Weaning - really struggling

[addictedtofrazzles]

DS is 6 months and has been on Neocate since 3 weeks old. His Paed wanted me to wean him at 18 weeks as he is enormous but DS was having none of it (wouldn't open mouth, spitting food out) so I tried occasionally but kind of gave up.

Now he is 6 months, he has become a little bit more receptive to food (puree) but is pretty unbothered. He only has fruit and veg with a bit of baby rice, however, he does 6+ dirty nappies a day, wriggles and farts endlessly in bed (his sleep has become really disturbed) and when I give him finger food (whilst DS1 is eating) he coughs and brings up the whole bottle/solids.

HELP!!

Surely he can't be intollerent to fruit/veg?
Do I just persevere and hope his gut will get used to the solids?
Does anyone have experience of this who can give me hope that it will all get better?

Thanks in advance

i do think you could get further medical advice for his gut issues.
just to check for food intolences.

i dont think you should worry too much about food at 6 months. certainly this is the best time, and the idea of weaning early than that is not something to do for those with allergy problems.

without food are his bowel movements normal?
are they abnormal with solid food?
mucasy/acid or odd looking?

certainly would be frequent as he is still on a high liquid diet.

i wouldnt purree food, i would give him soft finger foods, and just let him play with them and explore himself.

there is not mad rush to get a lot of solid food in him, tastes single foods , in small amounts, will slowly build up over time.

if he eats any food his bowel movements will change.

do you think he is in great pain? esp at night, which does/can happen with food intolerence.

is he in pain when passing stools?
or after eating with upper stomach issues?

are you giving one food at a time?

i wouldnt bother with baby rice, nasty glue type stuff. but thats just my own personal views on packet stuff.

is he happy to try sweet veg and fruit?

intolerence in babies has two types,
the milk protein irritates the valve at the top of the stomach, causing it to not work very effciently. hence the vomiting, and realise of stomach acid irritating gut lining, also food is not digested in tummy, as ratio of digestive fluid is disturbed and milk not digested properly. this causes the gut damage.
these children have disturbed sleep patterns because of gut pain, and when laid flat on back to sleep, causes increased tummy pain.

lots of babies are spitters and vomit, some do this normally and develop well, doctors are not interested in 'happy' spitters, just the misrable , thin , exhausted ones!

the milk protien can cause a problem at the other end of the infant, irritating the lining of the anus and lower bowel.
food will have been digested normally ,so stools passed will look normal. however, as there are more nerve endings in the bowel than brain, the baby is in complete agony when passing stools.

recommeded that infants are on fully changed formula for at least 6--10 weeks before any complete change is noted, as gut takes a long time to heal, as its continually used.

partially changed formulas can work well for some infants, perhaps after gut has healed and digestion works well, but all this is indivdual, as intolerence levels are different for all.

what symptoms did your baby first show?

any of this remotely helpful?

Thank you so much for taking the time to respond.

His dirty nappies are green/mucosy half the time and the rest are mostly small, frequent, more 'normal' looking. He strains heavily to pass anything.

The Neocate is milk protein free, as I understnad it, so I have ruled the milk out as a possible irritant (plus he has been on it now for 5+ months).

It is interesting what you say about the sleeping - he has never settled on his back and always slept on his tummy. However, he is now rolling so wakes in the night on his back...

I will book to go and see the Paed next week but he always makes me feel like I am making it all up!

He is being treated for silent reflux and was weaned off the ranitadine but I have recently put him back on as the wind was impossible to get rid of and he was vomiting whole feeds 70 per cent of the time.

I hate weaning!!!

I hated weaning too addicted!! DS had multiple food allergies and basically wouldn't eat anything until he was about 9 months old, which was hugely frustrating. The things that worked for us were , me relaxing about the whole thing and just keeping offering things and the three spoon trick, two for them, one for you.

If you go on the baby led weaning blog website there is a list for weaning allergic babies and which order you should introduce foods in.

I think some babies just seem to struggle with their digestion for the first year. DD is allergic to eggs only, but struggled terribly with wind and horrible poos. We just let her sleep on her tummy otherwise we didn't get any sleep.

Addicted - i can totally relate to your thread. Lots of good advice already given. LOL with eragon's "lots of babies are spitters and vomit, some do this normally and develop well, doctors are not interested in 'happy' spitters, just the misrable , thin , exhausted ones!" it's so true!
Trixymalixy is so true about relaxing about it all as well.
Some things that might help is to make sure there is a good record of height/weight. If there is a future problem, this information could help. Our PCT does not investigate eating issues until 1 year old. Even then, if they are thriving - maintaining a healthy weight etc, they are unlikely to act quickly.
IME Paeds always look at you as if you're making it up. keep a poo and food diary and show it to them.
Don't panic, but yes, you can be allergic/intolerant to fruit! - Well fruit sugar (fructose). This should be easier to spot if you go for 1 ingredient at a time - from the order of food list trixy suggested.
Some digestive systems are just a little bit more sensitive than others, so don't worry, and in the meantime, make food time a fun sensory experience. Put down plenty of plastic and let him explore.

He sounds JUST like my ds and the worries I had. 6+ green poos, refusal to eat. He lost more and more weight.

At nearly 8 months though he suddenly 'got' food. HE wanted flavour and chunks/ finger food (never did purees|). It hugely helped with the poo, quite normal looking 2-3 a day now. Hopefully you'll find your dc is just later like mine. I believe the reflux put him right off eating. It was only when he really sat up properly, no hands or wobbling, that he ate.