Routine for 4 month old on solids (doctors orders)

[Lewa]

Hi,

Can anyone give me some routine advice for feeding a 4 month old solids?  My DD has reflux and on my GP and paeds advice I've started solids (GP said start from 8 weeks, but we waited till 4 months!).  I'm not sure when to fit in the solids, so if anyone can share a 4 month solid routine would be great!

Our routine is not the best due to reflux (she likes to feed A LOT), and we are trying to move to a 4 hour routine.  DD only sleeps for 30 to 40 mins in her cot (after about 10 mins of shh/pat) but will have a long sleep in the sling once a day.  She has about 5 breastfeeds a day and one bottle (120ml) of expressed milk right before bed (7:30pm) and sleeps 10 hours straight (no dreamfeed or NW). 

Thanks,
Lewa

[Lolly]

We started my DD on solids at 17 weeks under paeds advice for her reflux so we just did a little bit of rice cereal about an hour after 2 or 3 of her milk feeds. I kept her on rice only until she got closer to 6 months then introduced veg and finger foods.

Have you tried giving her a thickener with her BFs? There are non food thickeners available that can be given at the start of a breastfeed and can thicken the bottle she has. What meds is she on?

Laura

[Lemonthyme]

We started at 19 weeks on the advice of a health visitor.  We just did baby rice with milk which wasn't particularly popular for a week then started root vegetables, carrots, sweet potatoes, parsnips, swede etc.

[Lewa]

She's on omeprazole (10mg twice a day).  She's on the end of the 4 month growth spurt so introducing the food now has been quite easy (and shouldn't affect my supply too much as she's already built it up). 

She loves the rice cereal but I'll have to up the amount as she is looking round for more when it's finished (only giving one large teaspoon mixed with milk twice a day).  I think I'll try the root veges in a few days and see if she likes those.

I'm giving solids an hour after a breastfeed as well which seems to work.  I think I'll start to offer it 3 times a day from today as she seems to be taking to it like a natural!

[Buntybear]

Hi, solids one hour after the BF is great. I would take it slowly though, milk is vital for your LO.

I would be interested to know why solids are recommended so early for some babies, if you don't mind sharing? Does it help keep the reflux down, IYKWIM?

[Lewa]

Yes that is what the GP and the Paed said - the solids will be less likely to come back up.  It's not vital for reflux babies to have solids early but it can help a little.

The Paed said the research is showing babies should be starting solids at 4 months regardless of if they have reflux and the recommendations will be changing shortly to this (this is in Queensland Australia).

I seem to have good supply this time (huge issues with DS!), and I'm making sure she still gets the same number of BF's a day.  I was giving DD a bottle of expressed milk at 7:00pm before bed as my supply was low/slow at that time and she would feed for up to 5 hours otherwise!  But I've noticed the last two nights she is taking less milk - was 120ml now about 80-100ml.  DD has 6 big BF's plus a bottle plus a few sneaky BF's (when she's really OT or can't extend nap any other way) so she does drink a lot, so if she's dropping the bottle slowly I don't mind.

[Lolly]

That was the reasoning for my DD, the solids help keep the milk down. My paed also wanted us to cut milk back to help but I wasn't happy with that one - I was struggling to get her up to 20oz at the time which is the lowest amount they need and she was puking lots of that back up . With a bit of cereal and meds she upped her milk intake and was much happier. We started DS on solids a bit early because of the reflux too, but it made him worse so we had to stop for a while. You never can tell with refluxers, some do better, some don't.

Lewa - it sounds like her milk intake is good at the moment, just keep an eye that it doesn't reduce at all for the next few months at least. I would also take it really slowly on other foods too, the rice is doing a thickening job but other foods may be more irritating for her.

Laura

[Buntybear]

Ah, OK that is interesting