To say something to this mum re. early weaning?

[Greywalls12]

Was at a baby class today, when one mum mentioned that she'd started giving her 15 week old baby rice.
No one said anything, but their were quite a few disapproving looks.

AIBU to say it has no nutritional value and she could actually be doing her child harm by weaning before 17 weeks?

Or is that incredibly rude and should stop being miss judgy pants?

I don't actually think she would care as she ignores most guidelines e.g. has baby in own room and puts on front to sleep etc.

DH has loads of bowel issues and GP believes it's because of early weaning when he was a baby

And I had baby rice from about four months as did my brother and we are both super healthy and thriving adults @Greywalls12 . Just because your DH has bowel issues doesn't mean that it's going to cause problems for everyone or even that your GP is right (how could they really possibly know?)

You are being very judgmental, I am pregnant and this sort of thing is why I shall be keeping my parenting decisions close to my chest! The front sleeping thing does go against advice yes but breathing monitors can alleviate these risks now and you don't know her reasoning. Baby rice 1-2 weeks early? YABVVU

motherofcats81 Lullaby trust don’t advocate the use of these monitors, they often tell parents when it’s too late. We should be preventing, the monitors don’t prevent.

While I would advise everyone to wait until 6 months before offering solids, there is very little evidence that giving baby rice at 15 weeks will cause problems.

You are being incredibly rude and, yes, should stop being miss judgy pants?

@user1480880826 There doesn't need to be any nutritional value in baby rice as it mixes with formula which is obviously full of nutrients It is used to both prepare the baby's system for thicker substance and to help hungrier babies feel full

HappyLoneParentDay It mixes with formula yes but because it is keeping a child full they’re missing out on bottles they would otherwise ask for, so they’re losing nutrients.

@Jellybeansincognito You can alter the sensitivity on them. Ours saved my daughters life. This was confirmed by Consultant in Resus

@Jellybeansincognito Incorrect. Baby rice is given in addition to their standard feeds. They don't need any additional nutrition than their milk until 12 months. Also baby rice is only recommended for a few days at very most before weaning begins

Weaning is merely for practice and to fill them up before they reach 12 months. Milk provides the nutrients alongside weaning until 12 months

Leave her alone. My dd who is nearly 18 had solids at about the same age after advice from the health visitor.

HappyLoneParentDay You’ve lost me?

I’m saying that baby rice isn’t great because people add it to milk (which can create a choking hazard) and also that it makes a baby full and essentially makes them skip a feed or 2.

You’re saying I’m wrong because baby rice is given in addition to their standard feeds and they don’t need any additional nutrition other than their milk until 12 months of age? Huh?

I thought one of the reasons behind the 6 months guideline was that in the third world the food is more likely to be contaminated and so EBF to 6 months is safest there.

HappyLoneParentDay

Weaning is merely for practice and to fill them up before they reach 12 months. Milk provides the nutrients alongside weaning until 12 months

Right? But by giving them baby rice and keeping their belly full, they’re missing out the nutrient rich milk they’d have wanted if they’d not been given the baby rice to keep them full.

When I weened at 15 weeks sixteen years ago so before the guidelines changed and on the advice of my HV, my DS was drinking half a bottle then screaming because he was hungry but didn’t want milk. As soon as I introduced baby rice the amount of milk he drank also increased. And no, this had nothing to do with waking at night, he was sleeping through at nine weeks and this didn’t change. This was during the day and we never looked back.

And bearing in mind it was a teaspoon of baby rice mixed with about two tablespoons of formula iirc so we’re hardly talking enough to warrant the current talk of how it reduces their milk intake. A baby generally takes around six/eight oz at that age and up to six times a day. Are people really suggesting that a teaspoon of baby rice is going to alter that amount so radically as to impact on their milk intake?

@NoCauseRebel
‘are people really suggesting that a teaspoon of baby rice is going to impact on their milk intake?’

People have said so on this thread by saying they gave it in a bottle so that they’d sleep through the night.

TowelNumber42 that’s correct. It’s also why people in the third world are advised to exclusively breastfeed until the age of six months as introducing anything else puts them at risk of illness from e.g. contaminated water.

In the third world they also advise to bf until the age of seven (and it’s not stated that this is in the third world) yet you don’t see people here throwing that one around as some kind of gospel truth that is putting babies’ and school age children’s lives at risk do you?

I love the ‘the guidelines don’t apply in the west’ threads I read on MN - despite NHS also advising the same

YANBU OP. I wouldn’t say anything though as I doubt it’d make a difference. I would judge through. But then I am very judgemental anyway.

If she is deliberately putting her child at risk by putting it to sleep on its front, I think I would say something. You don’t have to be judged about it. How would you feel if her baby died and you said nothing?

I think the only people who have given baby rice in a bottle have been on the advice of HV/paediatrician though haven’t they? Although given that people seem to completely dismiss the professionals who only went through years of studying to become professionals and instead opt for the word of google for their advice...

That being said, it wouldn’t have occurred to me to put baby rice in a bottle and I have no doubt that many other posters think the same. I mixed the first rice in the lid of the bottle actually because those weening bowls looked so bloody enormous with just a teaspoon of rice. It was only when I moved on to veg etc that I used the bowls, but that is presumably what most people do.

You can’t compare putting rice into a bottle with spoon feeding it, even though both could be considered to be weening.

If she is deliberately putting her child at risk by putting it to sleep on its front, I think I would say something. You don’t have to be judged about it. How would you feel if her baby died and you said nothing?

I think that we really need to move away from emotive language such as “deliberately putting her child at risk.” After all, every single person on here does things every day which carry risks. Do we then accuse them of putting their children’s lives at risk? Every time you get in the car there is a risk of having an accident, yet nobody throws those kinds of accusations around.

Every time you cross the road there is a risk of being hit by a car. Is crossing the road considered to be putting your child’s life at risk?

Yes not doing things a certain way decreases certain risk, but to accuse someone who doesn’t do things that way of deliberately putting their child at risk is emotive accusatory and unnecessary.

Deliberately putting your child’s life at risk is giving them a gun or chainsaw to play with, not allowing it to sleep on its front or giving it a bit of baby rice. Perspective needed here me thinks.

I wish I had followed natural instinct and started my eldest on baby rice sooner.

The poor thing, she gobbled it, gobbled it down.
Not much sooner but definalty sooner than the guidelines.

I dunno NoCauseRebel, I’d say some decisions are deliberate and a risk to life. Like antivaxing, although that decision doesn’t just harm the persons child.

Well, you deliberately put your baby in the car don’t you? So you’re deliberately putting your child’s life at risk and are therefore an irresponsible parent. You should be walking as this carries a lesser risk.

@italiangreyhound your link is to an Indian website. And as has already been said, six months EDF is promoted there because safe food and water are less available in many parts of the country.

Again MOST developed countries now have a guideline of four months again, due to the recent research into allergies and coeliac disease. The UK is lagging behind.

Yanbu her baby is at risk of obesity crohns etc. Leave her to it she thinks she knows best. She doesn’t.

The general advice in 'my day' (1980s) was to start babies on baby rice at 4 months. I mixed this with breast milk or water. I then moved on to pureed veg and fruit. No harm came to my children. Feeding fads change over time, children survive. Both mine were breast fed up till 12 months ( I didn't even buy any bottles, a dummy, steriliser or similar) and they were also given whatever the family ate ( mashed up) by about 6/7 months. I never gave formula, boiled water before the age of one and they drank normal cow's milk too ( semi skimmed) straight from the fridge.
Neither were faddy over their food and I didn't fuss over them either. I think today's mothers can be a bit too precious over their babies and following the 'rule' book. The worst advice I had from my parents' neighbour was 'add some sugar to her bottle!!! She was quite taken aback when I said she never had a bottle. Don't be that person who offers unasked for advice.