4 month old stomach ache with weaning

[Newparents18]

Hi...
My son is just over 18 week. We got advised our health visitor to start early weaning as he has had trouble with his milk. (I.e in pain during and after bottles) and has suspected silent reflux. Anyway we started weaning him a few days ago. Started giving him 2 or 3 spoons full of 4+ baby food such as sweet potato, cheesey broccoli etc and eventually he had a quarter of the jar at the most as we have only started a few days ago. He would always have his milk straight after. Recently he has been getting stomach ache at night and it’s interruptting him going to sleep. Have I started weaning him too early? Is he not ready or is this just how things are and if so for how long? I don’t want him to be in pain with the food if he’s not ready.

First time mum so I just want to what’s best.

Thank you...

I'm not sure you should give cows' milk even in cooking before 6 months. Maybe just start with fruit and veg purées?

Possibly you have gone a bit early.( I waited until dc were a bit older so I don't know what happens if you start earlier). However if you want to continue solids, I'd stick to vegetables and fruit. No dairy or meat until much nearer six months as they are harder to digest. . Good luck with everything

Personally I would have sought out a paediatricians advice, rather than just a HV, before starting weaning so very early, via a referral from a GP- there could be any number of things causing his initial symptoms- not just silent reflux.

Re: weaning and stomach ache .... I didn’t notice that, but one night about a week in, he had a REALLY “good” day eating - woke at midnight green as grass, and vomited, everywhere, about half a dozen times. He was about 6 months and it was bloody awful. And we had to stop eggs and egg containing products for a whole year, in case it was egg that had triggered an allergy that had caused the vomiting ..,

I am not some bombastic anti weaning shithead but eighteen weeks is early

Our DS had not dissimilar issues - we started at 20 weeks and it messed with his guts badly and meant we had to stop and start again when he was almost seven months.

Please seek a second opinion. I don’t think a HV would have enough of a holistic understanding of the weaning and reflux relationship.

Start with GP.

Yes i agree cheese might be the trouble. Broccoli made ds windy when i first introduced it. Stick with carrots, butternut squash, stewed apple, pears.

My ds had silent reflux amd banana didnt agree with him one bit. Made him windy and stomach ache.

You need to go very slowly with weaning, and start with single vegetables and fruit purees.Sweet potato, butternut squash, pear and apples make very gentle purées. But most of vitamins are nutrition should be from milk for first 12 months, so think of this as introducing flavours rather than feeding them to fill them up at this stage. If you have suspected reflux I would avoid any dairy for now, as cows milk is very hard to digest. Give the same puree for a few days before trying something else, and don't mix ingredients for a few weeks. It is very early to be weaning so you need to be more mindful and wind and constipation may be hard to avoid. But vegetables like broccoli are notoriously bad for trapped wind so maybe wait a few weeks to build up to them. Out of interest why did they recommend early weaning for dinner reflux? My daughter has severe reflux and we waited until she was almost 6 months. What formula are you using?

Early weaning can work for some people, however in this case it looks as though baby is telling you something. 18 weeks is very early to start any solids, and at this stage baby should only be having fruit and veg. No dairy, wheat etc. Maybe cut the food back for a few days and see if that makes a difference. It could just be that baby is not ready for solids yet. As PP said I’d be more tempted to take advice from a pediatrician rather than just a HV, in my experience their advice isn’t always the best or correct.

Good luck x

sproutsandparsnips - he’s never had cows milk and won’t be until he’s 1 year old. He’s only had formula milk and purées

cheesy broccoli will be made with cheese, which contains cows milk.

If you’re going to keep giving food, listen to the other posters-leave off the jars and make home made, single item purées and mashes

When I weaned my silent reflux baby I was advised to go slow i.e. It'll take longer to get from puree to purée with tiny lumps, only introduce one food at a time to work out the foods that aggravate his reflux and avoid anything acidic. I didn't wean until 5.5 months which is when he started waking in the night wanting food. I was never advised weaning early would help, I'd get a second opinion, my hv knew nothing about reflux!

Thankyou everyone. Yes maybe I should not have took the HV advise and spoke to a paediatrician. I just assumed they knew things like this however it looks like he may too young for weaning. He’s only had the cheese and broccoli once thankfully. Rest have been veg and fruit and yes I purée it myself it’s only when we have been out we have used jars. They recommend early weaning because he wasn’t drink much milk. He’s on aptamil milk.

Fortheloveofjames - maybe your right he’s trying to tell us it’s too early. I was sceptical myself about starting him early. I will cut back the food for a few days and see what he’s like. If he’s better then I won’t be continuing with the weaning.

Thanks for your replies much appreciated

Presumably the GP has considered CMPA and you've tried other formulas to see if that makes a difference?

The standard Aptamil formula is made with cows milk... my daughter has a prescribed formula called neocate for her silent reflux and dairy intolerance. I would discuss this with your gp if you are struggling to get your baby to drink enough formula, as aptamil might be making the silent reflux worse.

At this age he doesn’t need food only milk so it won’t hurt to stop for a few days. They all take to weaning in their own time at their own pace. DS has reflux/CMPA issues. I tried weaning at 5 months (under advice) and it didn’t work for us. I stopped, went back to it and did BLW at 7ish months (he refused to be spoon fed anything) but he didn’t really eat anything substantial till 9months. At almost 14 months he eats like a machine now