Is 3 months too young to start on baby rice ??

[jackie21]

Hi everyone, I am a new mum and to be honest a little bit clueless LOL !! Well my 13 week old baby girl has always been a really good eater since she was born, she was drinking a full one of those bottles of formula in the hospital from the first feed !! We moved her onto 2nd stage milk when she was 6 weeks (although our HV advised not too but when she was on the 1st stage she was wanting 7oz every 3 hours and being sick a lot because there was too much in her little belly) since then she was satisfied with 6-8oz every 4 hours and started sleeping through the night at 9weeks For the past week however she has been stopping at 4oz and refusing to take more. This may sound cruel but if i keep the bottle in her mouth and ignore the crying then she does eventually take the normal 7oz. But today she has just point blank refused to take more after the 4oz, she just doesnt seem interested in taking more. Going from 7oz down to 4oz is quite a big drop. She has always been a good weight, well a little chunk in my case,, you should see her thighs LOL. She was 6lb11oz when she was born but she is 14lbs now.

Now the main question is....is 13 weeks too early to start giving my baby girl baby rice ? I know lots of people and read lots on the internet about people starting at this age and earlier !! She is able to sit up in her chair and been able to hold her head up for a few weeks now, she is very sturdy.

I really dont want to speak to my HV about it because i relaly dont find them helpfully, all they do is go by the book and can only advise by the book, i dont think they understand babies who are not textbook !!

Any advise will be a great help !!

LOL just realised how much I have wrote !!

[thisisyesterday]

yes, it is too early.

and, this is going to sound harsh but i'll say it anyway, you've basically been force feeding your child milk by keeping a bottle in her mouth despite her not wanting it???

why would you do that???

[nickytwotimes]

Far too young.
Let her feed little and often if she doesn't want it all at once.

[Ewe]

13 weeks is FAR FAR FAR too young to start introducing baby rice. The guidelines are 26 weeks and they are in place for a reason, please do not feed start introducing food to your baby.

It is perfectly normal for a baby to go through phases drinking less and equally very normal to go have patched where they drink more bottles more regularly.

I would also try not to force feed her milk, babies are very good at regulating own appetites.

[TrinityIsLovingHerLittleRhino]

I second thisisyesterday

stop doing that

and wait tillshe is 6 months to wean

[PaulaYatesBiggestFan]

dont want to be the first to say it but my trolleydar is buzzing

[LovelyRitaMeterMaid]

It is too early to give baby rice.

[Ewe]

*I mean 'to go through patches' not to go have patched

[WasMyAuraWrongOrWhat]

Yes.

Her gut lining is not sufficiently matured at 13 weeks to digest anything other than milk. Giving solids too early is linked to various health risks, including allergies/intolerances, digestive problems, kidney problems, excema, obesity... These may not become apparent until much late in life.

I appreciate what you say about not all babies being textbook, but the research shows that no babies are ready for solid food before 17 weeks and that it is safest to wait until 26 weeks.

[ravenAK]

Way too early. Let her have as much milk as she wants, as often as she wants - she'll be fine - stop obsessing over how many oz she has!

[liahgen]

Rice is absolutely the worst baby weaning food (can't remember the professors name and research off top of my head) but it actually uses up babies stored supplies of iron quicker thatn anything else and makes babe more liaible to possible gut infections etc.

are you for real, keeping bottle in baby's moiuth when they have clearly had enough?

Maybe baby would need winding at that point, then maybe wouldn't be sick.

[no1putsbabyinthecorner]

[MerlinsBeard]

She is far too early.

ANd tbh i think that she was prob "asking" for another bottle so soon after the previous one because she was so full that she was sick and therefore had nothing in her stomach to fill her up

Babies all have different amounts of milk, all mine have been fed differently and it's hard when they drop from a big feed to a small one or vice versa. It could be teeth, it could be a change in her digestion, it could be any number of things but please do hold off on the baby rice

[thisisyesterday]

well i suspect so too PYBF, but hey, beenfit of the doubt and all that.
maybe

[onepieceofcremeegg]

jackie you will get conflicting advice from lots of sources, including different internet parenting sites (as you may well have found).

The guidelines are indeed 26 weeks.

I sense (perhaps incorrectly) from your post that you are eager for your dd to meet this next "milestone" - by the way you describe how she can sit up and hold her head up already. Please don't think it makes her more "forward" in some way if you choose to wean her too early.

Agree with what Ewe says re the milk.

[Overmydeadbody]

of course it's too early.

A baby's digestive system isn't developed enough to digest anything other than milk at this age.

FGS the recommended guidelines are there for a reason.

[onepieceofcremeegg]

p.s. no babies are "textbook"

All of them are unique and special. A decent HV will point you in the direction of the latest research/evidence re weaning.

[Overmydeadbody]

and stop force feeding her milk!!

[MadBadandDangerousToKnow]

I'm with PaulaYates on this one.

[muppetgirl]

a bit confused after re-reading your post

why do you think she needs weaning? She's feeding on milk and you're lucky as she's sleeping through the night.

Sounds perfectly normal to me...?

Also -is this just today the drop form 7-4oz as tomorrow she could be back up to what she was having.

Please, please don't force feed her, I don't quite see the point of it anyway.

You seem to need to get her to fit in the 4 hourly feeding pattern when she was having 7oz every 3 hrs, yes being sick, but that's what some babies do...

[Plonker]

Hello Jackie - what an interesting first post.

I agree with the overwhelming majority here and would say that your dd is way way too young just now.

I would leave it for a few months yet and offer her smaller amounts of milk more often.

[GColdtimer]

stop measuring the amount of milk she is having and feed her as much as she wants, when she needs it. Babies are good at regulating thier own appeties, as someone else said.

It is cruel to force milk into her this way and way to early to start her on solids. Have no idea why you want to anyway??

[StercusAccidit]

I am staying well and truly out of this

[onepieceofcremeegg]

OP has gone anyway.

To be fair I think this thread was very fair and reasonable (in the circumstances)

[jackie21]

Hi thank you everyone for your responses. Please please dont think i am being cruel with holding my babies bottle in her mouth. I just panic when she doesnt take her normal amount of milk which i have been so used to her taking and think she is just being stubborn and testing me.

As i said i am a new young mum, I am only 21 and never looked after a baby in my life so its all very new to me, i also lost my mum 2 years ago so dont have any help from her and my fiance' doesnt speak to his parents which doesnt really help. I check the internet on everything about her and thats probably my downfall cause the information on certain websites can be really conflicting.

My little Jessica to be honest is perfect shes been such a good baby and now that this has happened over the past couple of days i started to 'Google' it and certain sites were saying they were ready to wean.

I noticed that Liahgen said that she may possibly need winded, wel i have had a problem with Jessica's wind since she was born aswell, she just seems windy all the time, she doesnt seem to get a sound sleep in her naps and night sleep cause she always is twitching with wind and i have to get her up to get winded. She doesnt however seem to be getting better with her wind now. I have used all orts to help with her wind, infacol, dentinox and gripe water (not all a once) shes now just back on infacol which does help a bit.

Thank again everyone, I can hoenstly say that i will not even be considering weaning my child until 17 weeks, although will try and hold out to 26weeks if she can.

Thanks

xxxxxxx

[liahgen]

jackie,

It's tough starting out with a baby, and if you have no support then it can be even tougher.

at 13 weeks, there's no way your baby is testing you and being stubborn. She simply is not capable of it. She has simple needs, love, warmth, food and comfort. If she is crying, uncomfortable, and just wants her mum, thats a basic human need. When we want comfort and love we turn to our dp's, why do we think it's wrong for babies to seek out love and comfort too.

I'm sure you're doing a fab job, the fact that you'r easking for advice is good.

A tip for a windy baby is what i call the colic hold.

Hold arm out full length palm facing up, place baby along length of arm, babies head towards your shoulder, it's bottom should now be resting in the palm of your hand. There should be a leg either side of your arm, and arms either side also.

I hope that makes sense, it's really comfy to hold for long period of time, and you are applying firm pressure on tummy without too much if yu see what i mean.

come back and let us know how you are getting on. There's a wealth of helpful experienced parents on here.

good luck