Vomiting at bedtime

[Overanxiousmummy]

Hi all, before I start I have spoken to our HV, nursery nurse (under perinatal mh team) and neonatal consultant (under a care of infant reassurance program after previous loss of baby) and I am at my wit's end because none of them seem to be able to help so reaching out for any advice/similar experience

Our 10.5mo has always been a sickly baby, lots of posseting and regularly had big vomits (exorcist style). We've always been told it was too much milk and to be fair it had calmed down when we started weaning but we still regularly get the large vomits which are usually at bedtime.

We are reducing milk and the last two days he has had 3 bottles (morning, early afternoon and bedtime, approx 5/5.5 hours between bottles). He has had breakfast, bottle, morning snack, lunch, bottle, fruit snack, tea and bedtime bottle. The last 3 nights he has then thrown up so massively during bedtime bottle, as he has before, but it doesn't seem normal to us that this keeps happening. We then spend 15 minutes cleaning everything up and have to give him more milk. We moved tea earlier today to have a bigger gap between tea and milk, he had 6oz of his milk and had burped and we were trying for another burp when it happened.

We just don't know what to do, he is having snacks because he has lost weight recently (he was ill a couple of weeks ago) and the HV suggested snacks to try and reduce milk and increase calories to help with weight but he will never gain weight if we keep having this sickness.

It usually happens a couple of times a week but today is third night in a row and I don't know what to do. Will ring HV and Consultant again on Monday but in the meantime does anyone have any ideas? Thanks!!

Stop giving him the bedtime milk? Seems like he's too full for it.

How much milk is he having overall? Between 10 & 12 months 13.5 floz is recommended.

Why give him more milk when he’s been sick? I don’t get it

And I'm so sorry for your previous loss

Stop giving bedtime milk, give baby rice or similar instead. And don’t give more milk if he’s just been sick.

My son was like this and I later realised that he was lactose intolerant. He drinks plant milk these days and is fine.

Sounds like a combo of reflux and being full. DS used to do this every night without fail, ended up stopping evening milk and just giving water if thirsty and getting calories from solids.

Really though just had to wait for him to grow out of it.

He does have multiple food allergies

OP, for your previous loss.

Mine were that age a long time ago so it's hard to remember what happened when (even though I thought every single second would be imprinted on my memory forever - I remember being quite astonished that my mum couldn't remember the details of what we were like at every single age). However, I would say, based on what you have said, that it's too much milk. As @KangarooKenny says, I'd give him something a bit less 'liquid'. I do remember giving my DC Weetabix before bed - they were probably that sort of age.

Thanks everyone, will look at trying something different.

When he is sick we give him more milk because so much has come up we just don't want him to be hungry. He had had 7oz at 1:30pm today and no more milk until bedtime so we didn't want him to be hungry into the night but will definitely try doing something different than milk.

He still has a fair bit of milk through the day but that's why we are trying to reduce it but it's hard because he doesn't take to solids very well, we do give him solids before milk to encourage the solids.

The consultant has told us that there are no allergy signs at the minute, and I have told him about this happening regularly.

Thanks again everyone, i appreciate the help

I wouldn’t give more milk after he’s been sick. He’s being sick for a reason-too full or milk not agreeing with him. Give his stomach a rest.

I'd think about dropping one bottle in the day and seeing how he is. He might just surprise you

We had this with my son. Partly due to reflux they said, but I'm no longer convinced.

When he had just turned 2, we finally got a referral to ENT because the vomiting just never stopped at bedtime or nap time. For him, it turned out to be his tonsils. He had grade 3/4 tonsils which caused sleep apnoea and his vomiting was caused by his tonsils blocking his airway, him stopping breathing, and then choking/coughing until he vomited.

He finally had his tonsils out just before his third birthday and miraculously, he hasn't been sick whilst lying down again.

Also, he didn't take to solids or eating much either because he couldn't swallow due to the size of the tonsils blocking his throat, so he relied on milk for most of his feeds. From around age 2, he'd start eating a few foods he could "trust"/knew he'd been able to swallow without being sick before - mostly things like porridge, yogurt, potato cakes, crumpets. Really soft foods.

Now he's just turned 3, had his tonsils out two months ago and hasn't stopped eating

Reduce the size of the bottle try 3- 4 ounces instead and see if it stays down and consider dropping the morning bottle all together.It may just be too much for him to handle at the moment and its more important that he keeps stuff down than how much he is having in the first place. Really don’t give him more milk after he’s been ill. A sip of water would be better. Poor kid, sounds like he’s had a rough time.

DD has a lactose intolerance and her consultant suggested replacing milk with plant milk except for one small bottle (obviously thats not always possible and some kids have to drop it entirely but DD is fine with 1 4oz cup) after a few months we started re-introducing a bit of yoghurt etc and still have to limit it.

You may also find his appetite for solids goes up too, we had to drop DD midnight bottle at 6 months because she refused her bottle until 10am the next day of she had one at midnight, it can really sit on their stomachs.