What age to wean when your baby has reflux?

[Angel2Fire]

First of all, I've read up a lot about early weaning, the risks etc so please don't tell me I shouldn't.

What I want to know is what age have people started to wean their baby at when they've had reflux?

Chaise has really bad reflux, he's on ranitidine and was on gaviscon until we changed to SMA staydown. He's doing better but is still a very fussy feeder and appears to have stomach cramps and very bad wind, even though we are using Doctor browns bottles.

I know he's a bit young yet, but I was wondering what age people have started baby rice? And then when have you introduced purees/foods?

Also, has anyone had any problems and gone back to solely milk?

I know there are different opinions but I feel this is the right thing to do for my baby. I find the SMA staydown very thick, and I'm waiting for some bigger teats to be delivered. A few times (out of sheer desperation) we have spoon fed him the formula and he has taken it soooo well. He opens his mouth for the spoon and swallows really well. He was also smiling (not wind but a proper smile) after every mouthful lol!

Any experiences anyone could share with me would be very much appreciated

Thanks

 

[moo2]

Hi,
George has been on infacol, ranitadine, domperidone and thickened EBM since he was 6 weeks old due to bad reflux problems. We started weaning on the 1st day of his 17th week, not purely for his reflux but for other medical issues.
We were told early weaning may help with his reflux but sadly it doesn't appear to have had much effect.
Hope it works for you - good luck

 

[ramblinhaggis]

I was also told early weaning would help Summer, whom had silent reflux. I weaned her at 14 weeks, but purely on baby rice, apple and pear, until 6 months of age (wanted to avoid allergy foods). It actually did make a difference with her, but she was a mild case really in that she only had infant gaviscon and omneo comfort milk when she was suffering with her reflux.

 

[Pyrrhic]

Niamh has very bad reflux, and we waited until 6 months. When we started weaning she was still being sick 6-8 times after a bottle even with meds. Weaning didn't have an effect on reflux for us, and I know quite a few ladies on here have had similar experiences.

 

[ryder]

Sorry I dont think BLW would have an effect on reflux like cereal or purees would (for younger babies)... At 6 months they wouldnt eat nearly enough finger foods to cut down the milk intake etc...

Jasmine had reflux... we started giving her baby rice in the evening at 3 months... We also did a bit of rice cereal in her bottle... It did help alot... As well as making sure she got substantial amounts. At about 4 months we added a bit of fruit or veg in with the rice cereal mainly for tastes... At 5 months she had fruit and veggie purees..

By 6 months she was having 3 really good meals a day. Although I found I really had to try and limit the amount of milk she had. We also switched to a formula with low iron which helped.

Now she eats pretty much anything! She does still spit up, but only a couple times a day.

 

[Angel2Fire]

I'm confused. Where does the BLW comes into it?

I'm glad some people have said they've given baby rice younger than 6 months My health visitor said not to wean till 6 months, but so far she's given me all kinds of advice I've not fonud very helpful that seems to have come straight from a text book, not taking into account that every baby is different to some degree.
Also, she totally ignored everything I said about something being wrong with Chaise... it was the doctor when he was admitted to hospital with a stomach bug who picked up on the reflux and colic!

I've read all the risks about early weaning, the possibility that their digestive system might not be developed enough, the risk of choking etc but its not really been enough to scare me away from the idea.

Chaise is awake a lot during the night groaning, and he seems to be in pain. Quite a while ago I mentioned this to my GP but she said that babies just make a big performance when they poo! But now I'm thinking its the reflux causing him to do this.

Does anyone know exactly how Baby rice and purees would help? I've heard quite a few people say it helps but I dont really understand how (I'm a bit dumb lol)

Thanks

 

[ramblinhaggis]

The idea is that reflux is caused by a weak or underdeveloped stomach valve. Having solid foods makes it harder to bring up, and so they dont get the pain from the 'heartburn' of reflux or projectile vomit. It is also meant to help strengthen the stomach valve at the top of the stomach. This is what i was told when my GP advised me to wean summer.

 

[LuluBee]

I'm not really sure, but I'm thinking they help to coat the stomach a bit more and absorb the acid - but that's only a guess.

Alex was weaned from 4 months partly becvause of reflux, but laso because he did show clear signs that he was ready for it. We just fed him on fruit and veg purees until he was 5 1/2 months old and then introduced finger foods, in the past week we've introduced fish, meat and gluten based foods.

He's been absolutely fine with all of it and loves his food. He will have the odd sicky day but most of the time he's much better, we did notice a big difference once we started weaning him.

 

[Lottie86]

Findlay's dietician at the hospital wants to start weaning him at 4 months due to his very severe reflux and the fact he was premature as they are hoping it will help his reflux and also put some weight on him.

Personally I wouldn't wean at 4 months without medical advice.

 

[Tegans Mama]

I tried weaning my LO at 3 months because she had severe reflux, she was on 4 different medications for it.. Anyway, the food made her a LOT worse. We started her on babyrice and she was literally being sick continuously. It was horrible We had to stop it and go back to milk and she was eventually weaned properly at 6 months. She's still sick every now and again, but not as often as she was

I'm not against people weaning whenever they want to. He's your child, you do what you wish Good luck hun, I know how horrible reflux is x

 

[ryder]

I'm confused. Where does the BLW comes into it?

I'm glad some people have said they've given baby rice younger than 6 months My health visitor said not to wean till 6 months, but so far she's given me all kinds of advice I've not fonud very helpful that seems to have come straight from a text book, not taking into account that every baby is different to some degree.
Also, she totally ignored everything I said about something being wrong with Chaise... it was the doctor when he was admitted to hospital with a stomach bug who picked up on the reflux and colic!

I've read all the risks about early weaning, the possibility that their digestive system might not be developed enough, the risk of choking etc but its not really been enough to scare me away from the idea.

Chaise is awake a lot during the night groaning, and he seems to be in pain. Quite a while ago I mentioned this to my GP but she said that babies just make a big performance when they poo! But now I'm thinking its the reflux causing him to do this.

Does anyone know exactly how Baby rice and purees would help? I've heard quite a few people say it helps but I dont really understand how (I'm a bit dumb lol)

Thanks

sorry, someone who BLW their baby replied and said early weaning didn't help with their reflux... That is why I said that.

Alot of times babies will drink too much milk, the degree of reflux we see nowadays is alot worse then 20 years ago when babies were weaned at 1-2 months of age.

Alot of babies just arnt satisfied with milk and will overdrink to compensate for being hungry.

Thats where the solids come in. Because it takes longer to digest and is thicker, so it sits in their tummy better then bloating off milk.

I know giving Jasmine rice cereal in the evening was great, it helped settle her so she wasnt laying there in reflux pain all night.. I also used a wedge to elevate her head (you can buy them from jolly jumper.

If you try baby rice and your baby isnt ready you will know and you can always stop. Alot of HVs and doctors have reverted back to recommending weaning at 4 months because 6 months is usually quite ludricrus for most babies.

 

[moo2]

Does anyone know exactly how Baby rice and purees would help? I've heard quite a few people say it helps but I dont really understand how (I'm a bit dumb lol)

Thanks

(In addition to what the others have said about solids being more difficult to bring back and the immature digestive system....)

Reflux & Colic are really closely related. If your LO takes alot of air when being fed milk, this air will build up in the stomach making it feel full. The body then produces more acid to break down the food it thinks is there. This excess has no food to work on so it comes back up as acid reflux.

So reducing the number of milk feeds will hopefully reduce the amount of trapped air, so there should be less excess acid to reflux.

Hope that make sense?