To consider starting my baby on solids early

[scottishegg]

Hi all I'm a mum of 3 with my youngest child being 4 and a half months old.
My son is on the 99th percentile for weight and height and is fairly advanced in his physical development.
He is currently going through a tub of formula every 3 days and is becoming very unsettled day and night whereas before he was a very settled baby and was sleeping through.

He is showing a great interest in food and isn't as happy with milk as before.

However I know that the current guidelines are not to wean them until they are 6 months old but the older generations of my family are very insistent that due to his size and his current behaviour that it may be worth introducing food within the next couple of weeks.

I waited till 6 months with both of my other 2 children before introducing food but my youngest is a very different baby and is getting less satisfied with milk, I am reluctant to put him on hungrier baby milk as it can lead to constipation in some babies and up until recently the normal milk was fine for him.
So do I just suck it up for the next 6 weeks or so or is it possible to introduce solids fairly soon also will doing this ( introducing solids) harm the little chap.

All advice appreciated thanks

Thanks Westie. Only read the summary but I think I misunderstood you - that's about the wide issue of 4-6 months rather than specifically allergies, yes? On allergies they say we don't know enough yet to be sure when is best, which is consistent with what I'd found.

Sorry my cold induced brain fog is confusing me. It's not allergies I'm talking about, it's celiacs disease. That doc gives the name of the research in this bit in the relevant section:

'A decline of symptomatic cases was observed after new dietary recommendations were introduced in Sweden in 1996, stressing a slow introduction of gluten at 4 instead of 6 months while the infant is still breast-fed (Carlsson et al., 2006).'

As for the OP's question, the report concludes:

'On the basis of present knowledge the Panel concludes that the introduction of complementary food into the diet of healthy term infants in the EU between the age of 4 and 6 months is safe and does not pose a risk for adverse health effects (both in the short-term, including infections and retarded and excessive weight gain, and possible long-term effects such as allergy and obesity).'

So YANBU.

As long as you're not about to serve up a three course dinner, a bit of baby rice should be fine - rather than milk for hungrier babies (is this something that's come along since I was weaning at 4 months? Doesn't baby rice effectively do the same thing?)

I'm pretty sure babies don't magically become ready to wean at 26 weeks. There has to be some leeway either way.

Both my DC were tried with solids at about 4.5 months, which is what was advised then. DS1 took to then straight away, DS2 spat out every single mouthful until he was at least 6 months. Advice about weaning varies hugely depending on time and on location, one minute it's advocated at 4 months, the next 6, the next 3. When one of my friends had her first baby, now in her 20s, the advice was to try them on peanut butter as a first food. When I had my DS2 the advice was no peanut butter until they are at least 5.

I'd go with your gut instinct.

Growth spurt, just give him more formula. Weaning is not recommended for under 6 months for very good reasons. I know it used to be done, but the research is there now to show a better way.

Gut instinct, MrsAMerrick. Love it

I am full of cold too Westie. Miserable isn't it. Hope you feel better soon. I totally agree that it is a more mixed picture than sometimes presented. There are lots of areas for ongoing/future research. What I think is important is that people understand that pre-4 month weaning has lots of known dangers.

Am totally convinced that weaning early, for instance at 4.5 months, is fine. Was even told this by specialist doctors when dd was a baby. She was on v low centile but believe principle is the same, i.e. that it won't do any harm in itself. My Mum gave me solids at 10 weeks (a bit of carrot and otherwise breast fed) and I am v healthy and non-fussy eater.

I think the issue is that if you cut down of breast milk or formula in order to give solids then they may miss out on important iron, as you usually start weaning with foods that don't contain much iron. But if you keep up plenty of breast or formula milk I'd have thought this was fine.

Be prepared for poo to start to smell though!

DD is five months now and I've been giving her a bit of solids for a few weeks. Nothing major, just some banana or avocado here and there. She had some broccoli last night and applesauce the other day. She loves it :)

My mom was reading my dad's baby book the other day and my grandmother wrote that she gave him orange juice at 3 weeks.

noblegiraffe - "It's all very well all these posters saying 'never did us any harm' but given increasing numbers of adults with ibs, coeliac etc, how can you be sure?"

If the number of people with ibs etc has been rising recently, doesn't that tell us that it is something new that is happening? What a lot of people are saying is that they/their parents/their grandparents weaned earlier than is recommended now, so how can a long tradition of early weaning be responsible for diseases that have only started increasing in the last couple of decades?

Things I have read suggest that increasing incidence of bowel problems, allergies etc may be attributable to changes in the bacteria present in people's guts, which are essential for digesting things like gluten. Gut biodiversity has decreased due to greater hygiene, overuse of antibiotics, highly processed food and so on (BF also beats FF on this, as babies get all the bacteria from their mothers' bodies). There's a lot of research going on into things like using faecal transplants to repopulate people's guts with beneficial bacteria. I find it fascinating - but still mainly theoretical at the moment.

This article is about some of the new theories on coeliac disease

But why take the chance, for the sake of 6 weeks. Better to be safe than sorry. Waiting will do no harm at all, starting early could.

exexpat, cheers for that link, interesting reading.

OP, I'd wean him now if he were my DS.

I weaned DS1 at 4 months (and a day) and I would wean DS2 that 'early' if he were to show signs of wanting/needing too, he's 3months atm & I don't believe he'll be ready in 3 weeks!
Or to put it another way, what wannabe said!

Size is no reason to wean early and I don't think physical ability is an indicator of ability to cope with food.

My ds was also huge, he was breastfed so I don't know exactly how much he was eating but I started food at 6 months much to lots of "awww but he must be hungry" comments.

I am not familia with formula feeding but can't you just give him more milk?

Is he gaining weight? I don't think a baby who was unsettled due to hunger would be gaining weight.

DS was huge at 4 months (off centile charts) from breast milk and started waking more at that age. It's perfectly normal I hear. For him I realised it was because he was becoming nosey and popping off the breast during the day.

I waited to wean him because being large doesn't mean their digestive systems are more mature. A lot of people are pointing out babies were often weaned early and are fine but don't so many people have digestive complaints these days. Who knows if there is a link?

Also the food you would most likely offer as first foods is likely to be low calorie, low fat, low iron and low protein. But it will take up space in his belly while not delivering what formula or breast can.

Re the allergies I don't think waiting is what gave my son allergies. I guessed correctly he would have food allergies because he had newborn eczema and that is an indicator apparently. So surely that means he was going to have them anyway as this appeared well before anyone would recommend solids. We saw specialist at St Thomas this summer and she said the results of this study people are referring too aren't ready or conclusive just yet.

My boy is 95th centile and I waited. No point giving him nutritionless baby rice or food we would eat when on a diet if what he needed was more calories. Give him more milk and be assured the sleep regression will pass

I wouldn't give purees, but, if you put chunks of food in front of him ( banana etc) and he picks them up, I think it's fine and he's ready. If they can't sit up and pick up the food themselves, I don't think they're ready to wean.

someone recently mentioned here that a friend's baby (or her nephew? ), who was BLW, chocked on a piece of banana and is now brain damaged.

I don't want to start a bun fight but it's not the first story I heard where either BLW didn't really work or actually caused serious problems.

my friend's niece was BLW and itbis scary how she'll pick up any chunck of food and swallows it without chewing.
I don't see how that could be good for her digestion, or the development of her facial muscles etc.

mine would typically go from liquidy purees to chewing on a whole cooked broccoli and pieces of bread etc. in about 3 - 4 months.

Yanky-ds had prune juice and orange juice at about 6 weeks on advice of the consultant at Kings hospital

Ds was weaned at 4 months which was the advice 12 years ago.

Zing-when I did a first aid course many moons ago the advice was to mash bananas until the child was THREE! The paramedic who was running the course had seen 2 children die choking on bananas as they swell in the throat apparently and are then hard to dislodge

They need the calories from milk at that age. Purée doesn't give them calories. There is a growth spurt at four months, they just need more milk. It's a myth that bigger babies need weaning early.

Re the riding rate in alegies etc, bit of a contradiction there. The allergies and various conditions mention were less common than now with the new guidelines so what point are you trying to make?

As with everything in life, little is black and white or 100% right so you weight up the pros and cobs and go with what seems best on balance.

Without wanting to be too blunt, I have also seen it pointed out that certain severe allergies are more common now partly because affected children would not have survived early childhood in the past and would have died from some uncertain fever or fit. Thank god for modern medicine.

Both of mine have been hit heavy by growth spurts at 4mths and it settled after. They've also been disturbed by teething too. They both started weaning at 5m- around 23wks as they were socially interested in weaning (having met the physical guidelines a while earlier). They both had an intense interest in what you're eating in a trying to will it out of your mouth kind of way. DS1 got quite distressed watching DH eat and studied each mouthful, moaning and reaching.

DS 1 has allergies (I doubt that 3 weeks made any difference) so I'm being careful about introducing allergens to DS2. It's amazed me how many purees marketed at 4-6m contain milk and gluten. DS 1's first reaction was to baby porridge at 25wks because of the milk protein.

I wouldn't. Early weaning is related to various health problems. The gut just isn't ready.

as was posted earlier, latest research concludes:
'On the basis of present knowledge the Panel concludes that the introduction of complementary food into the diet of healthy term infants in the EU between the age of 4 and 6 months is safe and does not pose a risk for adverse health effects (both in the short-term, including infections and retarded and excessive weight gain, and possible long-term effects such as allergy and obesity).'

YANBU.

Onsera, I agree with you. My son was reacting to me having dairy at 2 weeks old so not sure weaning has anything to do with it.
Also I was at an event regarding childhood allergies and the GP and Paediatric Consultant (for allergies) both stressed not weaning before 6 months and not giving babies milk before 1 year, so use formula/breast milk for weetabix etc