How long to give LO baby rice??

[MrsCravendale]

My LO has just started weaning and is on organic baby rice mixed with breast milk at lunch and dinner time. It's just a little bit at the moment since he has just started weaning. Just wondering how long do you give them baby rice and when would you move on to sweet potato/butternut squash?

Or any other advice you wanna give... I know squash and sweet potato aint compulsory but HVs seem to like it!!!

Thanks

[HolidaysQueen]

Hi MrsC, I think you can move on quite quickly to root veg (you don't actually need to start with baby rice although it is a good first food particularly if you have started before 6 months). If your DS has happily taken the baby rice for 2-3 days then there should be no problem starting him on squash, sweet potato, carrot, swede etc. I think pear and apple are also good early foods.

The general wisdom seems to be to introduce something new every 2-3 days to monitor for reactions but I know others say that you can introduce something new every day if you give it to them earlier in the day as you have time to check their reaction. Again I think if your DS is 6 months old then I wouldn't be so worried about this and you could try out new flavours more quickly.

[MrsBates]

I thought baby rice looked so boring I moved on in the same week with both mine. Mashed banana mixed with mashed avocado a favourite. Think I was brainwashed into thinking baby rice was the only starter food, then realised in many cultures there's no such thing. Anything sloppy and tasty would do - except would wait a while before the little tummy is given meat/fish to cope with. Fruit and veg all good. Butternut squash - daughter loved it, son hated it but loved other stuff - I did try one thing at a time at first -before combining - in case of needing to identify an allergic reaction.

Both older children eat anything and have a taste for strong flavours. Not sure if just lucky or if early intro to everything helped.

[HensMum]

I moved on from baby rice fairly quickly as DS didn't like it. He much prefered butternut squash or parsnip. He would still eat rice mixed with fruit puree for breakfast but he never ate much of it.
Try your son with a bit of veg and see what he does.

[MrsJamin]

I would skip the baby rice altogether if your LO is older than 6 months and is sitting up - lots of posters on here now do baby-led weaning - giving finger food so they self-feed from the start. I agree that baby rice looks gross - my rule with my 7 month old DS is if I wouldn't eat it, neither will he!

[VictorianSqualor]

How old is your DS?
Like MrsJamin says after 6 months there is no need to puree, and before 6 months they shouldn't really be fed.
It's much more fun doing BLW, than pureeing, dirtier, messier, but much more fun

[MrsCravendale]

Brilliant thanks. He eats the baby rice in 10 seconds flat and is trying to get his hands in it and take the spoon from me so I think he is a hungry little boy!! He is nearly 6 months but not quite so I will just give the squash/parsnip/sweet potato a try over the next few weeks n see how he likes it.

[VictorianSqualor]

MrsC, if he isn't yet six months, but physically ready for food internally, he will be able to pick up the food, put it to his mouth, chew it and swallow it, so if you go down the BLW route you can be sure you're not feeding him too early.
Otherwise, I'd hold off on the purees.
The research behind weaning shows that when born baby's stomachs are permeable, to allow them to absorb the milk easier to digest. Only milk should be entering the stomach when it is permeable to avoid possible allergies or stomach/digestion problems in later life.

Somewhere between 17-26 weeks the stomach becomes unpermeable, and 'seals' which is when the baby is physically internally ready for solids. Unfortunately we can't tell which baby is ready at 17 weeks, and which is ready at 26! That's why they say to wait.

It has been suggested though, as I said above, that once your baby can sit unaided, grab food, put it in their mouth, chew and swallow that they are likely to be ready internally, until then nature wouldn't allow us to be developmentally ready and we would fail at some point in the process.

[Overmydeadbody]

I would say never give a baby 'baby rice'.

Show him a little respect and give him some proper food. Would you like to eat wallpaper paste?

Babay rice aint compulsory. Be brave!

[Overmydeadbody]

I second what VS said. If your baby can sit up unaided and pick up things with a pincer grip (between his fingers) then he is ready for solid food, and what's more, he's ready for real food.

[MrsJamin]

You don't have to have a pincer grip for BLW, OMDB, you just need to pick it up in your hand like a chip. The pincer grip comes a bit later.

[NorthernLurker]

Extensive research has led me to make the following recommendation:

DO NOT try to cut the thing up before cooking it. You will blunt your knives, dent your temper and curse the vegetable world! It's much easier to wrap it in foil, roast it in the oven and then cut it up and squish it for baby.