Needing Advice/Guidance/Reassurance

Hey M.!!
My DD is now 2 1/2...she really didnt eat "whole" food (as I prefer to call it) til she was around 15 months or so.
I am not a doctor, but I do have a theory. I just dont think some babies digestive systems are "good to go" at a young age. I would try different things and if she didnt eat them or if they made her "spit up", I would simply discontinue for a couple of months, then try again.
I just live and let live. If she ate, she ate, if she didnt, she didnt. I think they get plenty of nutrients from formula/breastmilk. Food is just for "expieriment" right now. Back off a month or so, then try again!!!!

Good Luck to you!!
M. :)

P.S. My kiddo is eaten me outta house and home now!!!! I swear, that kid ALWAYS has somethin' in her hand!!!! ;)

You didn't mention how many teeth he has - that really predicts when he can start "real" food chopped up and it is usually not until 1 year or more. Stick with the stage 2 foods and no chunky food is my advice. Good luck.

My DD had several feeding issues as well and my doctor couldn't have said it better- there is no need when they are perfectly happy to move them along too fast. Just because the jar of food says ok for 9 mos doesn't mean we have to pay attention to it. You are doing a great job mom- you are taking good care of him! Let him enjoy this schedule for another month or two and then try it again- my DD didn't eat table food until around 14 months. She skipped stage 3 foods almost completely. When they start reaching for your plate and testing your food that is when they are ready for the bigger texture. Hang in there and keep loving on that baby!!
K.
(Mommy of 4 and former home day care provider)

Mine is 11 yrs old and still has reflux. It was finally successfully medicated when he was 8 yrs.old. What we learned in heartwrenching hindsight was that he had been undermedicated all those years...and he learned it hurt to eat and he barely ate. This all under the careful attention of a respected Gastroenterologist who is prudent about dispensing drugs to kids. We as parents were also. But to learn that your child has been suffering for years under your watchful eye is very difficult. Also the undercontrolled reflux ended up causing asthma, sinus and ear infections (all understood in hindsight, as well, after the damage!) We switched from Prevacid to Zegerid and my kid got an appetite for the first time in his life. My theory is your baby is still uncomfortable and hurting and his body is rejecting the coarser food. Listen to what he is trying to communicate or he may develop an eating disorder (deny his body to eat) like mine did. Finally, all these years later my boy is eating good and doing okay. But I can't believe how many Drs. we went through to get here. I would recommend backing off the food he rejects, increasing the food he tolerates and monitoring him closely regarding his response to meds...and stand up to those Drs!!! My very best to your family.

He's young- dont' push it. He may not be ready or he may just not like the texture. I have a 14 year old that still doesn't like any kind of textured food- she has a very limited diet still!! And she wanted to be fed and stayed on the baby foods a long time. The older one wanted to feed himself and was completely on table foods by 7 months. Each kid is different and it sounds like he is telling you pretty clearly "I am not ready for this." No hurry, stick with what works. Good luck.

It sounds like his system is not ready for chunkier textures. I would hold off on those for awhile longer. There really is no reason to rush it. My daughter (who also had reflux) really didn't eat much table food until she was a year old. Now at 2, she eats everything! Well, sometimes!

The body tells you everything.

Stay with what is working. Why rush?
If he is vomiting, there is NO reason to push the more advanced food, his body is not accepting it. If there is no apparent medical reason detected by the pediatrician, then WAIT on the advanced food.

As long as your child is where he needs to be as far as his weight/height measurements at the check ups, stick with what his body is comfortable with.

Just b/c a book or advice from other's says one thing, it doesn't mean it is a match for your child. Listen to his body.

I have two boys with reflux and they have been very finicky eaters and very sensitive to texture. Just be patient with him - he will probably need to wait a little longer to be ready for more advanced food. He'll get there though! Good luck!

if thats the responce your getting from him i say hold off on stage three till he is a little older try again in a month or so. if its still happening call the pedi and ask the nurse.

I agree with everyone else---no need to go to stage 3 quite yet--that is still very young. the chunkier foods are probably getting stuck and not digesting making him vomit. i don't think i ever put my daughter on stage 3 until close to a year and then we were on table foods already too. you also have to think aobut their chewing ability--does your little one have a lot of teeth? if they don't--then don't go to chunier foods. My daughter had almost all her teeth by a year so we were able to go to chunkier foods then. don't rush anything with food--it's fine to go slow!!

My daughter had the exact same surgery at 3 weeks old as a matter of fact it was on her brother's 2nd birthday. She grew out of the reflux but I took things very slow with her. I didn't do stage 3 with her until she was a little over a year old. We stayed at stage 2 for most of the first year. She is almost 12 now and has not had any problems with reflux since her surgery but like I said we took things very slow with her...don't rush into it. Take time, introduce things very slowly you don't want to have any problems later on. Good Luck to you!!! God Bless!

Hi M.,
My son had reflux for a long time from birth. I am suggesting that you find a really good pediatric nutritional specialist. It is so tricky feeding a child like this. We have had a hell of a time. My son developed poorly and I feel like his diet had a lot to do with it.
Yours sincerely,
W.,
Mother of 2 boys, one with autism

Sounds like you are feeding him a lot. My son hated stage 3 foods, so we stayed with baby oatmeal and stage 2 foods. Even did stage 1 because the portions were perfect when he wasn't hungry but needed to eat.
No one says you have to do stage 3 foods, in fact my doctor told me to go to Stage 2 to soft table foods.

Hi M.. I hope this helps. I have a 9 month old baby in my daycare. After reading your request I took the time to write down his schedule and it appears that you are over feeding him. Some babies will eat as long as you feed them but doesn't stop when they are full then they throw it up because there stomaches can't handle everything they have consumed. I am sending you my baby's schedule and if you like you can compare. Maybe it will help.

7 am I fix a 7 oz bottle. I pour 2 oz off and mix cereal and fruit.

8 am finish 5 oz bottle. (needs time to digest cereal and fruit)Then a morning nap. up at 9 am

11 am lunch either 2 jars stage 2 or 1 jar stage 3. Then he will eat what ever I have fixed for the older children. We are working on hand mouth coordination.

12 noon till 3 pm naptime

3 pm snack time crackers, cookies, or friut. 5 oz juice

He gets picked up at 5;30.

between 6 and 6;30 supper the same as lunch.

8 pm bath and a 6 oz bottle and bad time. He sleeps all night.

He is a big boy not fat just big) but this is what he consumes in a day.

I hope this helps and good luck

M., you are getting tons of great advice, and I don't want to scare you or anything, but my God-son had pyloric stenosis surgery at 3 or 4 weeks also(he is 4 years now), he did have alot of scar tissue build up in his intesting which caused him to go in to shock because of the "poop" build up in his intestings that poked a hole in , but not until he was 2 years old, he almost died, he was in medical induced coma for 5.5 weeks until his system got back to normal, now he gets an "ultrasound" of some sort on his intestings to keep track of the scar tissue. I would have the doc check to see if he has scar tissue build up.

He's only 9 months old. My daughter has reflux and I was told that most grow out of it by the time they are 2, but rarely sooner.

The only nutrition a baby truly needs up to one year of age is breastmilk/formula. The food is just for getting them into the habit, etc. But, not necessary for nutrition. I think you're pushing a little to soon.

Even when my daughter could hold things down, certain things would cause the reflux to flare up - like orange juice, colds, etc. Play it by ear and watch which foods cause irritation. Then, reintroduce them in small amounts later to see if they cause problems. My daughter can handle orange juice now - but not every day. And, she has to limit oranges and she can't overeat. It's too much for her system. Slow down and introduce slowly and in small amounts.

Oh yeah, 9 mo is really young for stage three. Of course there are always kids who are just ready for things sooner than others, but when I tried my son on the stage three stuff at that age I was so traumatized and he was too!! He just wasn't quite ready. I think I just stuck with really soft things like baby applesauce, pudding, mashed banana, stage two veggies etc. Somewhere around a year he was so much more ready and it was way less traumatic! I asked a lot of mamas and they said they waited until a year old or later to worry with stage three type foods. So if it were me I would just hold off. He still gets a lot from his formula and if his weight is doing good I think you are fine. Good luck!

I have had huge success with using ginger to get rid of reflux. I don't know if there is a way to make it useful for a baby, but it might be something to look into if you're wanting a natural treatment.

My little girl had terrible reflux. It turns out it was due to the type of milk she was on. She ended up on Gentlease formula. When it was time to transition to whole milk, she kept spewing everywhere. It alleviated w/ Lactose Free milk. She also had less diaharrea when she went on it. Try talking to your pediatrician about the milk your baby is on. It might be a possible cause, not just the solid foods. Juice was also a cause. Dilute it 1/2 & 1/2, if you haven't already. Sometimes the acid from the juice can cause this. The pediatrician said white grape juice is best for babies, not apple juice, & to still dilute it.

Also, try chopping up the solids into really tiny pieces to get baby used to the texture. Mix it w/ baby food, or put it in a blender, & chop it up, & make your own. This was a great transitional thing for my baby girl. Hope this helps!