Introducing solids CMPI

[*Liz*]

DS is CMPI - was put on nutramigen from 4 weeks of age as he was vomiting up all his feeds. He has ongoing reflux issues so I suspect it is a true intolerance.

Obviously he accepts his stinky milk with no issues. He was so young when he started that he didn't know any difference.

I'm kind of nervous that solids will make him realise it is yuck  , and cause him to drop feeds too early. Obviously he won't be able to have any dairy for fats and calcium, so it would lead to everything being very complicated.

Obviously have a few weeks before we start yet, but just wondered if any opinions??

[Mashi]

DS had no issues thinking solids were yuck! He loved them! We kept him gluten free as well, as my mom was a confirmed (biopsied) celiac from birth.   I used his nutramigen the liquid needed with solids and he really knew nothing different.  Honestly, he loved his milk! 
Will be back later though hon, I'm off to bed tonight xxx

[Buntybear]

He was so young when he started that he didn't know any difference

I think this is the key - you might think the milk is yuck - he doesn't! TBH, I have not come across a baby on that milk who has gone off it after going onto solids xx

[*Liz*]

That is my concern - hoping it doesn't happen as he is still a bit teeny  .

[Mashi]

I would not think it will happen Liz. And with solids, just take it slow, yk?  DS had something once a day from 6-7 months, then twice a day for a while and only at about 9-10 months was he actually eating 3 meals a day.   Just go slow and let him have fun with some solids, he will still love his milk!!!

[~*Nicole*~]

DS was on neocate which was UGH super gross. He even started it at a later age (6 months) for the MSPI and reflux issues. And aside from reflux flaring up due to solids introduction and having pain with certain foods, he did not mind the taste of his bottles at all and kept his intake up just fine. He even drank the plain version rather than the flavored options (vanilla and something else I think). ICK. I think your LO will do fine

[*Liz*]

Thanks my friends  .

Solid introduction didn't go well with either of my others, so I think I'm over thinking Yk??

[Mashi]

Remind me what went wrong with J and M? I remember M was difficult but she had more severe digestive issues, didn't she?

If it helps, I can sketch out a rough idea for you of what I did with L? 

[*Liz*]

Jacob was FTT due to feeding aversion from in medicated reflux. Basically refused everything and eventually ended up on a diet of toast fingers and pear purée.

Megan did marginally better with puréed stuff then refused the lot and we started again with finger foods.

Main problem was that they both woke a ton at night and I got knackered!!

Lots of reflux flares I couldn't work out.

Thomas is my most severe refluxer, but appropriately medicated now, so he's kind of the best at this stage iyswim?? He's def the easiest personality though. Very calm baby. Only think that makes him scream is a reflux flare.

I do need a plan for sure!!

[Mashi]

Ah yes, I had forgotten they all had reflux with the MPI.  Sorry 

We really kept it to fruit and veggies for the first couple of months.  Purees mixed with gluten free cereal (for thickening purposes really) and formula.  Bananas, peaches, plums, apples, pears, avocado, blueberries.  Once per day, after lunch time.  I think that was a good 6 weeks at least.  Started adding gluten free grainy things in the mornings - rice flour pancakes, mushy GF cereal, etc - mixed with new fruits like prune puree, etc.

Fruits in the mesh feeder about 7-8 months - chunks of peach or plum for instance.  About 8-9 months we added dinner.  Just bits of whatever we were having - salmon with avocado, sweet potato cooked in cubes, home fries (boiled potatoes left to go cold and then chopped in cubes and fried in olive oil for instance).  Strips of chicken, meatballs, turkey burgers, etc.  But when we added dinner in, it was only on nights when it worked, yk? Like, if he was tired or needed a bath or his nap was late, he just did not care.  I know a lot of people have their LOs on 3 full meals at 6 months and we were totally the opposite. I was in no hurry and took it really slow.  But yet we still met all of the "guidelines" esp for milk intake and he increased his solids and dropped his milk sort of naturally, yk?  At 12 months he was on a bottle in the morning and a bottle before bed with 3 meals and 2 snacks.  And that evolved slowly over 6 months, so his milk was still his main nutrition.

HTH? xx

[ZacsMumme]

Liz hun, just go super super slow. Pick one food and then stick with it a good week even, the 3-2 days thing doesn't apply eith really sensitive LOs as it takes so much longer for their guts to react sometimes.

Something like puréed cooked pumpkin mixed with the milk is a pretty good safe start, plus the pumpkin is a sweet root veg and actually tastes ok with the milk.

Personally I'd keep away from all grains to start with, go for bland veges, and if you want to try meat apparently lamb is the least allergenic and easiest to digest.

Every time we offered solids after 3-4pm we had bad nights too so I found feeding breakfast/ lunch or mid morning the best times to feed initially.

You will be fine hun x

[Buntybear]

This is a nice read 

Gut Feeling – Feeding the food intolerant and allergic toddler

[*Liz*]

Thanks  .

Did you all wait until 6months proper?? He's still so refluxy that it is hard to not hope that some solids may help  . They never have before of course, but I do just wonder if they might  . I guess it's more if a teeny bit of baby rice helps rather than real solids though.

[Buntybear]

We tried at about 5 1/2 months but he just wasn't into it so waited until 6 months for that reason.

[~*Nicole*~]

I know we tried some solids before 6 months but I was just reading some of my old posts because I remember it not going well at all. I found one from November 2011, which puts DS around 7 months old and it says we are reintroducing solids. I guess we tried and had a bad time with them so stopped and waited awhile and tried again. I think then it was still slow going.

[ZacsMumme]

We didn't wait, I wanted too...Pead won't offer any more help unless we started 😖 after epic failures on the food front we cut all solids back at 7-8 mths and started over

If you don't think he is hungry Id be tempted to wait. Or just give 1 food a go for a wk or two and see how he responds. Just go super super slow.

[*Liz*]

He's getting more hungry but just can't really tolerate much more milk  . A 6-7oz bottle and he's a mess afterwards, feeding 2-3hrs and he is refluxing all day long as well.

Pain controlled but hunger and puking still busts his sleep a lot  .

I think he still has uncontrolled CMPI, but they won't do neocate with adequate weight gain. His poops are soft and full of mucous again now, and he literally passes foam  . Like washing up liquid  . I've never even heard of it medically  .

Very odd!!

[creations]

Personally I'd keep away from all grains to start with

This. I agree with what Sara said about starting with veggies too.

I started solids a bit early, 5.5 months but if I had that time again I would probably start sooner.  Not MPI, just reflux, but he only ever took half the guidance amount of milk no matter what. Introducing solids was extra food for him (milk didn't drop, if anything it went up some because he was more comfortable) plus he was interested, took to it with gusto and did so much better with solids than without.

Rice was a big no no here though. I know a lot of people start with baby rice but it made DS puke, gave him discomfort and really didn't work well - that was every type of rice I tried. The powdered sort of baby rice, rice pudding (later, made with his formula, he seemed to like the first bit but it didn't work out), rice crackers made him puke, and now he cannot eat rice (he will try a mouthful say for chinese new year when they serve up various bits at nursery and he did not puke but he clearly does not like it or do well with it, it's clearly not just a fussiness yk?).

The big indicator for me really was that DS was screaming at me from 4.5 months every time he saw me with food. He wanted it. The month I waited was hellish with me hiding to eat, often just not eating and him screaming blue murder every time he saw food. (I only ever tried to eat in front of him immediately after he'd had his fill of milk, he was supposed to be full, he'd start screaming, I'd stop eating and re-offer milk, he'd refuse the milk and continue screaming...until I gave up on my meal and put the food out of sight...urgh).
At the time I felt the 6 month guidance was a strict rule which I didn't want to break, but now I feel more like the guidance of 4-6 months is more realistic and LOs are ready in their own time. I agree with the general guidance but also more able to see babies are all ready at different times and respond differently too.

Don't know if this helps at all, just sharing my experience.

ETA DS also had to eat every 3hrs when on just milk. He could no way wait another 5 mins. We didn't hit 4 hr milk until solids were established.

[*Liz*]

Yes, Thomas has started that as well. Gone are the days he will sit in his bouncer while we eat - he wants on my knee and spends much for the first part trying to grab my plate and whatever is on it  . Then he gets bored of that and cries. Def doesn't want milk, def wants to do what we are doing. I know it is all considered to be developmental ie grabbing, wanting to mimic, wanting to be sociable, but I still do wonder if the window for trying is actually opening at this point iyswim?

I'm pretty sure this is his ineffective attempt at his 4 month GS (the reflux makes him rubbish at them  , and they tend to be a couple of weeks late in time with the time he was sick rather than gestation). I'm also pretty sure he needs to go up a teat size as well, but again we struggle with that transition. It will take me a good few weeks of going back and forth  .

My HV and paed have said any time I think is right.

My 'medical' understanding is that the guidelines are also to stop people starting solids pre 4 months as many were going at 3 months when they said 4 months.

Perhaps I'll give it a few days and see how we come out of this GS - if it is just a GS it will settle a bit - if it isn't I will try something and assess where we are at.

[creations]

My 'medical' understanding is that the guidelines are also to stop people starting solids pre 4 months as many were going at 3 months when they said 4 months.

Yes I do think so - I think my HV started hers at 8wks! The norm for then I think!  If the guides were not 6 months then some people would be trying very seriously at 4 months with a LO who is not ready.  As with everything LOs develop at different times. Milk is the primary nutrition until 12 months but they don't do that switch over night do they, it's a process.

It really sounds like he wants to have a go, just like my DS. He was so much better on solids.

[Mashi]

Foamy poop, mmmm lucky you!!! 

We waited until 6 months proper Liz. Everything I read just said to let the digestive tract really get stronger and develop, wait as long as possible.  At 4 months though DS was only just put on Nutramigen, so we were getting used to it and seeing how it was going.  Yes he was grabbing for spoons and pounding his fists that he wanted some of what we had but we just had to deal with it and fob him off with toys!  I was insistent that we wait.  Yes the window for trying was open then, but by 6 months it is not like the time had passed, yk? 

But certainly that kind of bowel movement does not come from just reflux does it?!!  There really must be something else going on with him and I can not understand why they will not move to Neocate? It doesn't make sense to me. He needs to gain weight before they will put him on neocate but how can he gain weight if he is not getting the right milk?

[*Liz*]

No - it's more that he is gaining on the nutramigen so they don't want the expense of neocate  . It's three times the price yk?!

He follows the 2nd centile so is 'fine'.

[Mashi]

Grrr I hate that weight gain nonsense. My Ds gained weight even on regular formula! Do you see a paed Liz or just a GP?

[*Liz*]

He is under paeds now but appt not until June. Last time they added omeprazole for the reflux which does help, but resisted the formula change.

[Mashi]

Hmm.  So weird how things can be so different from one to the next. Our paed prescribed the Nutramigen and wrote a letter to the GP that said that if DS did not get any better, based on parental opinion, then the GP was to prescribe Nutramigen AA, no questions asked. So unfortunate that you can not just get a change to try it.

[creations]

Liz could you call the hospital and ask to speak to the paed's secretary. Explain symptoms and that you would really like to trial the milk you want and don't think waiting until June is a good idea.  Ask that the sec leaves him a note and calls you back, it is less work for the paed to do than take up time on a full appointment. I've done this sort of thing on occasion without any problem.  Obviously they can say no but if they say yes the sec can fax a letter through to your GP. You might then need to call the GP to ask them to watch out for a fax and put a script request through straight away.
Just thinking when mine needed a dose increase and the GP was insisting DS was on the right dose, I couldn't keep DS waiting and waiting until the next paed appointment it was crazy. Then suddenly all solved over the phone.

[~*Nicole*~]

SO strange that they wouldn't want to correct whatever is causing him those foamy stools. We did have weight gain issues later, but early on DS gained weight but just had the mucousy stools. They checked them for blood and decided his gut needed healing and was intolerant or sensitive to something so right away prescribed neocate.