Baby with CMPI - need help with weaning

[laura2323]

I started to wean my 6 month dd 4 weeks ago on medical advice after being diagnosed with CMPI and reflux. She is now on 4x 7oz nutrimigen number 1 and domperidone before very bottle. She has also dropped her 2am bottle (still wakes up but dummy in and she's back asleep!)
So far she has been on purées, and I know that a babies main source of nutrition is milk at this young age but she only wants food now, we can't even have dinner without her crying for some. I originally wanted to go down the BLW approach but at the moment her hand to mouth coordination isn't too good (she has only just started to put toys in her mouth). I do give her bits of what we are eating for her to try and chew on, she loves frozen cucumber for her teething pains. Since we have started weaning we have discovered she has other food allergies, she has had severe reaction to wheat, bread, rice, porridge, spinach, broccoli, bananas, mango, peaches and carrots (also any teething powders/gels and calpol/paracetamol). She has been having dinner every night and now I want to start her on breakfasts/lunches as she seems hungry in the mornings despite having her bottle and I'm running out of ideas!

For a start I don't know what to give her for breakfast (see above for reactions she's had). And for lunch do I just do smaller portions of her dinner? All her dinners seem to be mash potato based as I'm scared she'll react to foods, I do the 3 day test (same food for 3 days to check for reaction) unless she reacts immediately. I am seeing the paediatrician again on 18th May but need ideas for before then!

Thanks for any suggestions

Bumping for help!

With allergies this extreme you really need to see a dietitian who specialises in young children. We saw one with dd and she was fab - she and the paed also actually helped us work out that dd actually had far fewer allergies than we thought at first (although dairy, soy, egg and berries had to stay off the menu for a couple of year!), some of the 'reactions' were down to reflux, some to eczema and contact allergies.

The fact that your dd is also seeming to be allergic to such a huge range of foods makes me wonder if you're experiencing something similar? What are the severe reactions you've seen so far?

Even if she's just eating baby rice and roasted root vegetables and gourds (like pumpkin and squash) with avocado oil, that is still some foods and she will get lots of calories from milk. Could you also try some puréed red meats or chicken to give some other tastes and some extra iron? Hope you can get some answers soon!

The reactions I've seen are

• red/ watery eyes - and she constantly rubs them when try like this so must be irritating
• red cheeks that feel hot to touch
• swollen stomach
• excema type rash that disappears when cut out that food
• contact rash - eg if I drink milk/have toast and kiss her there's a red mark for an hour or two afterwards

I had severe food allergies when younger so she may be like me, but I am NC with my mother so don't know to what extremes/ how she overcome them.

We've been waiting on a dietician appointment for months now but appointment keeps gettin cancelled "due to unforeseen circumstances" hopefully the paediatrician will chase it up for us when we see him next month, can't go to gp as he is crap and hv hasn't got a clue.

She can't even have baby rice which I'm a bit about as really stuck on breakfast ideas!

Her dinners consist of mash with chicken/tuna, homemade soups, root veg (bar carrots) and she has apples/pears for dessert! Even resorted to looking at jars just for some variety and the majority have dairy/wheat in them, there's very few she can have!!

Have you seen an allergist and had skin prick tests? That's quite a lot to eliminate so you will need help for sure.

Have you tried free from cereals or making porridge from polenta or quinoa flakes?

Agree with pp that an allergist would also be helpful. It's the inclusion of rice that makes me wonder if there's some other hidden allergic factor that's causing a few of these reactions, as rice (not becessarily baby rice) is generally so low-allergen. For example, for us the probablem was that dd was so sensitive to soy, so we kept thinking she was allergic to loads of other things like cereals and bread, not realising that soy is in so much processed food - or another mum I met through an allergy group whose son was very reactive to her cosmetics, so she'd snuggle him after a meal, give him a cuddle and then think he was allergic to the food because he'd be red and puffy.

Or of course you may have issues with all these foods, and the specialists will be able to help. For your sake I hope not, as it's a pain at 6 months but truly life limiting when it gets to 18 months and you have a toddler who's old enough to eat everything but young enough not to really understand or remember why that's not possible. If you are in that situation, do make sure to take advantage of support groups with people who understand and will help out at kids parties and the like. Good luck "