help! what has gone wrong since started weaning reflux baby??

[Lucy's mum1]

we are at our wits end over the dramatic change in our 24 week old DS since starting weaning... will just fill you in on the background... he was diagnosed with reflux early on and has been on Infant Gaviscon ever since. He has never had any problem with weight gain and actually pretty big for his age (about 19lbs now). He has always also been incredibly windy (but unable to get rid of it) and as he is breastfed I have to watch some things i eat eg cant have chocolate or coffee and things like broccoli and grapes have a bad effect on him too!!  He is a very placid happy baby when his tummy isnt bothering but has never been a good sleeper at night... he has a dummy and I have debated whether that is the cause of the night wakings but now our problems with sleep seem far far worse than just popping the dummy in!!

nearly 2 weeks ago we started weaning... started with baby rice and expected him to take half a teaspoon or something but he got through loads.  After a couple of days moved on to veg etc... anyway the first bad reaction we had was apple where he seemed to have very bad trapped wind about 7 or 8 hours later. Pear was the same. I thought OK we'll just avoid those. anyway all the time I have been upping the food because he just seems ravenous.. whatever I give him he woofs it down and often cries when it finishes.

Then for the last 5 days its been a nightmare... he seems to build up with wind throughout the day and then at night instead of going down quickly with his dummy at 7pm as usual he screams and screams with a really bloated tummy. There seems no way of relieving his tummyache and he doesnt go to sleep till about 9.30pm/10pm. All the time we are with him trying to help him get rid of the wind.  Then in the night he is waking repeatedly again screaming with pain until about 3 or 4am when it seems to subside a bit but he will only then sleep till 6am.

The days are awful too... he often wont go down for naps which is not like him at all and if he does he'll scream in pain after 10 or 20 mins again with the same symptoms and refuse to go back.

We are all exhausted, I have a 3 year old DD too and he is waking her sometimes twice in the night too.

I have cut way back on the solids but still giving him a little bowl of something fairly bland once a day but he is still bad.

I just dont know what has gone wrong.... he was on a good routine before and now we are all over the place cos he is not sleeping when he should etc.  is he eating too much cos I have not really reduced his milk feeds and in fact cos of all the screaming am finding I often have to breastfeed him in the end cos he has been crying for so long (something i have never done with him before) or is the combination of the gaviscon with the solids thickening the food too much? maybe it is something like lactose intolerance but then why has it suddenly come on? or is it nothing to do with the weaning as someone mentioned they can take in lots of air with the dummy and he has also had a cold the last few days so with his nose blocked maybe he is sucking in air?

help!!!

an exhausted worried mummy xxx

[lashwish]

I dont really know what the answer is.
My DD has reflux & has since birth but I opted no meds.
She does spit up still & if I let her eat as much as she wanted she would spit up a bunch so I do limit her.
She started solids @ 4m, then 3 meals by 6m, but they were still fairly small.

I do know that if I feed gassy foods, Im in trouble. I made mistake once & she would not go to bed. I can only give a teeny bit of broccoli or cauliflower.
I know my Ped keeps telling me feed her as much as she'd eat, but I don't as she doesnt stop!

I also make sure she has at least 30 mins if not more to digest before napping/sleeping after solids.

[We Three]

I'm so sorry you're all going through this!  I have a question....how are his poops?  (soory)  Could he be constipated?  Rice cereal does that to may babes, so I was just brainstorming....

Also...is he on meds for his reflux aside from the gaviscon? I have heard that gaviscon can bind up a little one also???

[Lucy's mum1]

hi again thanks for your replies... have been to see the doctor and spoken to the health visitor today.. both think it could well be to do with the combination of the gaviscon and the food making him a bit constipated and also he is ultra-sensitive tummy-wise. So thanks -sounds like you were right!  doctor suggested carrying on with little bits of food and normal milk but no gaviscon or a little bit if he needs it and if that doesnt work he has prescribed something mild to help his digestive system along.  Health visitor suggested just going back to breastfeeding for a week or two as he is still under 6 months to get him back on track which sounds sensible so think I might just try that to start with and re-introduce veg again slowly... we are going on holiday tomorrow so praying this works! my poor little boy is exhausted and not himself at all so hoping I can get him back to normal soon - although am worried i will then be left with a sleep problem as we have been providing lots of comfort in the night the last week or so!

[We Three]

I was right?? That is so cool!! 

Try not to worry about the sleep thing too much....when they're uncomfortable, all bets are off!!

Enjoy your holiday...and I hope this is a simple fix....we can always make 'em poop, right??  That's easy!   

*baby food prunes work wonders...but just a little bit if you do it....like maybe 4 or 5 baby-spoons of it.  I learned that one the hard way!*

[hrk]

Hi!  You have already received great advice.  Just a quick note, sounds like your lo is eating to soothe a bit to clear the throat.  Our lo did that too, until he was on reflux meds.  He was 24 lbs at 6 mo, so I get what you are saying about being big and windy!  Wanted to eat every 1.5-3 hrs(tops) and that was causing super gas as well.  We introduced solids VERY slow.  He became super gassy with rice cereal, and oatmeal was better.  Don't know if you have it where you live. 

Likely uses the dummy to soothe his throat too.  Ours would wake to use it/feed to soothe 8-14 times a night; each waking I would have to put it in the paci about 30 times.  You do the math, ha ha.  CRAZY.  I felt terrible taking it away and the night feedings before we had the reflux under control.  Didn't know it was the reflux, though, until he was weaned of them both and he was still up the same amt at night.  He was on meds.  I say all this to say that some of these interesting details (paci/nw/frequent eating) may be signs of the reflux not under control/causing discomfort.  What do you think?