Reflux and weaning

[Seeema2902]

New to this mumsnet, looking for some advise. My DS is suffering quite badly with acid reflux and we have begrudgingly settled in gaviscon which has controlled the reflux somewhat. We do have a spit up after every feed or inbetween and have simply just accepted this as being part of what is going to happen. He is currently four and a half months and feeding him every bottle is becoming a real task. It generally takes over an hour and a half to get one bottle in and that’s after a lot of bouncing him pushing it out. We are thinking of holding off weaning till 5 1/2 months where I wanted to introduce about a teaspoon of porridge every day to see.

I’m really stuck about how to structure routine, as in do I offer milk first and porridge after or porridge then milk. I guess I’m petrified he will vomit if I do milk first and porridge after.

He tends to have his first bottle at 7:30

Also worries re amounts of milk after because it would appear he hates his bottle now. Would appreciate any advice/experience

Have you thought about cows milk protein allergy? It’s the one of the most common causes of reflux and feeding aversion (hating his bottle) can be a sign.

You’ll have lots of people on here warning you really the dangers of early warning. If he is that reluctant to take milk I’d go back to the GP

Early weaning - autocorrect!

We tried neocate the reflux was just the same with no improvement whatsoever. Regardless of how tough this is I plan to fully wait until he is 5 1/2 months. Possibly six if I can manage it. The vaccines on Friday have disrupted him somewhat more than my first son. Feel so lost as to what to do.

I’m hoping he will take to solids well. What gets me through the days and nights is that next week he will 5 months and it’s just another month till weaning. However by no stretch of the imagination do I expect the reflux is just going to go away with weaning. I just want some hope

Oh and re:gp they are of the opinion that as gaviscon is controlling the reflux somewhat and it has genuinely reduced some of the reflux we should stick to this. We’ve noticed since last Wednesday we have a bit more reflux then usual. I’m feeling so unsure of anything I thought I knew

I’m so sorry. Mine is 18 weeks and has cmpa and reflux so I know how awful it is, except she’s much better when I’m off dairy. Technically your Gp is following guidelines if your babies weight is ok, but that’s doesn’t make it any easier. I’ve not got any weaning advice but I’m sorry it’s so tough. The only other thing I think helps is a smaller bottle more often, rather than a large amount every 3-4 hours?

It’s so hard it can feel so hopeless, I’m just hoping as he can sit up and be a little more mobile things will improve. He doesn’t sleep well at all I’m guessing the discomfort. We prop the cot, keep him up right for at least an hour post feed. But my Lord it is taxing.
Don’t know what more I can do. He was started on omeprazole but reacted awfully. So that was abandoned quickly.
I feel so clueless about how to even wean him because I feel so scared.

My DD is 7 months and still suffers really bad with reflux (also on gaviscon but doesn’t stop the sick). I was advised to start weaning at 5 months but it hasn’t helped. Her reflux is worse than ever at the moment (think it’s related to teething).

I’d wait until 6 months if you can (I wish I had), but if you have to wean early I started with a bit of baby rice/porridge once a day. I tried veg/fruit but she would bring these up too since they’re quite smooth so I just stuck to baby rice (and mixed the fruit in that) until she was just over 6 months old.

It’s hard having a baby with reflux, you feel so helpless so I know where you’re coming from. Hopefully weaning will help your LO!

It's so difficult isn't it, both mine suffered with reflux and with my second child I wasn't afraid of trying different things rather than battle on through. GP prescribed lansoprazole and gaviscon which we tried for a few weeks but in the end we tried Cow and Gate reflux milk and that really worked. We stopped the lansoprazole (I wasn't happy with how it caused drowsiness) and the gaviscon just didn't make the milk thick enough to stay down. We also weaned at dead on 5 months and he thrived. Just porridge to begin with.

Thanks Vicky! It is hard super hard. You never imagine it being like this. My dad keeps convincing me I’m making this worse by not weaning. But tbh milk sick is bad enough I don’t need any further sick sooner then it may come.

I’m hoping if I hold out till six months I’ve given the little man the best opportunity to grow and get stronger and let his little system develop.

Curiously are you still giving the same volume of milk and do you offer milk first or solids first x

She bought up spag bol the other day which meant we were both stained orange - not to scare you because I know weaning has helped a lot of reflux babies, it just hasn’t helped my DD! I felt pressured into weaning early by doctor’s and family members, but you need to decide what is best for your baby!

I was giving milk an hour before solids but this meant she was bringing up the solids. The last few days I’ve started giving her lunch before milk and this has helped! She has 3 6oz bottles and 1 7oz bottle, she was also having 1 in the night but she dropped this recently. I haven’t cut down the daytime bottles though as she was 4 weeks prem and only weighed 3lb 9oz so feel like she needs to catch up still!

I plan on trying to wait, I guess the battle for me is how much more of the bottle rejecting I can go through. Because right now it is super hard to get a bottle down and it’s tearing me and my husband down to our knees. My first son was quite a happy chucker I’d find him covered in vomit and it wouldn’t bother him much. Where as DS2 seems so awfully distressed.

When I weaned my first I always offered breakfast first and then the bottle. It seemed to work but I never thought so intensely because the reflux was nowhere near as bad. This time round I feel lost and confused I even thought about baby led weaning. Or mixing the two up.

I have this awful feeling he will drop most his bottles when starting solids cause he pushes it out so much!

Reflux is awful. My DD had CMPA and reflux and is currently on Omeprazole solution and Gaviscon. The solution is so much better than the tablets but doctors are reluctant to prescribe it. I think we got lucky.
We were advised to swap over to aptamil Pepti formula and to a wean early, which we did at 5 months just with porridge once a day. We’d feed her a bottle when she first woke up and then swapped out the second bottle for porridge mid morning. You can also get porridge that can be made with formula if you are worried about your baby’s milk intake dropping too much. This definitely helped with the reflux.
My DD now at 12 months has grown out of CMPA but still has reflux, although nowhere near as bad as it was.
I hope this helps and it will get better.

Hi there. I am going through this now. Would you be so kind as to share when things calmed down? Looking for some hope 🥹

@Seeema2902 hi we are in a similar situation could you tell me how you got on and if you have any tips thanks so much