Concerned I started solids too early

[EmmyJo]

I've been giving my 21 week old DS baby rice since 18 weeks and pureed fruit since 19 weeks on advise from several HVs plus our cranial osteopath. There were various reasons for this and I was convinced by his reaching out for our food and obvious appreciation of the first spoonfuls of rice we gave him. With hindsight and reading the posts on here I wish I had waited, especially as he is currently very constipated - going for 2/3 days before doing an explosive and foul smelling poo. Also he has what looks like a little dry skin on his cheeks ( could be excema??). Obviously I can't turn the clock back but would welcome advice about whether to withdraw solids altogether. How would this affect him? At the moment I am giving him every other day off solids to see if that helps and he just has a few tiny mouthfuls on the days I do give it to him.I'm giving him very diluted apple juice and water which has loosened his bowels on one occasion but am at a bit of a loss as it how to move forward. He's still breast feeding like crazy as well so getting good nourishment from the milk.

[MrsJamin]

I can't imagine he'd miss solids if you stopped for a few weeks, especially at the small quantities you are giving. I would definitely recommend waiting til 6 months and offering just finger foods (a.k.a. baby-led weaning) - purees can make babies constipated because they are not digested easily. My DS has never had constipation and I put it down partly to doing BLW. Breastmilk is all your son needs for another month.

[weebump]

"purees can make babies constipated because they are not digested easily"

Huh? Could you explain this, please. I thought the whole point of purée was to make it easier. Surely it's what is eaten that can effect constipation, rather than how it's prepared.

I'm sorry, I support BLW, and finger foods are fantastic, but I'm getting tired of purées being thought of as so WRONG. My DD has never had constipation, and I put it down to giving her a good balance of food and plenty of liquids.

[mumhadenough]

And from the other side of the coin, we were recommended to put our son on solids at 9 weeks! This was by a paediatrician at Yorkhill sick childrens hospital and also by a cranial osteopath too. He hever ever had constipation and still hasn't till this day (he's 6 now).

[EmmyJo]

Thanks for the messages - seems like there are lots of different views and experiences out there! Would be good to hear from more people though. Kind of finding it all pretty confusing as a first time Mum trying to go with her instincts but am feeling pretty enraged that I didn't get myself better informed about the risks of early weaning - yet another instance of being let down by the supposed experts. Mrs Jamin - you and a seemingly sensible HV both advised to eliminate solids till 6 months and I'm going with that. Didn't give him any for last 24 hours and he did finally produce a messy nappy - v relieved! The GP said it was constipation and gave me suppositries which I've not used. I'm confused that his stool is very liquid as that doesn't seem to fit with it being constipation so I'm just going to monitor how he is for next few days. His excema is clearing up too. The whole thing has left me quite anxious about how to wean him at 6 months. Is BLW supposed to lead to less problems than purees? All our HVs suggest purees - again very confusing. Starting to feel like always doing the opposite of what the health professionals say might be the way forward!

[MrsJamin]

weebump, I'm not saying that purees are wrong, they're just unnecessary, like stabilizers on a bike when someone can already ride. I haven't made the bit up about puree and constipation:

Gill Rapley who did the main body of research into baby-led weaning, and a Health Visitor for 25 years, said: "babies fed pureed food had little control over how much food they ate, thus rendering them vulnerable to constipation" Link to full BBC News article

[weebump]

MrsJarmin, I understand now what you're saying. Thanks for that. I can see that something that's puréed actually takes up less space, so a few spoonfuls can equal a large amount of whole food, and yes, some people can shovel it in to their little one's mouths. However, I still see no problem with starting your baby off with purées for a little while - when they're ready for food - if that's what you want. I still think it depends what the purées are. A load of wholemeal bread can constipate a baby, a prune purée would go right through them.

[Pheebe]

Purees may be unnescessary for you mrsjamin but not for other people. Not reeeeally helpful to make such sweeping statements. I'll say it again, there is nothing wrong with purrees and the evidence is weak to say the least re purrees and constipation

I find the constant purree bashing (scuse the pun) depressing, boring and unhelpful

There is nothing 'wrong' with either method and in fact the majority of people appear to combine the two

Back to the op, I would stop solids for now. Under 1 year they don't need solid food in a nutritional sense anyway

[MrsJamin]

you still haven't said why purees are necessary though, not one reason. I'm open to suggestions! It's not about what's necessary for me - it's what's necessary for babies! if they can sit and feed themselves a carrot, why puree it and spoonfeed it? I just don't understand your point of view.

[Pheebe]

Because not all babies CAN sit and feed themselves a carrot stick from the get go! Its as simple as that. And not all parents find faffing about with carrot sticks and such like quite as easy as some BLWers would have us all believe. I certainly didn't and have opted for a mix of the two which DS2 is loving, he gets to feed himself and explore and he also gets help to fill his tum when he's hungry.

I'm not interested in trying to 'persuade' you or anyone else one way or the other. All I'm advocating is an openess to accept and be able to discuss different approaches without touting one approach and critisising another.