Reflux, solids and 3 hour feeds

[mumofashie]

Hi

Not sure if I am posting this in the right place, sorry.

My LO (5 months) is so ready for solids, and his reflux is being (finally) managed (for now at least).  He takes his formula milk every three hours.  Can someone advise me on how I should work in solids around the 3 hour feeds, because all the routines I have seen are for 4 hours? He normally eats at 8, 11, 2, 5 and top up before bed at 6.30pm.  Oh, plus he is a short napper which complicates things a bit more but I would appreciate an "ideal" routine.

Thanks
Anna

[miaria]

Well what I did was bottle at 8, some solids at 11 cereal before bottle than he will only take what he wants from the bottle as he has had enough from the food.  Something small to eat at 2 some fruit maybe or a youghert and then bottle again they will only take what they want from the bottle and at 5 a little bit of veg and a bottle and a top up before bed.  As they get into the routine u can give them cereal and then a bottle at the mo if u did that they might get frustrated, they need to be keep calm as trying new foods is alien to them at the moment so they wouldn't want to be starving.  Also they will only take a few ounces out of each bottle after a while so I would give a bottle at 8 water during day bottle at 2 and a bottle before bed.  They will eventually keep cutting down on the milk as they are getting their nutrience from food most of them hold onto the night feed the longest.  Good luck hope this works for u anyway when u start you will see for yourself you will be in a routine in no time as u will get to know your babies eating pattern

[Lolly]

I would go very slowly with a refluxer - solids made things worse for mine and others have had similar findings.

Have you thought about baby led weaning (BLW) - this approach seems to suit some refluxers better than the traditional puree route. Here are some links that may help

http://babywhispererforums.com/index.php?topic=118497.0 and http://babywhispererforums.com/index.php?topic=92560.0

You may be able to stretch the feeds closer to 4 hours gradually with solids, the guidelines here are solids about 1 hour after a milk feed so that the milk intake stays the same for a good few months yet - baby milk has all their nutrition until close to a year. We did a combination of puree and BLW from about 5 months, but with hindsight I wish we had waited until 6 and only done BLW.

HTH!
Laura

[Ladyloulou]

I had my BB in a three hour routine but I guess I was giving too little formula so his weight dropped a curve in the growth chart. he is 5.3 months. My new Pediatrician gave me this plan I will share it with you but remember he is 2 lbs under. So:
6-7 Am Bottle (he is drinking 6 oz.)
9-10 AM Cereal and milk afterward (2 1/2 tbls cereal in 3 oz.formula plus 3-4 oz bottle)
12-1 PM Baby food (one jar step 1 and formula afterward whatever he wants)
3-4 PM Formula
6 PM baby food and formula afterwards
She asked me to give him another bottle before midnight, now he is taking 2 bottles at 11 and then a 3 AM. He is not spitting and actually eating like there is no tomorrow. I don't mind since he was eating so little.

IF starting solids, feed her formula/breastmilk every three hours and at mid morning start with the cereal. I started with about one tablespoon of cereal and worked my way up. Always offer the bottle after.  When he can take the cereal well. Then move to lunch. little by little. I am still in my three hour routine and will stay that way for now. Every baby is different 4 hours did not work for me. Maybe later.

[mumofashie]

Thanks for advice everyone and the routines.

I am going really slowly with introducing solids, as I have heard that it can make things worse for a refluxer.  I was going to wait till 6 months but he is ravenous every couple of hours and is now waking up twice for a full feed in the night (as opposed to a small feed once a night). 

I have looked at BLW and found it interesting and exciting but in the end my DH and I decided that it was not the way we wanted to go with our LO.

I must say my LO loves his food.   

Also good to know that there are others on a three hour routine at this age, because sometimes I feel like that my LO is the only one.  Incidently, when I phoned up Aptimal (previous formula that LO was taking - he is now taking Enfamil AR) they advised me to stick to 3 hours instead of 4 hours - they said that the maximum that I should increase it to was 3.5 hours - that's their advice for all babies of this age. 

Thanks
Anna

[Lolly]

Glad things are ok! We use Enfamil AR and love it! As for Aptamil - I may be cynical but if babies are on more frequent feeds then you are buying more formula - hmmmm!

Laura