Feeding clinic for 10mo and hospital referrals

[CottonTail1510]

My DD is 10.5 months. When she was born she was very irritable, and at 5/6 weeks given I omeprazole and nutrimagen for CMPA. Everything was then great (to an extent) until 5.5months when we started weaning.

Since food was introduced she has struggled again. Very irritable, bouts of crying, unsettled at night, sick, bad nappies. At the beginning she would eat the food, but would be upset a few hours later. Gradually she started to refuse the food.

At 6.5mo dietician said to keep trying. 8mo pediatric DR said it’s a phase at her review, food is fun, keeping trying. It’s a phase, it’s teething, all babies do this, why is she not eating? Why she no having meals… are all things that have been said. But the more I tried, the more unsettled she became.

By unsettled I mean, wakes up in the night crying; won’t really settle, passes lots of gases, constipation, forceful poos, projectile vomiting, positing. I’ve found the less she eats the happier she is.

We have finally been seen by a feeding consultant, who has confirmed I’m not going mad, and something is going on. She seems to have started with a good aversion and is now scarred of food, as she probably understands this can cause stomach ache. she is a great size and looks happy and healthy. They are booking in scans and X-rays at our local hospital, but also doing a referral to a gastro specialist at a children’s hospital (but this has a long wait due to COvid).

For now I’ve got to leave her on a “milk” based diet, with small snacks through the day to keep developing the chewing skills. She already seems happier, but her dirty nappies have increased, with lots of mucas.

Has anyone experienced this? Is there anything I can do to help, She starts childcare 4 days next week, and I return to work. Which I’m dreading, with the unsettled nights. I’m a single parent, so nobody to help at home or with the mental and physical side.

Sorry this is just a short explanation of a long couple of months.

Have they done a stool sample to look for bacteria?

What is she eating? If the snacks are increasing the mucous in her nappies, try different things.

My son was very unsettled, I breastfed him on a dairy gluten and refined sugar free diet. When I finally managed to convince a GP to give him antibiotics to treat high levels of potential pathogenic bacteria that are regularly found in the gut but not eat those levels, he was a different child within days. I had a stool sample analysed privately in order to get to this. Our nutritionist helped a lot. He had extreme sensitivity to grains, dairy, sugar, tomatoes, and beef as well as allergy to peanuts and sesame.

It was not a phase, he was not doing it for attention, his issues were due to being in an extreme amount of pain. He needed support to rebalance the bacteria and enzymes in his stomach. I was told 'we do not treat these problems in children'. The proposal was to dietician support to get him to eat more but the nutritional interventions worked. He still has problems and a functional medical doctor has also helped but he didn't have all the answers either. I would never have figured out what he should be eating / avoiding without the support of the nutritionist but this approach was not supported by the NHS.

As he has gotten older, we have been through skin issues, asthma, hayfever, repeated strep infections and everytime it comes back to food, gut support and supplements to get through it. Once these are under control, the other symptoms get better.

@ChateauMargaux thank you for your reply, and I’m sorry to hear you’ve been through similar issues with your DS.

My DD is under pediatric at our local hospital and a dietician. But has recently been accessed at the feeding clinic, which is when they agreed this isn’t a phase / attention.

As for snacks, I’ve tried fruit, vegetables, wafters, rusk. I’ve tried to avoid the common allergies; diary (but she is CMPA) nuts, tomatoes, strawberries, eggs, gluten as much as possible. But this seems to have made no impact. But the mucas has increased the last few days. We trialed 10days of just milk, and this seemed to make so much difference.

A stool sample was done by the GP 2weeks ago, but this is when her nappy was less mucasy. Her nappies are usually yellow, sloppy, smell acidic and forceful. Which they have said is common in formula fed. But they would have expected some consistency, with her having food.

My “gut” although I’m not medically training is that there is some imbalance in the gut / struggle with digestion of the food. Which in turn is causing a build up and pain.

Good luck. I tried many many things. It was and continues to be a long journey where many people think they know the answer. I hope you find some respite soon.

I think I would start with bone broth, not give any grains, seeds, legumes, nightshades or fruit. Then slowly add vegetables like cooked carrots, sweet potatoes, then maybe more chicken, white fish.