Weaning a milk allergy baby

My husband and I are currently going through the weaning stage of Boe’s life so I thought I would share our experience so far 🙂

Boe was diagnosed with a cow’s milk allergy and reflux at 8 weeks old after many, many trips to the doctors and a&e. Sadly we didn’t have a great start and she would cry pretty much 24/7 and always looked as if she was in pain. Mother instinct kicked in straight away and I knew something wasn’t right from the get go. Unfortunately it took 8 weeks of screaming, a very unsettled baby and a super tired and upset mummy for anyone to listen and put her on a non cows milk formula. She has been on SMA Alfamino ever since and is a very happy baby. To any mums who maybe reading this who think their baby may be the same please keep pushing until someone takes notice. Not everything in the world is colic!

Due to bad reflux we actually started weaning ever so slightly when Boe turned 4 months. We started with the Ella’s kitchen pouches trying fruit and Vegetables. Boe was super keen and loved all fruit however pulled some very funny faces when it came to veg, especially peas! Starting with just half a small pouch a day it soon changed to a full small pouch to a large pouch.

Now that Boe is 6 months old we are slowing introducing new things. With the allergy we have to check the ingredients of everything in the super market before buying, however I must say it’s not been as hard as I once thought. Saying that, one bit of advise I will give is please check the ingredients of everything even if it’s not actually food! A friend came round with some teething gel and it actually included lactose which you wouldn’t expect.

We have now tried a few different things including porridge, mixing with her special milk, strawberry wafers, baby crisps and some meal pots. It totally seems that of course she loves all yummy treats, but not so much the healthy options ….. oh dear!

We have also been giving her rusks which she really seems to enjoy. They do say they are made in a bakery which contains milk, but so far she has been fine. I can not believe how much mess one biscuit can make! Poor Boe was having a bath at 2.30 in the afternoon one day last week!

I would be super interested to know who feeds their little one and who has taken the baby led feeding route. I have to say I don’t personally think baby led is for me as I can’t stand the mess! I will be sticking to a spoon 🙂

If anyone has any ideas of foods that Boe may like that don’t contain milk be sure to let me know. Here are a few of the things we have tried so far …..

With Boe being my first I would also love to know how old your babies were be time they were having 3 meals a day. This is all still very new to me 🙂

Jamie xoxo