Eight month old sick quite a lot now he's weaning - anyone else had this?

[Peterbishopssarcasticsmile]

DS has been a sicky baby for a few months now. He has a few weeks where he seems fine and then will have a really sicky week or two.

For the last week he has sicked up multiple times after each meal and often after his milk too. The milk sicks are just milky, but the ones after his solids smell like proper sick. Sometimes they seem to bother him (maybe because they taste unpleasant) but they aren't full retching or projectile, he just seems to burp and it comes up.

Is it normal for him to still be sicking up? I thought sicking up stopped when you started weaning...

I've posted before about his sickness - I've spoken to the health visitors as sometimes it seems to be a few tablespoons worth but he's still gaining weight, sleeping, eating and seems happy so they don't seem overly bothered.

I wondered if he's over eating as he's a really good eater (cleans his bowl every time and has a bit of a paddy when it's done), and he really guzzles his milk. He's also on thicker formula as he has reflux but has continued to sick up on this (inconsistently) even though it's solved most of the reflux symptoms.

He currently has 6oz, 5oz,5oz,5oz,7oz of milk and I think he should be on all 5s which we are trying to bring him down to.

Has anyone else had this problem? Does it get better?!

Just read that back and realised how long it was, sorry if anyone manages to get through it.
Really wish there was an edit button!

DC1 was a sucky baby and diagnosed silent reflux. Once he began weaning the vomiting got worse. Every meal, every feed all milky and looked like ‘curds & whey’ and smelt awful. He was diagnosed at 13 months with CMPA, finally improved at around 3 and nearly 6 now and all normal. My advice would look at CMPA and see GP or health visitor if possible.

Thank you, we're under a dietician and I'm easing him into dairy but because he hasn't had any of the main symptoms and gaining weight they don't think it's CMPA :(

I think I might keep a diary so I can see if it progressively worsens when he is trying dairy or has more dairy during the day. I'm trying to think what he's had today as it's been particularly bad - formula and yogurt are the only dairy items,.

I just feel really stressed out about it, everyone keeps telling me some babies are just sicky but I can't help but be worried.

@EcoCustard did your DC have any other symptoms?

My DS has reflux and it got seriously worse just before 6 months (I started weaning him at 5 months). He was throwing up after every feed, no matter what the feed was. Doubling his reflux meds worked though (obvs after consultation with GP). I should note that my DS has a lot less milk than yours, and his weight has always been a bit too low, so we're also under dietician and needed to tackle it quickly before he lost any more weight...

That's quite a lot of milk at 8 months I would have thought? Is it about 600ml per day plus solids ie three meals? I seem to remember keeping morning, mid afternoon and bedtime bottle replacing other feeds with solid s? Not sure but perhaps check guidelines!

Overactive gag reflex?

Sorry I also had four reflux-y CMPA babies but never had much sickness like you describe which just makes me think too much milk. But as I said check guidelines for weight etc. HTH

Don't let weight gain fool you. I have a now 6 year old cmpa child and we never had an issue with weight gain. He was such a sicky baby, never just sick but horrendous sick where we would both have to change outfit. Cut dairy out, in 4 weeks we saw a difference in 6 he wasn't sick at all.

This is all really interesting.

Yes we are trying to cut down the milk - as I didn't realise I was giving him too much. Trying to bring it down to the recommended bu as it's been so hot this last few weeks I didn't want to cut it too drastically too quickly as I didn't want him to get too dehydrated. I'm going to continue to bring it down as I suspect his little tummy is just too full which can't help.

I'm trying to bring it down to all 5s then combine a couple of bottles and cut those further.

I would tend to agree that's quite a lot of formula plus three big meals. He may just be overeating and vomiting when he's too full.

DS1 was a formula fed reflux baby and I think by 8months he was only on 3 bottles a day plus 3meals and snacks. So probably 21oz maximum. We had an issue with him vomiting his evening bottle up if we did it too close to tea time, so we had to spread it out for a while (tea at 4pm, milk at 6.30) as otherwise he just couldn't keep it down.

Could you try

morning bottle
breakfast
snack mid morning
lunch
milk mid afternoon
tea
milk at bedtime

You must be forever feeding him with 5bottles plus meals. Hope you get it sorted!

Obviously offering water with every meal and snack. More when it's hot so no chance of dehydration.

Would you suggest just trying the new routine with the formula?
He's a bit of a piglet and really guzzles his milk and cries when it's done, so i've been worried about cutting too much too quick which is why I've been so slow at reducing them.

i do feel like I'm forever feeding him!

I offer water with every meal but it's hit and miss whether he will drink it, and usually only a few sips if he goes for it.

What portion size do you do at this age for solids? I feel really silly for not realising I needed to cut his milk, but i didn't expect him to eat quite as well as he does straight away!

DS has reflux badly as a newborn however weaning has been a winner here and he's now off his meds. I'd speak to your health visitor about his milk though as every baby is different. DS is 9 months and still has around 9oz, 6oz, 5oz, 5oz and 8oz. He's a big baby though, he eats well and is slowly reducing his intake himself. I always think if he was breastfed nobody would know or care how much milk he was having.

I've been following the Little Ones for sleep help and was following their meal times, I think this is where I've got stuck on the five bottles still.

I might try to switch to three 7s tomorrow - how long would you leave between bottles and solids out of interest? (I've always thought the little ones guides had them down too close together)

DD was a silent reflux baby and she would still get a random small vomit about once a week up till 15-16 months. She ate like a bird so it wasn't portion size. However she gradually grew out of it, maybe because the oesophagus lengthens as they get bigger.

Yeah maybe try bigger bottles (7/8oz) but less often. If he's eating well I would definitively encourage food rather than formula. And keep him upright and not crawling around loads straight after food to let it have chance to go down. DS2 is 6 months and can vomit if I put him straight on the floor after food so I now sit him in his bouncer or walker for 5-10mins.

I think their stomach is tiny so they don't need much at all to fill them. If you have Instagram sr_nutrition has helpful stuff about portions, weaning etc

We do food, clean up, nappy change then milk. So not too long between them, almost like a top up if he needs a bit more, his early afternoon and bedtime bottles are the only 2 that don't come with solid food yet but we'll phase in an afternoon snack in time.

Thank you, you've all been incredibly helpful.
I'm inclined to agree with those who think it's down to too much formula, so I think I'm going to try bigger bottles but less of them tomorrow and see how we get on.

So I've cut his milk down, so he's only had one 7oz bottle this morning, his breakfast solids, then his lunch solids and his now napping, due another 7 oz when he gets up, then another before bed.
So far he hasn't been sick once, so could be a fluke but I think it's more likely he was too full of milk before! I feel awful, poor little thing, but hopefully I've cracked it and he will be more comfortable.
Thanks for all the advice, much appreciated.

I thought my first baby was sicky (he was) but then came his baby brother He was EBF and I ended up going dairy free for 3 months starting when he was 3 months old but it made no difference so everyone agreed probably ‘just’ reflux. I excitedly started weaning at 6 months hoping the solids would help but no, I just now got bright orange and stinky sick all over me! By his first birthday he was much improved though. He’s turned two today and we’ve now learnt he has the most sensitive gag reflex - seriously if he gets a hair in his mouth we have about 5 second to help him get it out before he’s gagging and on the verge of throwing up. If he smells something bad he gags too. We’ve also been waiting almost a year for an allergy referral too as his face went blotchy when he had oily fish a few times, and if he has tomatoes it sometimes does the same too but depends if they’re raw, from a tomato purée or tinned tomatoes. So definitely worth keeping a good diary, but it could just be gag reflex too. Was he full term? Mine was 36w so I’ve always thought it’s possibly a knock on if being prem.

Ahh that's great @Peterbishopssarcasticsmile! Keep us posted on how he goes

So far so good, a whole day without any sick which NEVER happens and he didn't complain about the reduced milk. I think I'm been mistaking him rather ahem enthusiastic appetite for being hungry and thinking he wouldn't cope if I cut it down, but I've now come to the conclusion he will take whatever I give him!
He still seems to be in a little bit of discomfort tonight, curving his back up and sleeping with his bum in the air, arching his back a bit, but I think he might have wind or it might be linked to trying to crawl as hes VERY close and it's similar movements to what he does when he's trying.

I'm so relieved, I hope today wasn't a fluke and I'm very grateful to the posters who kindly pointed out I should reduce his milk.

@ThePug he was just 37 weeks, by hours, so right on the cusp. I'm still going to keep a diary as he does suffer with eczema and it's flared up a tiny bit this week, so I'm wondering if that is dairy related, but the sickness has definitely stopped today! Bright orange sick is the worst and the fact it SMELLS like actual sick now too - he's going through so many clothes!