Introducing Solid Foods To A Baby With Reflux

Until now, there are no special nutritional guidelines for refluxing babies that are about to be weaned.

And between doctors’ advice to give thicken solid foods to babies with reflux and parents’ confirming pureed foods’ efficiency in calming their little ones, the key to a successful weaning remains dependent on trials administered under very careful medical supervision and based on the following valuable tips:

• Avoid sour food such as citrus fruits and tomatoes until your baby reaches his first year.
• Offer your baby avocados, pears and bananas during the first stage of weaning, given that the first is a dense fruit high in nutrients and good fats, the second is a low acid easy-to-digest fruit, whilst the third is a mucus forming fruit facilitating digestion.   
• Try to make your baby’s food at home so you can totally control his meals and keep him away from harsh components commercial baby food may contain. 
• Serve your baby small and frequent meals to reduce his reflux symptoms by retaining food in the stomach and consequently facilitating digestion.
• Consider giving your baby a pacifier after eating, as this type of sucking can help stimulate the production of saliva which is generally alkaline.
• Ask the doctor about safe methods to thicken your baby’s foods and prevent them from flowing backwards into his esophagus and mouth.
• Keep your baby in an upright position for 20 to 30 minutes after breastfeeding.
• Avoid feeding your baby one or two hours before bed to reduce risks of discomfort at night.
• Massage your baby from time to time, considering the power of this simple mean to reduce reflux symptoms. 

Since weaning must be accompanied by complementary feeding, make sure to breastfeed your baby like you were doing in his first six months. If this is impossible for one reason or another, ask your doctor about an anti-reflux infant formula that is easy to digest thanks to its unique composition of starch as a thickening agent to prevent stomach content from flowing backwards into the esophagus and mouth, whey as a predominant protein to speed up digestion and gastric emptying, and amino acids like the ones in breast milk to reduce metabolic stress on immature kidneys. That’s in addition of course to probiotic Bifidus which strengthens immunity and thereby prevent infections and diseases.  

Read More: Is My Baby Lactose Intolerant?