early weaning problems

[ionesmum]

We are now weaning our 19 week-old dd; she is definitely ready as she has lost her gagging reflex, wants our food and is eating like a horse. The problem is her sensitive tummy. We began at 17 weeks with a little puree but are very limited as to what we can give her - no broccoli, cauliflower or potato, and I've found sweet potato makes her windy & uncomfortable as well. We then introduced a baby banana porridge for breakfast -suitable for 4 mo plus- but it made her colicky. Puree doesn't satisfy her and her tummy is always rumbling. We have been advised by our hv to avoid baby rice as it isn't filling at all.

Looking ahead, dd is currently on lactose-free milk so we will have to avoid yoghurt and cheese etc. too. This might make things difficult as I was hoping to raise dd as a vegetarian.

I would be really grateful if anyone could help me. What can I give to my dd that isn't likely to set off her wind problem? What is likely to fill her up? Has anyone else experienced this? Thanks so much.

I still bf DD (11 months old) 3 times a day ! You are not going to harm him... if for any reason you felt he needed more solids then you might look at reducing a feed but if he is content and looking healthy - there is no issue - IMO

Oxocube, Agree with SofiaAmes and pupuce - no need to reduce breastfeeds at all. At 9 months I was feeding dd as much as you if not more. Carry on breastfeeding as often as you like for as long as you like. In fect the longer you can feed the better because you are enhancing your baby's immune system. The thing about breastfeeding as a baby gets older is that it is not about milk intake but nurturing. Babies love being at the breast and they should get it whenever they want IMO.

Oxocube, what you're doing sounds just fine to me. I fed DS2 until he was 15 months (and miss it like crazy!) and he was having a feed at about 5:30am, 10am, 1pm, 4pm and 9pm bedtime at 9 months. He sometimes didn't want much at the meal time feeds, I used to offer him a feed but not worry about how much he took.

I only started dropping feeds when I was starting to stop bf and I took 3 months to let go of all of them, hanging onto the cosy bed time feed the longest. I now have to make do with a snuggle session in the rocking chair with him instead.

Anyway, I think your son will let you know when he no longer needs certain feeds - he just wont be interested. Offer him a beaker of milk with his solid meals and he may not be thirsty afterwards.

Sorry, I'm back again. Now everything dd eats is giving her wind. mears, you say that this is normal but what is happening is that the wind is trapped and dd is in quite a bit of pain. It's very similar to the problem that we sorted by putting her on l/f milk, and comes on in the early morning, about 12 hrs after her last solids. Should I stop weaning? The hv says that if I do this she may develope intolerences, and also her speech may be affected due to her jaw muscles not being exercised.

Would yuo consider having her see an osteopath ? I have heard that they do wonders for sensitive tummies (colics and so on)....

Oxocube: I think the official guidelines are that baby should have at least 1 pint/day of milk (human or formula). 4 feeds sounds like a bare minimum for a baby to get that much Mum's milk.

9.5m old DD nurses 5-8x/day, but my guess is she doesn't tend to take more than 3 oz each time. She's small, but an absolute pig, and snarfs up any other food I give her, too.

Jonesmum: baby rice can be iron-depleting -- it's just a property of one of the enzymes in rice. So make sure you use an iron-fortified baby rice.

Jonesmum: I just read what you wrote if your baby doesn't use her jaws on solid foods she'll develop speech impediments??? What a load of rubbish!! This statement has no scientific basis behind it. I promise you. The official guideline in the USA is now 6 months for solids; there is no reason to push them now if they aren't agreeing with your child. What does your hv mean by "intolerances" that your baby will get allergies or become fussy? Allergies are associated with early solids, not late solids. Fussy eaters... I think the evidence on that front is also entirely anecdotal.

Look... for what it's worth. My 2nd baby has lots of painful pooping problems if she doesn't get a lot of water, too. Do you give your baby extra water now she's on solids?

If I was you, I'd

1. stop listening to your hv. She sounds out of the stone age.
2. seriously considering stopping solids for a week
3. start again with small amounts of really runny fruit things (not bananas, though), and give lots of water.

Ionesmum - I am sorry i totally disagree with your H/V (again). Solids given later reduce the likelihood of intolerances and it will certainly not cause problems speech. Her jaw is exercised every time she has a bottle or indeed cries!
Which do you think comes first - the wind or the crying? Sometimes babies build up wind when they cry vigorously rather than the wind causing the crying. Can you be sure it is actually linked to the solids? If you are sure that is the problem I would do what zebra advises and stop them for a week. I know you have said before you would prefer to be more in control of what dd eats but to be honest - at this age - the best thing for her is milk.

Thank for the further advice. The wind definitely comes before the crying, in fact you can see dd trying to sleep through it. I keep meaning to see an osteopath but every time I decide to make an appointment dd gets better for a while! She just hadf some runny pear yesterday and was fine last night. I'm not too worried about the amount of milk that dd has- it's nearly a litre a day and she has put on nearly a pound in the last week.

Incidentally, we went to see the hv today to find that she has left! This is very strange as when we saw her a fortnight ago she said that she would see us soon. The new hv recommends two small meals of simple puree at set times, with her usual milk.

Sorry, I also meant to add that dd refuses to drink anything other than milk. If anyone has advice on persuading dd to take water I'd be really grateful!

my views on giving solids are relatively old fashioned and only really based on my own exoerience of 2 girls. I gave both dd's solids when they were hungry for them which in their cases was by 12 weeks. Neither has food allergies but second dd is "sensitive" to neat egg but not to egg-containing foods (such as cakes). BTW I didn't give her egg so early.There seems to be an increase in food intolerances nowadays, does this coincide with giving solids later? For example, one mother I know would not allow her dd anything to drink except water and milk until she was about 2; she is now convinced her child is "allergic" to all fruit juices.She also was not allowed any sweets, crisps, snack foods with possible colouring, flavouring etc and her mother is also convinced that dd is "allergic" to all colouring, flavouring etc when she finally introduced these things under pressure as everyone else was eating them.With her second dd this mother was not so "fussy" and consequently her child is not "allergic" to anything. I personally believe that children should be introduced to a wide variety of foods when weaning, not one vegetable or fruit at a time, for example. I gave dd's a pureed, and later, mashed up version of whatever we were having.

ionesmum - dd hated water to start off with too so although I never wanted to I started off with very diluted juice (1tsp to 1oz) and gradually put less and less juice in until she's now happy with water. I also tried a sippy cup to start off with but that was very unpopular too so gave in and used normal bottle (4 months later, she'll now finally take from cup!).

Couple of tips to help with the tummy ache!

1. Baby massage, particularly just before they fall asleep. Make sure you get a book/video/attend a class because the stroke you use on the colon area is quite specific, but we found it helped the wind find its way out.
2. Use juice from dried fruits - ie boil dried apricots or prunes for 20 minutes, strain the water off and use that as juice (it's quite strong so dilute it a lot). Be watchful for the effect it has on the bowel, though, and stop if the stools get loose.

Finally, we went through this and it took time and very careful monitoring of what foods we introduced and when but now (9 months), touch wood, all seems fine.

I would be very careful about dried apricots and prunes. They are usually preserved with sulfites and most asthmatics (like myself) are allergic to them (in my case i get a violent asthma attack and stomach upset from even a small amount).
Anyway, listen to mears!! There is a great deal of scientific/medical research to back up most of what she is saying. Ionesmum, your dd seems to be having so much trouble with solids, why not stick to the formula for another month or two. It is much more nutritious than any diet you could possibly be feeding her right now and it seems that it would probably be a lot better comfort-wise as well. There is absolutely no medical evidence to indicate that starting solids early makes your child a less fussy eater. And as far as allergies and weight gain, in fact the evidence is that later introduction of solids is better.

Sorry, should have mentioned - Captain Organic sell dried fruits without the preservative (we have ashma in the family too!).
I agree, don't feel under pressure to wean too quick. But do try the water, particularly in this hot weather - formula is so much more claggy!

Hello everyone, thanks for the further advice. It's so nice to get so much help!

Phillipat, Thanks for the reassurance that this will pass eventually.

We are now only giving dd a little puree at tea-time to keep her bowels regular as o/wise she becomes too constipated on the l/f milk. So far we've had no problems, so have dispensed with any idea of breakfast or baby rice for now. We have tried her with water and she took one ounce.. well, it's a start!