Any tips from your experience of starting solids with LO with silent reflux?

[buttonbaby]

Ds will be 24 weeks in 2 weeks and has significant silent reflux. On losec and ranitidine and much better but not perfect…still has a very low intake & is on the small side (11lb/5kg) and has episodes of discomfort/irritability but overall has hugely improved.

Just wondering if anyone who LO had reflux has any words of advice/tips/ foods that worked/didn’t work for their little refluxer when it comes to starting solids!

[Bex09]

Hi hun my DD is a silent refluxer too, hugs for that alone! Starting solids did eventually really help things settle down with her, but at first it was a lot of trial and error around what she could/couldn't tolerate. Baby rice was a huge no no, it really upset her system and caused horrible constipation and painful NW for her. Most fruit and veggies were fine for her, she loved mashed banana also sweet potato too, oh and pear puree. We obviously avoided things know for being acidic... such as tomatoes, citrus fruits, pineapple, etc, we didn't trial these until 12 months. She still can't have pineapple now bless her. Each LO is different so obviously your DS might be fine with these things and not with others. A lot of people say apples can be acidic but my DD was fine with them. Good luck.

[buttonbaby]

Hugs to you too, glad things eventually settled down, hope the solids help here too!  Interesting about baby rice. Good to know what works for others might not for others and vice versa so will avoid the obvious but do a trial on others! Mashed banana and sweet potatoes were a fave of my dd’s (didn’t have any reflux issues) so they were on my list for ds! Thanks for the reply!

[Bex09]

It really is trial and error I think. I am sure that on here somewhere there is a list of foods to avoid for refluxers, if I can find it will post the link for you.

[buttonbaby]

Thanks...did see that list, just nice to hear of others experiences also! Thanks again!

[ZacsMumme]

We started on pear and pumpkin, very bland and easy on the gut. Sweet potato, apple and avocado were also good ones

[*Liz*]

Some LOs who are big food refusers seem to do better with a BLW approach and plenty of 'food play', especially if they have feeding aversions and are reluctant to be fed a lot of the time.

Some refluxers struggle with purees as they just don't want anymore sloppy stuff in their tummies, others struggle with texture as it makes them gag and throw up (the gag is normal when learning textures but the reflux leads to the puking).

Be very careful with the 3 day rule, especially with known intolerances, but remember that solid foods direct to baby can show up intolerances that were not obvious before. Extra care with dairy and gluten is sensible - with DD I was told to do slower than standard guidelines. So fruit and veg at 6 mths, meat nearer to 8 mths, non gluten grains at 9 mths, gluten and egg trials at 10+ mths.

[marensmama]

Some LOs who are big food refusers seem to do better with a BLW approach and plenty of 'food play', especially if they have feeding aversions and are reluctant to be fed a lot of the time.

This was totally our experience.  Hayden did not like us feeding her anything.  We didn't start introducing solids until she was an older babe (you don't HAVE to start at 6 mos, even if they have all the readiness cues).  I knew solids would be a disaster, and they were.  When we introduced rice (at 8 months), she vomited several times in some sort of weird reaction.  Her reflux was made worse by most of the baby cereals, so she mainly had meat (chicken, ground beef) and sweet potato.  Regardless of what she ate, every meal ended in her or me (or both!) in tears. 

In retrospect, her reflux was not well controlled at all and maybe we should have held off solids all together until it was... once she started Prevacid, solids were way easier. 

Good luck to you!

[buttonbaby]

Thanks so much for your replies..all great to know! Zacsmummee , never thought of pumpkin!

Liz, thank for the guidline  showing the order in which you introduced foods!


I was looking up both approaches (BLW and purees, did BLW with DD but was wondering if ds was ready), when reading up I wondered if ds is ready at all:

Read these on another tread:
Signs your baby is ready:

Your baby is interested in things around her; she tries to get hold of things and put them in her mouth. She watches you eat and tries to grab the food. never really see any interest & really remember DD showing interest and also not really putting things in his mouth!


She can hold her head steady and sit with some support. Not very well. He does hold his head up but lets it droop at times/when tired! Can not sit at all unaided!

She may seem less satisfied with just milk feeds - she may stop gaining weight or start wanting a lot more feeds. Definitely not wanting more feeds. Intake is currently 15-17 oz(high cal formula so is now gaining weight)…huge improvement from before meds though! he is doing WAY better but intake still low.


Also not sure he has lost the reflex to push spoon/food out!

Ds never spits up (silent reflux) so I presume when it comes to foods he wont either but not sure but might cause other problems??

Marensmama..how did you know solids would be a  disaster? Apart from not showing signs I mentioned above I really just don’t know fi it would be the right thing to do to introduce solids or not!
Sorry to hear about he tough time you went through starting solids with your LO & glad you got there in the end!

[creations]

Fiona.  DS couldn't sit unaided at 23/24 wks but he constantly pushed up to his feet if holding my hands.  Osteopath told me not to let him push to feet so I stopped holding his hands, 2 days later he sat unaided brilliantly and in time for us to start BLW.  Not saying your LO is standing before sitting, just saying one minute they can't do something, the next they can.  it seems to happen over night.

Silent reflux - DS loves self feeding and took to solids immediately and with great enthusiasm.  I help with baby porridge in the morning but otherwise he feeds himself, including pasta off a plastic fork if it is slimy (or in fingers if not too slimy).  He is not a big baby at all but eats a huge amount of solids.  I think it helped his reflux.  He is a very very happy eater, he's cut his milk right back so I have to watch that to make sure he gets the minimum.  If your LO was reducing milk to self-medicate the silent reflux you might also need to monitor this when you start solids.
Raw pear came up refluxy/watery - too acidic, this surprised me as I thought pear was one of the easiest foods to digest.  Steamed pear always fine though as is baked apple.
Rice cakes (no-salt ones) - too dry, they make him want to drink water and there's nothing gooey in his tummy for the water to mix with, this leads to more reflux and sicking up the water.  Taking water with other foods such at wedges of baked sweet potato, doesn't cause a problem for him as I think it must mix in the tummy a bit.

DS has had over 100 foods so far and is now 7 months.  I avoided tomatoes to begin with but now he has some.  Also avoided citrus and pineapple like pp has mentioned.  I watch how much yogurt he gets in one go as I think this makes him more refluxy.

Not what you asked but - read up on the constipation foods before you start BLW.  Knowing what could cause poop to become firmer or too firm is good knowledge.  Now when my LO has carrots I balance it up with a prune and judge what to feed by what is coming out to keep everything running smoothly iykwim much better to manage with food than have to go the doc if it all gets backed up.