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Weaning

First foods with silent/acid reflux

5 replies

Deliaskis · 24/06/2011 13:20

Hi all,

DD has silent reflux (as in acid reflux, not the vomity kind), which is now mostly under control with ranitidine, although the dose needs adjusting regularly as it's very weight sensitive, so I know the 'problem' is still there despite the meds.

She's now approaching 5 months and I'm thinking about what would be the best foods to start weaning her on.

I have two main concerns:

  1. Many typical baby type foods (i.e. fruit) are themselvse quite acidic and I don't want to increase her acid levels and bring on an attack.

  2. At the moment, her acid is well controlled, which must mean there is less acid in her stomach than 'normal'. Will there be some foods that are harder to digest with minimal stomach acid, and that therefore might make her uncomfortable/bloated. Will she in fact need more acid in her stomach to start digesting food as opposed to just milk.

    I'm seeing the paediatrician when she will be about 24 weeks, so can ask then as well, but I'd like to start getting my head around this sooner, so I can plan ahead, think of questions to ask paed when I do see him, and more importantly would just be interested to hear other people's experiences of weaning a silent reflux babies.

    Thanks in advance for any advice/experiences.

    Dx
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pollyr01 · 24/06/2011 13:37

HI there
My daughter is now just over 7 months and had bad silent reflux. Also on raniditine. She is also breastfed...
I weaned early (about 5 months) and it really helped - started with the basics ie pear/sweet potato/carrot/butternut squash and for a LONG time (a month) avoided anything acidic:
apple
tomato
orange
other citrus fruits
TBH would only introduce these once she was enjoying the solids - so around 6.5 months. careful to check on the side of bought packet stuff if they have these in. I then introduced a little at a time.
if you are breastfeeding then suggest you also avoid these foods
I kept up with the ranitidne until a couple of weeks ago, and again once she seemed to be happy on solids, I reduced to 2 doses (but slightly upped the dosage levels so I think to about 1ml x 2 per day) and then to one dose mid morning. and then stopped. she seems to be fine but her bed is still propped up.
she is also sitting up unsupported and I also think that really helps her feeding.
good luck!

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Deliaskis · 24/06/2011 13:47

pollyr your reply has actually made me nearly cry a bit. I know DD might not be the same, it might be harder/take longer etc. But the thought that reflux could be starting to go away in just a couple of months is just so lovely! I know a lot of people say that the combination of weaning and sitting up usually mean a bit improvement, but you know sometimes I just have days where I think 'that just won't be me will it'. I'm sure you know what I mean!

That's also really helpful re acidic foods, will add those to the list of things to avoid for starters. It's so confusing as you wouldn't think there would be that big a difference between apple and pear, but clearly there is!

Interesting about how quickly you have been able to reduce the ranitidine, I had assumed I would be syringing for a lot longer yet (hence my concern about 'not enough' acid for comfortable digestion). At the moment I am still upping it when she starts to suffer again, so she's not ready to just 'grow out' of her dose yet, but hopefully in a few weeks we will start on some solids and start to see the end of it.

I know it might be that simple for me and DD, it's not necessarily the end of the road, but it's nice to hear that it's possible!

D

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pollyr01 · 27/06/2011 21:17

ah it's horrible isn't it?! my postnatal nct group mainly knew me as 'the one that come in a cried a lot' for months 1.5 to 3.5 (the worst times). I also used to scare myself by reading a lot of posts on reflux and babies that ended up in hosp on a drip. It's good to know about reflux and the implications, but that didn't really help...
Jessica went through a stage of proj vomiting after her dosage about 2/3 pw at about 4 months old, just warning you! this lasted for a month. we were on .8ml 3 x per day. I then changed this to 1ml 2 x per day at around 5 months (was scared to do this in case she was ill again and we took many steps back), but she was ok, then after a month down to once per day of 1ml.
im sure you know about never having your dd lying down on floor for that long (eg more than 5 minutes) and having a wedge under changing mat/bassinet thingy/bed and ideally playmat? also keeping her upright 20 mins after each feed?
but seriously, encourage the food as it WILL help and fingers xed
xxxp

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gallicgirl · 07/07/2011 23:56

I saw the paediatrician today about reflux (DD is 23 weeks and we've just started introducing bits of food).

Reflux isn't too bad but the only advice she gave about weaning was to not introduce too many different types of food at once. We've given carrot, sweet potato and parsnip so doc said to carry on with those for a couple of weeks and then introduce other items one by one. Wait a few days to check baby didn't react then try another food.

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Deliaskis · 08/07/2011 12:54

Hi gallicgirl, glad reflux isn't too bad for your DD at the moment. Sounds like careful weaning is the way to go - which I would be doing anywa, especially because I will probably be starting before 26 weeks.

DD is 20 weeks now and still struggles with bottles, so I have started giving most of a bottle, then use the last bit with just a little bit of baby rice, and actually it is working really well. It seems to get the milk to settle and stay down, and she just seems much more comfortable. And it means I don't have to use Gaviscon anymore, as the rice thickens the milk instead. I know poeple are very anti-early weaning on here, but I honestly feel like a bit of just plain baby rice to help the milk go down and stay down, is probably better for DD than Gaviscon, which is full of sodium etc. If my choice is a small amount of pure rice, or medication, I honestly feel like the rice is probably less worrying.

D

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