reflux babies: problems starting solids?

[walkingaround]

Parents of reflux babies, help! Tearful and confused here.

DD1 8 months (was prem so is 6 months corrected age). First 6 months exclusively breastfed. Terrible silent reflux from the start, was on omeprazole, which worked.

Since starting solids, we've seen a horrific return of reflux and she is horrendously constipated.

She's BLW, lots of fruit, some veg, bit of spuds, tiny bit of meat. Not baby cereal as we live in France and they're not hugely into it here. Tried sheep's yoghurt.

Did your reflux babies suffer when they started solids? Did you see link between reflux and constipation? Should I be introducing one food at a time for 3 days to check for reaction? Was dairy a problem for your wee ones? Did reflux come back during teething?

On advice of docs, I've given watermelon, prunes, pears, olive oil in recent days and now she's actually stopped doing any bowel movements at all.

Thanks for any experiences/pointers.

i would just stop solids completely for a couple of weeks and then maybe try again?

not all babies are ready for solids at 6 months spot on, and I would imagine (though don;t acvtually know) that being premature could play a part in that too?

could it be a milk protein intolerance or something?

if you don't want to stop completely then I woul go back to basics at least. just maybe some fruit and veg, once a day and see how you get on?

thanks yesterday, I was wondering whether stopping was the answer. Yes, I think milk protein might be playing a part too.....

walking I've had the exact same problem. DS has silent reflux and now on ranitidine. However with solids I think it's got worse - a couple of times he's been sitting playing and acid has come out of his nose. Never happened when just BF.

He's also terribly constipated - tried all the tricks and the only thing which helped in the past is giving liquids every hour. Which is hard when he doesn't BF without getting distracted and doesn't drink much water.

I've not given any dairy as I know he's intolerant. He's also reacted to carrots and tomatoes. I'm not giving him any citrus fruit and other things until he's 12 months.

I did stop solids for a day and it got things moving again bowel wise. However starting up again has bunged him up again!!!

It's a blooming nightmare as I feel pressurised to have him on three meals a day but I think it's making things worse. My DS is 8 months.

I'm going to cut back again and see what happens.

Iggly, thanks so much for your post. That is EXACTLY my experience: she has been sitting playing and acid explosion shot out of her nose and sprayed her toys! Will follow your advice, thanks so much. By the way, is there a test you can do for dairy intolerance? I just know that's a factor for her but haven't done a test. Docs do tend to look at me as if I'm a bit bonkers when I suggest dairy is a prob....

Good luck, thinking of you!

dd had silent reflux. She was exclusively bf and at 5 mo usa pediatrician recommended 1 bottle a day of stay down formula (with rice starch) to supplement bm. It helped quite a bit. She had digestion problems until she was up and walking (19 months) and they didn't seem to be the least bit related to what she was eating. Good news is that now she is 7 and has no problems at all and eats everything you put in front of her (except beets).

you shouldn't (either of you!) feel pressurised at all to have them on 3 meals by 8 months

there is a great book called "my child won't eat" by carlos gonzales which might be worth a read?
I know in this case it isn't that the child won't eat, just that the eating is causing unwanted side effects, but it talks a lot about how we can trust our children to control their food intake amongst other things, and counters some of the common misconceptions over how much small babies "ought" to be eating

bear in mind milk should be the main source of nutrition until they are at least a year, and that not all that long ago babies weren't even weaned until 9 months old! and I think you can rest assured that laying off solids, or taking it back to basics is absolutely fine if it works for your child

might also be worth keeping food diaries to see if there is anything in particular that casues a flare up

I wonder if part of it is just that solid food is harder to digest? I've read that reflux babies do better on breastmilk becasue it is digested so quickly and easily, so I guess solids are going to cause a bit of a reaction anyway??

sorry xposting now, but re: intolerances. my ds2 has a dairy and egg intolerance and I researched it until I was blue in the face

unlike allergies it is very hard to test for, as symptoms don't always follow immediately. as such GP's etc usually diagnose based on parental observation

Nothing as serious as your problem but DS (reflux baby) just didn't bother much with solids until 10m. He ate a little, but we didn't push it. The doctor thought he might be dairy and wheat intolerant, so he didn't have those (until about 10m) when we reintroduced them. (He had eczema as well as reflux which cleared when he gave them up.)

You could consider cutting out dairy as an experiment - DS is fine with it now (but not that keen on milk). We decided to try as otherwise we wouldn't have bothered later. I think you can get proper tests, but we never did.

FWIW I think giving up solids for a couple of weeks might be a good idea, as others have suggested.

walking it's horrible isn't it? poor little DS was sat there happily playing away I'll be thinking of you too.

sofia I tried formula on DS at 6 months but it made him sick So I avoid any cow's milk products.

I think there is a test - but I just cut dairy out of my diet and saw a huge difference in DS's reflux symptoms (before he was put on rantidine which took four appointments to get them to take me seriously). Then I tested him out by giving him a teaspoon of milk in something I'd made and it made him very windy and unsettled. So I made my own diagnosis as fed up of GPs.

Thanks thisisyesterday. I'll check out the book. I have been keeping a loose diary and got depressed as there were so many possibilities. DS doesn't like being spoon fed and wants what I'm eating so hard to give him one thing at a time. I got all in a muddle as seeing reactions to so many things. I think you're right about solids being harder to digest. I've felt incredibly guilty after nights of DS being up all night with tummy problems.

It's hard as so little information available on reflux babies. My HV was pretty rubbish saying put DS on three "good" meals a day. I told him he was dairy intolerant and asked for alternatives. She told me to try him with a bit of cheese

thanks everyone, feel really boosted by your posts. I think your're right pausing or scaling down does make sense, despite all this pressure to get onto 3 meals a day! She does love sitting in her high-chair handling food, but I suspect would be just as happy to play with a spoon. Thanks yesterday, will look into dairy and keep tabs on it.

Reflux can really get you down can't it? And just when you think it's all over, it comes back!

Thanks Iggly - Will cut out all dairy from my diet, I had done that but got a bit lax recently. I got the same advice as you, said dairy was clearly a prob and was told she must be eating yoghurt at this stage or will be malnutritioned.

walking where do these people get their ideas from???? My neighbour was told by her HV that BF had no benefit after 6 months and mums that kept BF post 6 months did it "for themselves". I mean, really?!!

I feel guilty about weaning - it's clearly messing with DS but I don't want him to starve! Obviously he wont as he gets my milk but the pressure is there.

gotta love those HV's eh!

i can assure you that my vegan ds2 is now 2.5 and has not suffered in the slightest from never having had any yoghurt! lol

thisisyesterday what foods did you wean your DS2 on? I need ideas!

Iggly I totally understand this crazy pressure for a "balanced diet" of solid food groups for 8-month-olds!! Must keep reminding myself of the glories of BF.
So wish there was more understanding of/information on reflux issues.

we did BLW and I had already cut milk/egg out of my diet so we were working with basically a vegan diet anyway

replaced milk with fortified oat milk. used that in cooking, and on cereal porridge

breakfast he would have porridge or toast with sunflower spread and jam/marmite/peanut butter
or fruit

other meals consisted of steamed veg, tofu, rice, potatoes, pasta, lentils and beans... anything really!

obviously peanut butter is something you'll want to be careful with, esp if you have a history of allergies etc, but mine were all ok with it so had it fairly early as it's a good source of fats and protein

i'm also fairly wary of soya products but we do buy nice tofu if i am near a decent healthfood shop, and the odd soya yoghurt here or there (usually plain, with stewed or fresh fruit added)

Thanks thisisyesterday. DS seems ok with lentils and beans. Have tried soya with no problem although that was once. I also use oat milk so will try him on that.

walking I think the silent reflux is more like what adults suffer from but is not widely recognised by doctors - they mix it up with "non silent" reflux. That's just my theory anyway. And yes, must remember BF rules