7 Month Old W/ Reflux Feeding Schedule

Hey there;
My understanding is that an infant needs 18 oz a day to obtain the minimum nutritional requirements for the day

I don't think it matters when she gets her solids versus formula. She may have lost interest in formula because solid foods taste so good to her. It's normal for babies to want less and less formula when they are introduced to solid foods. You may want to try introducing a little yogurt in her diet to see if that helps with the acid reflux. Her digestive system is in the process of developing, and gently introducing something with a probotic quality will help. Don't give her a lot, just a spoon or two to see how she reacts to the new food. Also, oatmeal is much harder for babies to digest than rice cereal at this age. You may consider switching to see if that helps with the acid reflux. I was surprised to read that you are feeding your daughter so much solid food. My son was not even ready for solid food until he was 7 months old, and he was a great big baby.

My little guy is 7 months old today (yay!) and he's had reflux since he was 4 weeks old. It was horrible! I can so relate to what you're going through. This is what his daily menu looks like:

7:30 -- Morning Meds
8-ish -- 6 oz. bottle with no cereal in it. 2 tablespoons cereal in a bowl, thickened to a pasty consistency. Sometimes he eats it all, sometimes he doesn't.
12-ish -- 6 oz. bottle and jar of 2nd stage fruit baby food. Will always eat all the food, doesn't always drink all the milk.
3:30 or so -- 6 oz. bottle with no cereal in it. 2 tablespoons cereal in a bowl, thickened to a pasty consistency. Sometimes he eats it all, sometimes he doesn't.
5:30 or so -- 6 oz. bottle
8:00 -- 2nd stage veggie baby food.
9:30 -- 7 oz. bottle

Times vary of course based on his nap times. He doesn't always drink all of his milk because he is teething (ugh!). Because of the thickened cereal OUTSIDE of his cereal, which his Pediatrician said is key, he no longer needs his evening meds. Good luck!!!

the best thing I learned from my daughter and from the countless books I read is that you should always trust your daughter. If she is hungry she will eat and if she not she won't. It is important to remember that her stomach is as big as her fist and if she eats every hour that's ok. I have read smaller portions more often is better for kids even my 3 year old, that's why snacks are important (and it helps with digestion). I wonder if you Dr. has suggested switching to a different formula a soy based? My daughter was spitting up a lot and we switched; she seemed to have less gas and less spit up.

My daughter had reflux and spit up at least an ounce every meal and had frequent belly aches. We were told to use this all natural "Colic Ease" from the organic section of Wegman's. It is called Colic Ease or Gripe Water. It was the only thing that ever settled her stomache. It worked wonders. One dropper full and she was happy again. Best part was she liked the way that it tasted. Give it a try a few minutes before a meal or after to settle her tummy. She has since grown out of the reflux but we still keep a bottle around for a gassy day. Good Luck!

My daughter had reflux from 5 to 7 months. She lost weight and it was frustrating. You are doing a great job.

I would try this. Give her a bottle at 7:30, then try the breakfast meal before her morning nap (give her 15 to 20 mins to digest before putting her down so she doesnt have acid and gas). Try lunch when she gets up, then offer a bottle. Then dinner around 5 or 5:30 (maybe hungry earlier than 5:30 but you know best) and bottle again at 6:30. Then she gets 8 oz in the morning and at night and ok if she only has a little during the day. I never put oatmeal in the bottle. I gave her boob / formula when she got up, then a light breakfast, than lunch with a bottle as a topper, then bottle for a snack when she woke, then dinner and a bottle as a topper before bed, but that was our schedule. You just have to experiment. Babies are resilient. They eat what they need. And at her age, I would focus on formula and then food. By 10 or 11 months is when the scale should start tipping toward more food to prepare for switching to milk at 12 months.

Hey A.,

My daughter had acid reflux and she was a horrible eater. SHe always cried when eating her milk. And, it finally got better when she started solids. i stopped the zantac with her when she was 3 months old because everyone was scaring me about giving meds to a baby (mil, sil, etc....). well, i suffered with her.
NOW, My son, who is 6 months old has acid reflux. I have been giving him cereal since he was 3 weeks old. He is on zantac since he was 1 month old.
If I miss a dose or dont give him the zantac 1/2 hour before eating he throws up all day long. But, I can tell you that he is now doing so much better that he is eating jars. He wakes at 8 a.m. and I give him zantac and bottle 1/2 hr later then around 10 a.m. I give him a jar of fruit with cereal (mixed cereal with apples etc...), then he will want a bottle again around 12 (he will only take 6 oz, and most of the time he leaves 1 oz). So, here is his schedule:
830 a.m. - Milk with cereal in it
10 a.m. - Fruit jar
12 - Milk w/cereal
2:30-3 - zantac, then vegetable jar and fruit jar.
5:00 - 4 oz milk
6:30 - meat jar or now he is eating pastina in broth
9:30 - last bottle w cereal in it.
I feel like he is eating all day long, but it helps him. he is doing so much better, and i hope i can start reducing the zantac soon.
Dont be afraid to give her solids. I found that helps with the reflux. And, they should be getting more solids at this stage. I hope your little girl gets better and you have some peace of mind.

Hi A.,
My 10 month old son also has reflux. I hate to say it, but he doesn't really have a good "schedule." When we realized that he had reflux, I googled it and read lots of articles. The best advice I found was that he needs small, frequent meals. We are now up to 3 solid meals a day, and I still breastfeed in between (on demand feedings).
It's tough because most of the feeding "rules" contradict what they tell you to do for a baby with reflux. I read that oatmeal shouldn't go in a bottle because they need to learn how to eat oatmeal from a spoon. But then doctors will tell you to put oatmeal in the bottle to make the formula heavier so it will (hopefully) stay in their belly! Everyone will tell you something different about giving your baby solids. I think that 7 months is ok for her to have solids. I think I read that your baby would have to eat 6 jars of carrots in order to get the same nutritional value from a bottle of formula, so obviously the bottles are still important at this point. But if she loves veggies, keep it coming! A lot of moms complain that their baby will eat the fruit but not the veggies.
I think 2 solid meals right now is good for her age. If she won't take 18 ounces a day, don't force it. Just remember that you know your baby better than anyone else does.
And lucky you - a baby who sleeps through the night... I don't know what that is like! lol
Best of luck to you!
PS - I read that most babies outgrow reflux by 6 mos of age and I was frustrated that my son didn't. It seems that a lot of moms on this site have babies who outgrew it after a year. Hopefully you just have a few more months to go!

My 6 month twin girls have reflux and I had to up the meds for one of them because she would still get sick. Since then she is happy, eating like a little piggie! First both were taking .6 of Zantax 2x's day and now Abby was increased to 1. (2x's a day) and has been working for her. My girls started eating solids since 3 months, I wouldnt have been able to do that if it wasnt for increasing the medicine.
Good Luck :-)

Poor you...I have two daughters that probably had acid reflux, they spit up everything rather violently. I found it most useful to feed them more often but in smaller amounts. I have also heard from friends that opening a capsule of digestive enzymes, and putting a bit on their tongue before feeding made a huge difference. The only thing to know is that you don't want to give enzymes with with any type of time released meds. Good luck. I.

Follow the recomendation for Acid reflux in terms of how often you feed the baby. No big meals. Try to give her otmeal first and than the boddle in the morning. Try feeding her every three hours, but smaler meals. Don't put her down to sleep right after feeding. Wait at least half an hour. Don't put her on her stomach to sleep, instead elevate her upper body somewhat. One more thing, there is medication the dr can give her to take care of your daughter's problem. I know this because my doughter had the same problems 30 year ago. The dr. kept telling me she will grow out of it, well she never did. When he finally gave her medication when she was about your dauthers age, it got better. I have acid rflux my self and have to follow rules of eating. No eating and going to bed. No big meals rather smaller portions, but more often; and not to much liquid at any one time. I don't know what meds your daughter is taking it might be something already for her acid reflux. One other thing, my stomach problems got much better after I was treated for H-Pilory bacteria. I don't know if they even would check an infant for this bacteria. I know from experiance that they don't like checking, because the medications to treat H-Pilory for an adult cost $450. I wish they would have knowen about it when my daughter was little.

And please don't use any plastic dishes, boddles or toyes for your child, it contains a chemical that is very bad for babies. I learned about this on Public Television with David Broncatio just reacently. I am not positive if I spell his name correctly, but he has done other investigative reports on PBS and is well known. I think one can order the show for $10 as a down load from PBS.com.

Good luck with your baby

M. ( a grandmother of 6)

My almost 9 month old has been on the cereal in the bottle thing since 5 months old. I usually use about 5 tablespoons per 6 oz bottle. He switched to stage 3 foods and "snacks" at 8 months old
His schedule is like this:
7:00 - wake up
7:30 - 6oz bottle with cereal
8:30 - stage 3 fruit
11:30 - 6oz bottle with cereal (drinks about 4 oz)
12:30 - stage 3 veggie
mid afternoon - some kind of snack like puffs or fruit
3:30 - 6oz bottle with cereal (drinks about 4 oz)
6:00 - stage 3 dinner
7:00 - 6oz bottle with cereal (drinks about 4 oz)
Then BED!!!

My little guy eats alot, weighs about 25 lbs. He would rather eat food than drink the bottle but the doctor said he needs formula for the nutrients. Sometimes I actually feed it with a spoon to him to get him to eat it.

Dear A.,
I had twin girls who are three yrs old now but were born with acid reflux and they had them on liquid Zantac three times a day. I also started adding the rice cereal to their bottle at two weeks old. I'm not sure how many onces of formula she needs to take in at 7 months old but you should count the ounces she's getting and ask your doctor. One thing I really loved was the Enfamil A.R.formula for babies with reflux problems, it has the added rice starch in it already. This let me cut back on the rice ceareal in their bottles during the day and I only gave them the extra cereal at night time. They stopped taking the meds at around 9 months old. The only problem I have noticed now is that when they have a runny nose or if they start to cough I have to make them look up and sit up or they tend to throw up. I truely believe that it may be a sensitivity from the gag reflux. Take note if that happens with your daughter as she gets older.(try the heads up thing- it really works)

hi mom,

try feeding her and then offering her Formula with NO cereal
At 7 months she should be out of the refulx stage.

Try it , worst case she spits up

M

Hi, A..

I'd be interested in any suggestions as I have a 4.5m old twin boy with bad reflux. We saw a gastro specialist yesterday and he recommended I feed him a 5oz bottle at 6am, 10am, 3pm, and 8pm with oatmeal (2T mixed with 1oz formula) in between those times...no more than 3x/day. He recommended the Beechnut oatmeal and Playtex drop-ins. We stopped giving him Zantac and also keep him either flat on his back or upright (in exersaucer) for at least 30-45 minutes after a feeding. And, no binky as he sucks in air while using it. So, he gets 20oz/day and the oatmeal. Oh, and if he hasn't pooped in 1-2 days I'm to give him 1/2 oz prune juice mixed with 1/2 oz water to get things going b/c it seems that constipation can accentuate the problem. Please email me (____@____.com) if you receive any helpful tips.

Thanks, A. (31 yr ol SAHM of amazing 4.5mo old twin boys)

I have an 8 month old daughter who also has reflux. Is your daughter on Zantac? My daughter has been on it since she was about 4 weeks old and we were able to ween her off of it at 6 months old. I never gave her a bottle at the same time as food and I never put oatmeal in her bottle. Every doctor tells you to do a different thing but what my doctor told me to do really worked. This is what I did and she did great.

6:30 Zantac and than bottle(right after med)

8:30 solid food (I give her the gerber fruit and cereal mixed together in the plastic container)

10:30-11:00 bottle

12:30 lunch-vegetables (1 jar of plastic container)

2:00-2:30 bottle

5:00 dinner( I give 1 jar of meat/fruit, they come mixed together)

7:30 bottle and to bed

I hope this helps and if you have any other questions please let me know.

B.

my personal email is ____@____.com