Start weaning at 4 months

[NishaaS123]

My baby has reflux and is a hungry baby if I feed him a little extra milk because he's hungry he brings it all out! He's always hungry and now when he sees me eating he will open his mouth and I put a clean spoon near his mouth he opens and starts to lick his lips so I am thinking of starting porridge for him next week when he turns 4 months what age did you guys start weaning? Anyone else srared at 4 months? Any recommendations?

It's a no from me.

I think tackling the reflux is the priority. Have you tried infacol/keeping upright after milk/hungry baby milk etc?

Weaning before six months should be under the advice of GP.

A no from me too.

Put your hard hat on OP.

Dont start weaning before 17 weeks. After that theres a debate around when to start. I started at 5ish months. Have a look at the developmental milestones they need to hit to be able to start solids. That should guide you more than anything else.

Why the rush? I thought closer to 6 months was the general guidance?

Unless a doctor tells you to do this there is no reason to wean early, it can cause digestive and other long term health problems. Weaning should start no earlier than 6 months unless under medical advice.
Leave well alone.

Hope you’re ready for this @NishaaS123
Good luck.

It’s recommended 6 months for a reason.
Have you spoken to your baby’s GP or HV about wearing early due to the reflux? Have they been diagnosed with reflux?

One thing I would say (as a specialist in the area) - reflux is one main precursor for oral aversion (use of NGT is the other) and if you start weaning too early and gauge it wrong, you could have a lot of problems to deal with later. Might be fine.....might not be.

Mine officially didn't have a reflux diagnosis but she puked all the time (including if she has a bit extra) and fed hourly, we started weaning at about a week shy of 6 months.

It's not worth increasing the risk or digestive problems.

The vomiting slowed and stopped around 5 months btw, hopefully your DC will follow suit.

Both mine had reflux and I started with baby porridge in the morning at 4 months then went on to single veg puree for dinner and eventually lunch as well. I went with what my children wanted and started small at first. Weaning at 4 months isn't recommended but do what works best for you. I will add that it worked well for my first child the reflux disappeared over night. My second sill pukes up after every bottle at 10 months.

I did wean early for reflux at 16 weeks but under the guidance of a paediatrician after a physical assessment of my baby. He suggested starchy food so potato. It wasn't something we just decided after a bit of googling. We went through the GP started on gaviscon etc then got referred to the paeds doctor for specialist treatment.

Weaning early made no fucking difference to the reflux, his tongue reflex was to push stuff out rather than being able to move the food to the back of his mouth.

The anti-reflux formula was much better. We got it on prescription via the paediatrician who recommended this in his letter to our son's GP. He stayed on the anti-reflux formula until he was 14 months old. He refused to drink cow's milk until he was over 3 which meant I had to make sure he had his recommended calcium intake every day via cheese and yoghurt.

I hate to tell you this, but he finally grew out of the reflux when he was about 8 years old. That was the point he where he stopped waking up about 1-2 hours after going to bed.

He is now 14 and still has reflux. There really is no magic cure.

Has your child been diagnosed by the GP with reflux?

As someone advised to wean early by professionals I would honestly advice to wait until 6 months unless a professional tells you otherwise.

I never gst the rush to wean. It wont fill him up as much as milk will and honestly it's just such a faff that I struggle to image anyone wanting to spend longer cleaning floors, highchairs and removing stains from clothes than is already necessary.

My dd was diagnosed with reflux and on medication and reflux formula.

We weaned at about 17 weeks under medical advice. I don't think it made much difference to the reflux and she developed multiple food allergies having her first reaction not long after.

I would recommend getting help with the reflux before you consider it.

Sort the reflux before you start weaning.

My eldest had severe silent reflux (diagnosed as GORD and she was hospitalised because of it, twice, before she was 4m old) so I've done this before. We did try to start at 5m only on the advice of a gastric paediatrician but actually it did nothing because she refused the food anyway until she was well over 6m. Closer to 7 probably.

See someone for medication for the reflux, if it's bad you need to help with that rather than look on weaning as a cure, it's not!

Few of the people I know started to wean there babies at 17 weeks and really helped there reflexes so I guess every baby is different my neighbour started weaning her babies she has twins at 17 weeks and they love it and helped there reflux even though they were born premature! So I was just looking for other opnions on this aswell so I will see and make sure I am doing the right thing for my baby :)

my neighbour started weaning her babies she has twins at 17 weeks and they love it and helped there reflux even though they were born premature!

Presumably though this was guided by a professional? It would be incredibly foolish to fo against advice and wean children early without professional advice let alone to wean premature children early.

Talk to your GP first, to make sure it actually is the best thing for your baby. Have you tried anything else?

I would reiterate - please be guided by developmental milestones rather than the reflux.

Oh, well if your neighbour did it then it must be fine! Crack on. Your bubz your rulez hun!

At least consult a medical professional first, has your child actually even been diagnosed?

NishaaS123 The 6 month weaning is there for a reason because the gut is immature until roughly that stage. Scientists actually studied this not people without medical degree knowledge anecdotally saying their child is fine.

I will tell you that both my sons had reflux, Ds2 a lot worse than Ds1 (I also have mild reflux as an adult) and because Ds2 was worse I was feeding him 10 -12 times a day at 4 months old as he would only take small amounts of milk at a time. Hence the GP and then the paediatrician.

He does have food issues now, his portions have always been smaller than the average child because he will not eat until he feels full due to acid reflux which is painful. I won't bore you with years of food refusal and fussy eating when he was 2-7 years old.

You still haven't said if you have been to your GP about the reflux and actually got it diagnosed. Not just the Health Visitor (who by the way told me my child didn't have reflux). Seek medical advice if you think this is the right course of action for your baby.

Yes my child has been diagnosed with reflux by the gp and is currently on medicine i have spoken to the gp aswell and he has advised me that I can start weaning him after 17 weeks if I think he ready for it! I am just hear asking what other mums experiences were about weaning them at 17 weeks
However have got alot of comments suggesting I am not doing a good job, just asking other mums opnions who HAVE weaned there babies at 17 weeks as EVERY BABY IS DIFFERENT and take things differently!
Thank you to some of those who's comments weren't actually judgmental and helpful:)

What medication and how long?

@Ohalrightthen i have tried gaviscon and even omeprazole but hes always hungry poor baby he cries alot after his milk but if I give him extra he brings it all up I spoke to gp and they said I can start weaning him.from 17 weeks but give him a little bit just to see how he takes it but I just wanted opinions on how other mums have dealt with weaning babies early

Yes my child has been diagnosed with reflux by the gp and is currently on medicine i have spoken to the gp aswell and he has advised me that I can start weaning him after 17 weeks if I think he ready for it!

Why didn't you put any of this in your first or subsequent posts instead of commenting that loads of people you knew had weaned early which made it sound like you just wanted to copy them?

Has the GP actually given you advise on what foods to start with or how long to wait to introduce new foods. We had a whole detailed discussion before weaning DS as its so easy to cause gut issues and wating problems when weaning earlier than the current guidance.

[quote NishaaS123]@Ohalrightthen i have tried gaviscon and even omeprazole but hes always hungry poor baby he cries alot after his milk but if I give him extra he brings it all up I spoke to gp and they said I can start weaning him.from 17 weeks but give him a little bit just to see how he takes it but I just wanted opinions on how other mums have dealt with weaning babies early[/quote]
Reflux babies cry after being fed because it comes back up and hurts them, not because they're hungry. That's why he vomits when you feed him more, because he's full.

Have you tried changing formula, or an anti-reflux formula? Is he still gaining weight properly?