Reflux baby weaning!?

[Kitkatwest]

Hi mamas and papas

I've got an 8 week old with reflux and Dad and I are those weirdly forward organised types and are looking at food we can feed LO when he's ready for the solid stuff.

Any parents with a reflux baby that have any advice? We're wondering whether some fruit is a bad idea due to the acidity, did you find this as well!?

Also, any general advice about weaning in general would be amazing!

Thanks
New mama and papa

It's many years ago now, but when da was a baby he had terrible reflux and was on omneo comfort milk. When I weaned him I started with baby rice made with the reflux milk then started to add home made fruit/veg purées. (Pre made, frozen in ice cube trays) Mostly mango, pear, apple, sweet potato, carrot/swede and these were well tolerated. I'd gradually add more fruit/veg to the rice as time went on. Think I used the Gina Ford weaning book too from memory.

That's great, thank you! This is all very new to me as I had a concealed pregnancy so learning how to be parents on the fly

Wait until 26 weeks. By then, assuming it a physiological cause, your baby’s reflux with probably resolved/reduced.

Read into blw. I recommend the blw cook book.

Thank you! I'll have a look at that book.

We are currently going through the same thing at the moment my 12 week old she has quite a bad case of silent reflux. she started her medication just over two weeks ago and to be honest we haven't really seen much improvement. She's just started with constipation in addition to all her other ailments which is a little frustrating.
I too have been wondering about weaning and the best food to wean on so thanks for this post I'm interested to! Xx

You wont need to tailor the weaning process in regard to the reflux, they will have most likely grown out of it by 6mo anyway. Even if they haven't, normal foods like baby rice and purees or BLW will be fine

Awww no! I know how difficult it is trying to find something that suits. If it helps, we found that thicker milk worked with gravity and there was a huge improvement. My little one is formula fed so we just use the anti reflux formula from SMA. Gaviscon didn't work for us and thanks to the thicker milk we haven't yet had to go down the antacid route with medication. Are you breastfeeding or formula feeding? If breast feeding then it might be worth expressing and adding in carobel to thicken the milk for your daughter.

We're starting to prep now for weaning as little man is already following food with his eyes and gets super excited when his feeds are ready. So far root vegetable purees are top of the list as low in acid! Xx

Both of my reflux babies were weaned at 15 weeks under medical guidance. They both had stopped having their milk as they had begun to associate the milk with pain and sickness I think. I began with baby rice and then veg and fruit purées. The reflux calmed down massively once weaning was established. I didn't exclude any food groups as such but didn't give tomatoes till past 6 months as they always affect me with heartburn so didn't want that happening to them.

She is formula fed. She's on her anti acids still. But I have actually taken her off the gaviscon. She is now horrendously constipated. She was on cow and gate anyway so I've put her on cow and gate anti reflux. Did you try any other than the SMA, I'm open to trying other brands?

We weaned at 17 weeks under paed advice. Made a world of difference and she was on three meals a day less than a month later. It also massively improved her attitude towards milk, and she actually started enjoying it as a drink. We didn’t exclude any foods at all, the consultant was correct when he said that simply having solids of any form would help her keep things down.

@Holjad, we've only ever used SMA, it was the SMA First to begin with then straight onto the SMA Anti Reflux formula once we had the reflux diagnosis. But if we'd have had to try different brands then Aptamil would have been the next one, purely our of preference. My little one suffered with constipation really badly and we decided to give him about 5 to 10ml of water once a day as soon as he woke from a nap. I'd then change his nappy to give the water the time to travel down a little and then feed him as usual and within about half an hour he was going to the toilet. The very first time we did it it probably took an hour or so, but it just helps them get it out. Instantly happier baby as well.

Thanks everyone that's commented on this post, your advice and past experiences are really helping Dad and I decide what to do.

My DD had silent reflux. I tried to wean early to help on medical advice but ended up not weaning until 6.5 months as any food I tried (puréed veg or fruit - but nothing acidic) caused constipation. At 6.5 months for some reason she no longer got constipated and solid food helped a huge amount. She dropped milk really quickly and was rapidly on 3 meals a day and was so so much happier. It improved her sleep enormously too, we went from me trying to feed her every 2/3 hours round the clock (she wouldn’t take much, I think it was painful, so she got hungry quickly) to sleeping through within a month. I did avoid acidic foods for quite a while but no idea whether this helped, as I never saw whether acidic food would have caused a problem. She was off all meds by 11 months and eating well. Good luck, reflux is hard to deal with but nearly all kids improve as they get older. Looking back I think at least some of the crying & distress was caused by being over tired, she was so ready to sleep for longer once she was full and comfortable.

She was given gaviscon when a few weeks old, and that caused bad constipation, it was also hard to get her to take it as I breastfed and had to squirt it into her mouth in a solution, which of course she spat out. Then she got omeprazole, which was good and the only reason we got to 6.5 months I think. But she was still uncomfortable, didn’t settle and just didn’t want to feed for long, she was eager to start but pulled off after a minute of two. She is now 13 and started drinking milk and enjoying it recently, she wouldn’t touch it as a child.

Similar situation here: reflux 8 month old and I'm totally winging it.
I've avoided citrus fruits completely. Eggs have not agreed with her. Bananas may be an issue too.

It's so difficult!