Doc has advised early weaning for silent reflux baby - should I be concerned?

[angelz]

Our ds was diagnosed with silent reflux at 2 months, now 14 weeks he has shown dramatic improvement but still has 'refluxy' bouts every now and then.

Have just returned from follow up hospital appointment where pediatrician has advised us to start weaning ds when he hits 4 months, and to wind down medication over the following months (he is on ranitidine).

Before today i was planning on waiting till he was 6 months.... does anyone have experience of early weaning? What are the best things to start him on?

Thanks x

My son had/has silent reflux too. I started weaning at 5 months on the advice of the speech and language therapist who got involved to sort out the screaming feeds (caused by the reflux etc). It meant I had a few weeks to get him used to food before I had to try and move onto meat etc..
She also told us to start finger food early as refluxy babies struggle with lumps but are better with finger feeding. My son was eating rice cakes at 6 months and weaning went very smoothly for us. Obviously, I don't know enough to say how it would go for other babies.
As for weaning off ranitidine, my son is still on 04.ml 3x a day and he is 18 months!! We never needed to increase the dose with his size so it's tiny compared to what he could have for his weight. However, tried to get him off it two months ago by reducing to 0.3ml and he started actually bringing up drinks! Returned to doc who said try again in 3 months so it sounds like there is no hurry for your little one (and it means we get sleep too, as that was one of the worst problems for us with the silent reflux!!)
Good luck

I had a baby with reflux (not silent) who was on ranitidine until he was 11mo ish and we weaned at 6 months, mixture of finger foods and puree - my GP said early weaning would have helped

just wanted to add our experience for you

would not have helpe,d sorry

but then she also said that there wasn't any conclusive evidence either way!

my MIL weaned my BIL at two months cos of reflux, on paediatrician's advice

Maybe 5 months would be more sensible ..... and then just basic non acidic fruit, rice and starchy food stuffs/??

Ah, just feel like we have finally got him feeding half decently with the milk, and now on the next stage

My DS has silent reflux and is still on Losec at 11 months. We started weaning at 20 weeks on advice from paed and it made him worse. we are still struggling with getting him to accept lumps. I read if the reflux is mild it may help.

oh jellybeans I am sorry to hear that ..... is your ds walking yet? People say that helps too??

I think I will try weaning around 20 weeks, but am not setting my heart on it being a miracle cure...... get the feeling it will be something he will grow out of when he has sufficiently matured??

My DD had reflux and I was advised to wean her at 17 weeks which i started doing. It was really really hard as she still had the tongue thrust and it almost all came back out. I would not try this if I had another baby with the same problem. I found that she just threw up the food and milk.

Ds had silent reflux and milk protein intolerance and was very reluctant to try solids until 7 months. Do what feels right.

My DS isn't walking yet but hopefully he will be soon and grow out of it!!! Good luck with the weaning, whenever you feel it is right!!