Introducing solids CMPI

[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.