart bnb) I did feed her rice cereal from a spoon at around 4 months, but she coughed, gagged and would not tolerate, she had no idea how to open up her mouth she did not seem interested. I was not going to consider putting into a bottle, because I know that is dangerous and I didnt want to go down that route...

we tried enfamil thick- which is supposed to help with reflux, but did not help us at all, she was crying screaming barely even taking 10 oz a day , I knew something was wrong. She had diaahrea she was coughing, she got eczema, there were so many things wrong and I was shattered...

I took her to the emergency department one night after a lengthy screaming episode, where I thought she may of a had a seizure or something (sleep deprivation can make u crazy....nothing was wrong) I was crying to the Paed telling them something was severely wrong with my baby, they weighted her she had no gained in 3 weeks, so they were concerned..... they did a MILK PROTEIN test on her.. and found out she had a milk protein allergy.... VOILA- an answer!!!

SO basically anything with milk in it, i mean tiny itty bits of milk would set her off screaming, she wouldn't gain weight nothing... it was horrible....

Once we put her onto a hypoallergenic formula she was a changed baby omg was she ever, she honestly never threw up ..other than regular spit up, she was gianing over a pound a week as she just couldn't get enough formula into her, she was starved, she was such a happy baby!!!

To this day we are still on that milk, but she is able to tolerate milk protein in small amounts at 9 months old...

I hope this helped... sorry it is so lengthy and mumble jumbled... Ava is literally ripping my earings out.. guess she doesn't want me to talk about her hahahahah

Goodluck hun!! I wish you all the best, always go with you gut instincts... forget what goes around BNB.

 

[summer rain]

Yes there are. I definitely found food sick worse to deal with than just milk sick, our carpets and sofa covers were riddled with orangey and greeny stains, also I learnt the hard way that prune puree is NOT a good laxative for a refluxy baby-it did work but it also made him projectile vomit 3 or 4 times and very miserable. It did improve his temprement when he wasn't feeling bunged up from the constipation, but as for the weight gain between his 10 month paediatrician appointment and his 13 month one he was still sick a bit every day but nowhere near as much and was eating well so somehow gained several kg and jumped from what ended up being below the 2nd centile to the 50th just in those three months (on the new charts it would be the 75th centile) xx

 

[patch2006uk]

I say this loads but - what summer rain said!

I don't think early weaning for reflux is comparable to people being impatient to wean. If your LO is in pain and struggling, of course you're going to try and resolve it

I think if you wean for reflux reduction purposes, you're best to TW. I don't think they'd eat enough to make a difference with BLW. Although you can always try it and swap to purée if you wanted to. We started BLW at 23 weeks, so it is possible before 6 months. Just not very long before 6 months!

I hope you find some answers and your LO finds some relief

 

[stardust599]

Ladies, please let me start by saying that this is not a thread for you all to argue and rip each others faces off, and if that happens I'll just request to have it locked, and (like many others looking for help/advice/support) be left feeling even more confused (and guilty) than before I posted.

Okay? Good!

Basically, my LO has had some awful issues with what has been diagnosed as reflux. It was an arse to get it diagnosed in the first place, as the GP said "breastfed babies don't get reflux" The other GPs I encountered just told me to stop breastfeeding. To get a referral to a paediatrician, I had to take my screaming/vomiting/choking daughter to A&E.

She's had Gaviscon, then Ranitidine, and is now on Lansoprazole and Domperidone. The first two did absolutely nothing, and the Lansoprazole and Domperidone appear to only be having a minor effect (still being sick but in smaller amounts) but she's on the maximum dosage.

She was born on the 75th centile. She's now on the 9th. She has been steadily dropping since she was a few weeks old, no matter what I do or how often I feed her. I have been accused of not having enough milk (which is rubbish, as it often ends up party-digested all over me!) and it's a nightmare trying to get clothes for her - she's still newborn on the waist but at the end of 3-6 months in the length!! She only weighs 11lb 11oz and was 8lb 5oz at birth (yet only lost 50g of her birthweight?)

At her first consultant appt 3 weeks ago, I gave up dairy to try and rule out a cows milk allergy, and got those two new meds. 3 weeks later (yesterday) I went back, and saw the *cough* registrar (who was a paediatric rheumatologist, wtf?) who as brought down last-minute as the consultant was called away. She was just asking stupid questions like "Does she pull her legs up when she cries? Does she arch her back?" Then she was asking me what I want to do, if I wanted to stop her meds or go back onto dairy.. Sorry, who's the doctor here?

Anyway, she then started suggesting forumla top-ups coffee to which I got rather defensive and said it won't solve the problem, it will just make her look good on the charts! She had forumla at 3 and 4 days old, and threw it up both times. I'm not risking my supply for no good reason. Then she suggested weaning her as it's been shown to really help babies with reflux. I don't know what to think of this? LO can't even sit up, or show an interest in food, so I don't know whether this will actually help? Will she just throw this up too and be in even more pain?? Basically, I said no (party due to all the abuse thrown around on BnB for people that do, it made me feel dirty for even considering it) but I am at a loss of what to do. She even started saying she was going to start consulting with a dietician to "keep them in the loop"

Also, as I thought this registrar was rather incompetent, we got her to go and find the consultant and discuss what she's said with im before we left, as she was happy to just send us on out merry way with that. She came back a while later and said that we had to take her for a chest x-ray, blood tests, and abdominal and pelvic ultrasounds that day after the appointment (the urine tests last time showed nothing). If she hadn't gone to him, we'd have been sent away with nothing..

I also decided to try dairy again, and see what happens.

I really don't know what to do. If she keeps gaining this slowly, and keeps throwing up her feeds, she's going to get ill Plus the screaming is breaking my heart!

So, long story short, has anyone been advised by a doctor to wean early due to refux? How early did you start, what did you do, and did it work for you? I still would much rather BF to 6 months and do BLW, but I'm so confused as to what would be best for LO?

(BTW, I know there are plenty of threads around on this, but I don't fancy trawling through all of the abuse to find one or two useful posts and people feeling the need to defend themselves to people unnecessarily judging them. Once again, if you don't have anything nice/helpful/constructive to say, then please don't post. Thank you).

My LO had severe silent reflux. We tried Gaviscon, Ranitidine and eventually settled for Omeprazole (20mg daily) and Neocate LCP amino-acid based milk. Her weight dropped to the 0.4th centile.

We had stays in hospital due to weight issues and feeding aversions and Drs were pushing for an NG feeding tube but I refused and spoon fed her an ounce or two of milk hourly instead (by this point she refused both bottles/breast for 15+ hours on several occasions).

Weaning at 11 weeks under a consultant paediatrician and paediatric dietitian was the only thing that helped. Her weight picked up and the pain disappeared.

We started with baby rice which LO didn't like so we moved on to very simple fruits and veggies. Banana, apple puree, carrot puree etc. By 5/6months she was on 3 proper meals a day and you wouldn't have known about the reflux. By 7months she was only taking a couple of bottles a day and off the reflux meds. Now at age 1 she still eats like a champ but isn't too keen on her milk and just have 4-5oz at bedtime xx

 

[CharlieKeys]

I'm not sure what to do either - everyone's told me to wean him at 17 weeks (like we did with our first but that was because of how much milk he was taking a day etc) as it will help his reflux - the Drs refuse to give me the stronger stuff so we're on Ranitidine and when I said he was on .7mls the Dr shouted at me and said to put him back down to .5mls even though another Dr told me to increase and .7mls ISN'T working so why would .5mls! He's 17lbs he's not a tiny baby! On the one hand I think if it might help him and stop him screaming then I'm up for it but on the other hand he's not like his brother he is NOWHERE near ready for food.......

 

[CharlieKeys]

Summer rain - are there certain foods you should avoid if your baby has reflux then??

 

[milf2be]

hey i have just started weaning due to reflux. he has one meal a day at 5 (didnt want to do any earlier because i am back at uni/work now and i didnt want to miss out). LO absolutely loves it. he has 1 feed a day and has about half a jar. i havent been doing it long enough to see if it has helped his reflux yet, but he is certainly a happy little baby these days i would maybe give it a go, you dont have to keep doing it if it doesnt work out x

 

[xxMichellexx]

My daughter has reflux, not severe reflux, and its getting better. She only went down 1 centile, but it wasnt the weight that was an issue for me it was the sickiness, the crying, the wet clothes constantly, and whenever anyone had her they would always say 'is she always that sick?' argh, anyway, my doctors are a pile of crap, they dont believe anything is wrong with her so they are sticking with the gaviscon as, in my doctors words "babies shouldnt need medicine" at 16 weeks i tried her with baby rice and she loved it, only small amounts tho, she is very strong and is almost sitting up aswell. She is nearly 18 weeks now, has baby rice mixed with a tiny bit of puree just for the flavour and she laps it up and oh my have i noticed a difference! she doesnt have her 10pm feed anymore, which resulted in a few hours of unsettled crying and me getting sick sprayed on me from her crib like a water fountain lol, she now eats at about 6-7, has a play, then sleeps.

I wouldnt force it on her if i didnt think she liked it, but it seems to be helping. Go with your gut feeling xxxx

 

[CharlieKeys]

Wow michelle..... 57 weeks pregnant hey? lol

 

[nicole_]

I weaned at 15weeks as the doctors had exhausted very single last thing they could with LO and said that was the last thing to do.
It worked so well for me but I kwow it doesn't always.
I was so desperate to wait till 6 months but I'd given up hope!
I know you want to breast feed, but I'd honestly try formula at least for a week before weaning? Yes she can still have reflux, but it could be a lot better on comfort milk for example. It's amazing the changes in ff babies when you switch formulas.
Milks so more calorific than food so with your LO being on such a low percentile I'd probably want to try formula first.
I know how awful it is so totally sympathise