Time to wean?

[nectarina]

I am ebfing 24-week old DD, she has stayed on the 50 percentile for weight throughout, but I have had to feed her very regularly - it feels like she is never satisfied even though she is gaining nicely.
Growth spurts aside she's now feeding more and more frequently - today it was every hour, and I can't get her to bed as she just wants more than I can give her. I did want to wait until she was 6 months before introducing solids, but thats another 3 weeks away. I've read that it won't make any difference if I introduce solids anyway. arghhh....
I know that this isn't a sign of readiness, but she avidly watches us eating, sometimes with an outraged look on her face...

[musttidyupmusttidyup]

Go for it. Sounds like it's time

[organiccarrotcake]

The recommendations are around 6 months. So, 3 weeks earlier if the signs are there is fine. As is weaning at 7 months.

You're clearly aware of growth spurts and not mistaking these for weaning signs. If you're planning on doing BLW you could offer her a few things and see what happens - she'll be fine if she's ready. But do stay away from the baby rice :-P (personal campaign )

[ShowOfHands]

Can she sit up? Lost tongue thrust reflex? Able to pick up objects and put them in her mouth?

If she's ready then if you put some sticks of veg or banana in front of her and she'll be able to pick them up and eat them.

[nectarina]

Whats wrong with baby rice? I was thinking about starting wiyh avocado

[lilham]

26 weeks is exactly 6mo (a year is 52wk). So you are only 2 weeks 'early' and I'd say basically 6 months. I don't think you will need baby food at the age. Just go with ready brek/weetabix if you want cereal instead of baby rice.

I started at 24wo. DD can sit up in her high chair and eat a banana. I avoided all the post 6mo food for a week. Opening cartons of formula. Then I thought it silly and just do cows milk and gave DD toast too.

[organiccarrotcake]

What's right with baby rice . OK, well, it's often suggested as a first food by HVs (indeed is often on their wall charts) but honestly - why, why, why? It is stripped-down highly processed rice with no nutritional value, powered, then has vits and iron added back so it can be sold as actually having nutritional value. Unlike, say, normal food which is just nutritious.

I personally am a big fan of BLW (having done both puree and BLW and found the latter sooo much easier) but even when puree weaning there is surely SURELY more interesting foods that can be offered on a spoon. Like - anything, pureed :)

Sure, there are foods to be avoided when starting weaning but these are easy to avoid.

[lilham]

Btw I heartily recommend broccoli as a first food. It's easier to handle then bananas. My DD loves them. Avocado might be a bit squiggy to pick up, similar to bananas.

[musttidyupmusttidyup]

Nothing wrong with baby rice! Good idea to start with plain baby rice mixed with usual milk so that they can get used to a new texture then add a bit of flavour in- avo is great but I would start with something like sweet potato or carrot, come on to avocado a bit later.

[lilham]

But why do you need baby rice when you can have the same porridge with ready brek and their milk? Ready brek is also fortified with iron and vits isn't it? And the stuff is about £2 for a huge box.

[musttidyupmusttidyup]

It's flavourless so just getting used to texture. Ready Brek has flavour and quite a floury texture. Only ever bought a couple of boxes of baby rice for each DC they soon moved on to real foods.

[organiccarrotcake]

Broccoli is ace, you're right lilham. Meat is a great weaning food as it is actually what's needed between 6 and 12 months as the baby's iron and zinc levels start to get used up. Baby rice is bland, pointless and tastes like wallpaper paste. I assume, not having tasted wallpaper paste.

musttidy there's nothing WRONG with baby rice, per se, you are right. It's certainly fine to give. My personal campaign is to say it's ok to NOT feed it. There's absolutely no value to it, it's messy and expensive and I just want to say it's ok to never, ever buy it :)

[nectarina]

What about normal porridge made with water?
The reason I thought about avocado is I'm going to be staying with her in a hotel for a week next week and will need to be able to feed her without cooking. I'm not going down the BLW route, so won't have her picking off my plate (also v. skint so will probably be eating sandwiches for every meal). Don't want to do pots, would like to avoid anything processed.
You've made the case for baby rice - will avoid like the plague!

[organiccarrotcake]

Xpost

Yeah - I just don't see any reason to give a flavourless food. But I'm a BLW convert so the point is to get cracking with flavour.

I am not criticising the use of baby rice in any way. It's fine if you want to use it. I just have seen no evidence whatsoever, in any way, of any value to it at all and I only see downsides (eg cost, faff, environmental impact of over-processing, etc).

I do eat over-processed foods from time to time, mind .

[organiccarrotcake]

nectarina porridge with water is fine, although it's not really got a lot of nutrition in it, but that's fine if you're BFing or FFing anyway as she'll get her vits etc from there.

Avocado is great, nice and easy to feed on a spoon and has loads of good stuff in it.

Why not BLW? Lends itself brilliantly to stays away and you need no spare food at all and no waste. We travelled through Kenya with DS at 8 months and feeding him was a breeze :)

[nectarina]

Watching dear nephew eat for one thing!

[organiccarrotcake]

You mean the mess? Yes, that's a downside LOL. I tend to feed messy stuff on a spoon though - but I don't bother (never did) with mashing or pureeing. It means he eats bits of things like sandwiches just fine which is really useful, but rice crispies I feed to him on a spoon (or sometimes I let them go soft and sticky and put wadges of them on the high chair table). We have a dog, which helped, but while he managed to keep the floor clean he couldn't quite reach high enough on the walls .

[Secondtimelucky]

Organiccarrotcake - I am sooo with you on the baby rice. Nothing wrong with giving it if you want to, but I don't quite know how it has become so ubiquitous. It is so expensive, so horrid looking, and so processed. Yet everyone seems to feel you have to give it. We did BLW too, but with conventional weaning why not start with something a bit more yummy - like a veggie puree.

[nectarina]

Its partly the mess, but also I don't see how it'll fit in with what we eat. It would be alright if we ate broccoli florets and carrot batons for dinner but we tend to eat meals that I wouldn't want her starting on - e.g. curry. Also nephew is v. fussy - of course there's no way of knowing if its the blw but I don't like the idea of baby choosing. (I think DD if given the choice would eat dead leaves and crisp packets) I want to know how much she's eaten, and I'm also looking forward to spoon-feeding.
From what I can make out the purée/mash phase only last a month or so, and then baby starts eating normal foods anyhow.