Early weaning advised by consultant but no real guidance given - HELP please!

[crb78]

My 18 week baby is currently exclusively breast fed. He has severe reflux which landed him in NICU on day 3 of his life. He has been on the maximum dose of ranitadine and lansoprazole for most of his life and they mostly seem to be working. He is a lot less sick than he was but his weight gain is slightly slowing down. He has almost doubled his birth weight. I feed him every 3 hours during the day and every 3 or 4 at night. He pulls off during feeds quite a lot and seems unsettled and in pain or unsatisfied. He only feeds for about 10/15 minutes each time from both sides.

This week he was diagnosed with eczema and given cream to help which has improved the situation. He has also had a couple of weeks of suddenly doing 8 dirty nappies through day and night rather than his usual one a day. GP said that he might also have Cow's Milk Protein Allergy and that I should go dairy and soya free to see if it helps.

We also saw our consultant this week who agreed with possible CMPA diagnosis but also suggested early weaning. She is referring us to a dietician but that won't come through for weeks.

The consultant suggested I give DS toast, banana, avocado, potato but didn't give any further guidance. Since the appointment I have been reading about early weaning and all the advice seems to be NOT to give toast or anything with gluten until 6 months which makes me a bit doubtful about how good the consultant's advice was.

My plan is to try banana for 3 days to see how it goes. He ate a few spoonfuls just now and seemed to quite enjoy it.

My questions are

• whether I need to puree things or just mash them?
• is toast ok as the consultant suggests?
• should I just try one 'meal' a day to start with?
• does anyone have useful weblinks to guide me with early weaning since hospital haven't given me any real instructions?
• does anyone have useful links to Facebook groups on this topic especially early weaning in combination with possible CPMA?
• did anyone's baby get diagnosed with reflux when it actually turned out to be CMPA? I am now wondering whether he actually has reflux at all...

Trying to cope with me going dairy free and also doing early weaning feels like a lot to cope with in one week so any guidance would be much appreciated. Thank you!

Sounds like you need further professional help, OP. How about speaking to the consultant on the phone, and asking about just dropping the toast? If that's the main thing concerning you, then get his/her opinion on just not offering it.

Thank you tiktok. Good idea. I can try getting a phone consultation with the consultant. I think she forgot she was giving advice on weaning to a 4 month old not a 6 month old!

My DS had CMPI and silent reflux. I weaned him at 4 months as advised.
We were told only fruit and veg until 6 months and then grains can be introduced as well as meat.
I batch cooked purees and froze them. We were advised not to give too many leafy greens as they can be quite hard for them to digest. He particually liked sweet potato and carrot, and struggled with broccoli.
We started off with 1 meal and it didn't take long to up it to 3. Obviously they still needs lots of milk at this point. It was great when he reached the 6 mo point as it was so much easier when he could eat everything (except dairy).

We were also told to avoid strawberries due to the risk of allergies.
Banana is a bit of a funny texture for them to begin with so don't be surprised if he's not that keen.

I'm surprised they've said toast as that's a lot to digest.

Have a look at gina fords weaning or Annabel karmels as both are excellent. You really don't want to be giving anything allergenic especially if there is eczema.

I started with rice, pear, apple, carrot,,potato, butternut squash, cauliflower & broccoli as single purées & then started to mix them up. I guess someone is thinking about solids less likely to be thrown up, but there's not a lot of calories in them.

Thank you everyone for your advice and help. Sorry I seem to have posted my question twice!

Definitely don’t give toast, it’s unlikely that an 18 week old would be able to manage it. If you wean before 6 months you really need to stick to purées of fruit and veg. Potato can be a good thickener for reflux. If you are cutting out dairy in your diet, make sure if you buy any baby cereals that they are milk free. Reflux that is resistant to treatment is a symptom of cmpa. Your baby could have both cmpa and reflux though