friend wants to stop formula feeding at 5ish months

[vmcd28]

I genuinely dont know if I'm being unreasonable or not (but I suspect not ).

My friend has a 7w old baby who is sick all the time. And lots of it. She is gaining weight, so she's clearly getting enough goodness from somewhere. Anyway, my friend is at the end of her tether, understandably, as she cant seem to go anywhere without her dd2 throwing up all over her car seat or someone else's carpet, etc etc. She's not able to go out, really, cos it's all too much stress.

So, saw her in passing last week, and she said the GP isnt being particularly helpful, but she's going to demand that she gets given a prescription for a formula (cant remember the name) that can be a help for sicky babies. She said if this new formula doesnt make any difference, she'll start to wean the baby at 5ish months, and stop the formula completely, giving her water and juice to drink. I was like this .

Now, what I dont know is - is this something that others do, or is it as crazy as I think it is?
Even ignoring the health issues, her dd might not take to solids well (my ds1 was a nightmare!), and my ds2 is weaning at the moment, but wont drink water at all - just spits it out, so that isnt always a solution to thirst either!

My friend is a very negative person, and once she gets an idea in her head she tends to stick to it - eg "my great-aunt did this and it did her kids no harm" type of thing.

Your views will be much appreciated.

I weaned at four months years ago for both my children, however their food was supplemented with formula. Years ago it is how it was done, it is only in recent years things have changed.

When i had my dd1 9 yrs ago the feeds were made up and stored in the fridge. She was a sicky baby

DD2 had gastric reflux and i weaned at 4 months

DD3 Feeds made up fresh and only water was stored in the fridge. I had no problems with her.

My friends baby was allergic to cows milk and had to be put on perscription milk as she was very sickie.

Your friend should not withdraw milk at 5 mnths and explore with HV GP what is making her sick

Sorry - I have just re read OP properly no WAY should she withdraw formula - weaning at 4 months was done as fabby said alongside milk.

I think your friend needs an urgent referral to specialist. Often sicky babies get better with weaning and this may well be recommended at 4 months. Unlikely baby would get proper nutrition at that stage from solids / water / juice though.

" Was he sick from day 1, or did it take a few weeks to show itself?"

In his case he was sick from about 3 weeks. After I bypassed the HV, he was admitted to hospital for observation and eventually diagnosed with pyloric stenosis. However, even there, there was a delay of several days when they ran through the other options... gastroentiritis, reflux etc. Post op he recovered very quickly, the vomiting completely stopped, he gained weight rapidly, weaned successfully around 15/16 weeks and is about to celebrate his 11th birthday in rude health.

Suggest she gets a second opinion.

thanks, everyone.
Cogito, glad to hear it all worked out well for you. I think my friend's ds was the same - a few weeks old he became more and more sick. He has just turned 1yo, and is very healthy now, although until a month or two ago he was still sick quite a lot, and was up a lot during the night with sore tummy etc.

OK, so I'll have a word and tell her she must insist on seeing a specialist. If she won't/doesnt want to do that then I'll have to keep on at her to rethink cos it really does concern me that she's considering stopping formula.
I'm normally not concerned what other parents do, and it's no-one's business how kids are raised, EXCEPT when it will probably do harm to the kids. And I couldnt sleep at night if I didnt speak up on this occasion.

Quackquack glad you got things sorted out (eventually). "..they just didn't understand and thought it was disgusting that me and my house were always covered in sick, so I hope you're not one of those." Of course I'm not!! But it IS disgusting that ANYONE'S house should be covered in sick when there's clearly something wrong!

DS[16] had reflux I was BF but thought it was my milk that was causing it so stopped we tried every type of teat possible he had a specialist feed that made his milk very thick. Stopped the majority of his sickness.

The danger is that casual diagnoses are now being lobbed into the conversation. The facts are that the baby is vomiting excessively. The reason for that vomiting needs to be properly established so that the appropriate course of action or treatment or feeding or whatever can be followed. If the GP is struggling to make a diagnosis it is not a cue for parent, friend or well-meaning people on message-boards to step in with home-remedies. That could make the problem worse rather than better and a child could suffer as a result. Another GP's opinion has to be sought urgently.

Fair point.

And it's a good idea to make sure the gp examines baby and discusses options rather than jumping to conclusion that it's reflux.

I would suggest going back to the gp and asking for a 2nd opinion. ds2 was only diagnosed with pyloric stenosis after seeing 3 different doctors and 2 health visitors. He started being sick at around 4 wks.

Shine, erm, I asked if I was being unreasonable. Not sure what the issue is, really. By your reasoning, every single post in AIBU logically belongs elsewhere.

I'm really not getting your point. Meddling? Seriously?
All threads about neighbours and DHs should be in Relationships, all threads about lack of sleep should be in Sleep, etc etc etc. I didn't ask for feeding advice at all, if you'd bother to read it.

Oh and I don't give a crap if it bores you. It's not all about you.

The thread police has arrived .....,,