7.5 month old feeding probs since illness

[sweetmummy]

hi,

my son is almost 7.5 months and has severe silent reflux, which he is medicated and regualrly seen by a paediatrian.
we always have had difficuly feeding in regards to volumes etc. tho things were rolling along 'ok' in the reflux world until we all got a vomitting bug, he got it 1 week ago, and could not keep anything down for 2 days, he is now showing more interest in his solids again, but his milk feeding has gone seriosuly backwards again. i know that he would have increased acid etc from his illness and aggravted his, but he is now waking in the nite for feeding and is seriously hungry eg taking a whole bottle.
i guess i would lik esome advice on what to do, i cant force him to drink more, nor do i want to! during the day, but its now day 5 of waking to be fed at nite where he had been STTN for 2 months.
love to hear thoughts and advice. thank you xx

[*Kara*]

I would actually restrict his solids until he starts taking his milk well again hun... he could have a reluctance towards the bottle in association with the vomiting and it will just take a few days of consistency to get him over that fear.

Have you tried feeding him when he first wakes, in his room, in the dark?

[sweetmummy]

hi

thanks for your reply. yes have tried that, but he has always refused a bottle on waking-we feed him breakfast first now and he actually ( prior to illness) will drink more milk after breakfast than on waking.
guess we'll see how he goes.....and hope the night feedign doesnt become a habit!
thanks for your reply xx

[Lolly]

How many bottles a day is he on now and how much is he currently taking in 24 hours? It can take them a few weeks to get their appetites back after a vomiting bug without reflux to complicate things.

Depending on how much milk he is actually taking I wouldn't cut back on the solids to be honest, larger amountsof milk are likely to be making his reflux worse. My pead tried to get us to cut DD's milk from about 4/5 months and although I resisted for a while he was actually right, when she was eating more solids she was better for it. For many refluxers all that milk sloshing around is just more to reflux back up where as solids tend to stay down better.

From 6 months they need a minimum of 20oz a day and this can include the dairy in their foods (obviously more is better) so if his milk intake is around that much then I wouldn't worry too much. You will need to keep an eye on him for dehydration and make sure he is getting water with food. You may find that when he recovers fully he picks up a bit again.

My DD has a sickness bug when she was around 9 months, we had weaned the night feeds about a month earlier and once she got over the bug she wanted night feeds again. It lasted for about a week and then she started sleeping through again, I think it was her body making up for lost calories!

Laura