Hungry baby milk,weaning and reflux - any experience?

[Hazeyjane]

I may be better off asking in weaning, but I just wondered if anyone, whose dc had reflux (mostly the silent screamy sort, but with a new addition of vomiting too!), had used hungry baby milk?

Ds is 6 months old, but was premature (probably by a month), he has shown no signs of interest in us eating, doesn't reach for or hold objects very well and doesn't hold himsef up very well. We tried him with a little baby rice and pear (on paed's advice) but he just pushed it out, and retched.

Now I am in a quandary, because he does seem to want more milk - he is feeding every 3 hours, 5oz a time, throughout the day, evening and night- but I think, because he is not used to having this much, his reflux is getting bad again.

We had a nightmare once before when he was given a prescribed milk, and screamed solid for a whole night and day, so I am wary of experimenting. But I wondered whether hungry baby formula would fill him up, so he didn't have to feed quite so frequently, without being to upsetting to his stomach.

Any thoughts

Thankyou.

Hungry milk doesn't have any more calories, it's just harder to digest - might be even harder on his stomach?

Thankyou, that is just what I was worried about.

I feel a bit like I'm in limbo, waiting for him to grab at some food! But although he is the right age, he doesn't seem very ready.

My daughter (now 10 months) had silent reflux and we found hungry milk disagreed with her, but she was mostly breastfed so I put it down to the fact that she was used to thinner milk and found hungry milk harder to digest.

I never did it but I know other parents of refluxers who mixed some baby rice in with their milk (usually on doctor's advice) to thicken it and make it stay down, reducing the reflux symptoms. Like I said I never tried it but might be worth a go? You'll need teats with bigger holes to get the rice through.

I think that mixing baby rice, rusk etc in a bottle can be risky. Possibly ok from a cup? I don't know - but I would advise checking it out.

Hungry milk made my ds reflux massively worse and he suffered awful wind from it too, i have heard this from many others with reflux babies. I dont think hungry milk is atually thicker and I found (the aptamil one certainly) to be really frothy which doesnt help at all. DS has been on aptamil comfort which definitely is alot thicker (so he drinks slowly and less frantically) from about 2 weeks. You will definitely need bigger teats for this. The biggest change in him has absolutely been solids (weaned at 4 months on medical advice, now 6 months) so even if he is not ready now, i promise you it will get better. Lots of hugs to you, reflux is horrendous, be kind to yourself......there is light at the end of the tunnel :)

You could try hungry baby but in carton form rather than powder if you're worried about how it will affect his tummy. I have been told that the UHT process of making the cartons partially breaks down the milk and makes it easier to digest than the powder.

Thankyou for all your replies and hugs - ds is my 3rd dc, and I have found his reflux very hard to deal with, so the warmth of your posts does me good - thankyou.

He tends not to throw up too much, and is on ranitidine and gaviscon, which has helped his reflux enormously.

I bought some of the hungry baby yesterday and tried him with some this morning, so far he hasn't shown any signs of discomfort so I will see how it goes.

I am wary of adding rice etc to his bottle (although this was suggested by one of his consultants, along with giving him mashed potato!) because he seemed to gag so much when I tried giving him some very wet baby rice on a spoon.

That is interesting about the cartons, Mousema, I will give those a go.

I will also keep a watch for wind, happylittlebear - he is a pretty farty baby as it is!