Acid Reflux and Baby Food
by Sonia
(Oakton, United States)
Thank you for your article “Rice Cereal and Constipation”. It got my attention because my 7.5 months baby is suffering again from acid reflux and his pediatrician recommended adding a teaspoon of rice per oz of milk (we give him Isomil) along with 3 times a day Axid solution.
I was always afraid of rice, because my baby has suffered from constipation and when I tried once to help him to sleep it made him sick.
Our son was diagnosed with AR at 2 months, but we have been resisting any treatment all these months.
We chose to do the inclined bed, hold him for 30 minutes after each feeding, keeping him up as much as possible, and it worked fine for all these months. But now he is sick again and nothing seems to work.
At this point we were so desperate, watching him throwing out all his food, we decided we would do anything the doctors said.
The rice is supposed to hold the milk inside, (after eating he will burp and the whole food would come out). Well, yes, the rice has been helping to hold it inside, even though his intake of milk is so little; (just 4 oz. 4 or 5 times a day) – at least is something.
The rice we are using is organic Earth’s Best whole rice.
Then, to add calories to his daily intake, I give him mashed avocado 3 times a day.
He loves it and even thought he does not take much (6 spoons each), I am sure it is helping us to keep him nourished and his weight from dropping while we go through this nightmare of acid reflux and find a cure for our son.
Also the avocado helps with the constipation the excess of rice could cause.
Reading on your site that avocado is considered for some the “most nutritious foods in the world” gives me some relief. I am from South America and avocado is part of our daily food along with so many fresh fruits and vegetables. I and my family loved avocado and now even more with the help it is giving us to keep our baby healthy.
I think everything is relative, in our case, rice is helping us with our battle with acid reflux and avocado is God sent to nourish babies.
Thank your for your great website, I use it a lot to educate myself and to get recipes for my little one. God bless.
UPDATE May 12th:
Baby was doing great after 3 days of the treatment I described before (Reflux + rice cereal on the bottle), then on the 4th day he threw up again after feeding him with mashed butternut, and he we went back to the vomiting after finishing the bottle and burp.
We took him to the GI 2 days later and he put him on Prevacid, 2 ml twice a day. Continuing with the rice or oatmeal on the Isomil and see how he would do. Well, he is now doing great. Burps are soft, not violent as before, and food stays in now.
He eats 6 oz 4 times a day and I had to cut back on the avocado because I noticed he has gained weight very quickly (for the added rice/oatmeal to the milk) and I am afraid to overload him.
The only downside of it, is that his bowel movements are hard and it happens every 2 days.
I hope in a week I can cut down on the cereal added to the bottle, and come back to our feeding schedule before, 5 times a day just the Isomil plus the 3 solids meals. I want to come back to the daily avocado I used to give him, which was great with his constipation.
We will see how it goes.
More about solid foods for babies with reflux
