Weaning Before 6 Months

[LaurenElizabethJayne]

Hi mummys, looking for a bit of advice.
My LO is 4 months old next week and I am considering starting to wean her soon.
She has reflux and CMPA and is currently taking 7-8oz of milk every 3 hours and still seems hungry in between sometimes. I feel this is making her reflux worse and in a baby group today another mum said she was advised to wean at 5 months as her LO was taking 7oz at a time which is too much for a refluxy baby.
My health visitor is not worth speaking to as she just shoots down anything that's not guideline.
Just feeling a bit unsure what to do for the best - should I start with some baby rice to see if that helps settle her?

Hi ☺️

Current advice is not to wean before 17weeks as baby's tummy isn't ready. If your wee one is 17weeks theres no harm in trying if she can sit up with a bit of support. We weaned DD a little early - first attempt was a disaster she wouldn't take the spoon, so your LO may not like it. We tried again a week later and it went much better.
Baby rice isn't really worth it as there's no real nutritional benefit, I'd suggest baby porrridge.
It takes a while for baby to be eating enough in order to decrease milk intake so weaning may not help unfortunately!

Good luck with whatever you decide

What meds is your lo on? Rantitadine is based on baby’s weight - has the dosage been recalculated recently? I don’t think your lo is currently having too much milk. How is their weight gain?

Weaned at 17 weeks here on paed advice due to reflux. Initially she was suspected CMPI but it was more of a mild intolerance that she grew out of as she got bigger (was only 5.13 when born).

We started with simple veg and then fruit purées, mixing with porridge and baby rice for texture as she moved on. Once a day to start with but she took to it so well we were at three meals very quickly, and she naturally reduced her bottles to smaller quantities every four hours instead of three.

The food really helped her keep milk down, and she was a lot more settled. At 6 months we introduced meat etc and she very rapidly dropped all daytime bottles and went happily onto three full meals and two snacks, with water from a sippy cup. She’s a fab eater who handles different textures and finger foods with no problems.

Now at nearly 9 months she has a small bottle before bed, half a small bottle at around 3/4am and the other half upon waking at 6. She’s rarely sick any more unless she’s especially active straight after eating, and we’ve started lowering the ranitidine dose.

I was worried about the effects on her tummy of starting at 17 weeks as I myself have IBS, but the paeds were very reassuring in sharing latest research etc with me, and even had the registrar come in to explain why NHS guidelines are likely to change soon.

After 17 weeks is fine. I did the same with my reflux baby, with purees rather than finger foods for the first few weeks. Food that you can mix lots of milk in is good for reflux babies as it helps hold the milk down. Make sure you check guidelines for what is suitable before 6 months.

Thank you for your replies! Feel a bit more confident about giving it a go if I feel she's ready, my health visitor made it seem like a definite no no even though she's 17 weeks on Sunday, so nice to hear so many others have done it before the 6 month mark!

Not for reflux issues but due to going back to work at 5.5 months and having a bottle refuser our HV suggested weaning at 4.5 months so give us a few weeks run up to nursery.
Hope all goes well and it helps your little one.

What medication is your LO on? Thickening the milk really helps, I did wean my reflux baby at 5 months, i didn't think it helped a great deal as you only start by feeding once a day. Having said that, If your baby is hungry a lot it might be worth starting to wean early

BNV1 she's been on everything and nothing really helps much. She's currently on ranitidine and we use Carobel to thicken her feeds. It's took away the pain for her but still spits up. She was previously on Omeprazol which is supposedly the best thing but it made no difference.

A friend was advised to wean hers from 16 weeks due to reflux as he was dropping on the charts. He's about 9 months now a wicked eater and lovely and tall as well as gaining weight nicely. She was so relieved when they suggested it as she knew it would help.

Is it your first? Maybe just start with baby porridge. Aptimil is good and nice and smooth so should take it easily enough.

Babies were routinely weaned to mashed food anywhere from four months on back in the 90s for certain, maybe even before.

Also weaned early here but at 5 months not 4. Give it a go. Although, I was told not to use baby rice as it makes their reflux worse (or can do anyway) and this was very much the case for us. He's 10 months now and on milk at wake up, pm, bedtime and recently 4.30am we could defo drop the afternoon milk but I want him to drop his night milk first although probably not going to happen!