4mo starting solids

[MrsRV]

DD is just over 4mo & we introduced some pureed pears last week. She has this once a day at around lunchtime, just a few spoons full at the mo and half of the milk feed she'd usually have at this time. It's going well & she seems to be getting on ok, she's a bit constipated but I think I just need to give her more water to try to help? Thought the pears would work! So, that's all fine but now what? Planning on giving her carrot puree next... But do I just replace pears with carrots or give carrots at a different time of day as well as pears? Confused about the when's and how's? Help!

Its been a while since I had a wee one but i started both of mine on small amounts of baby rice mixed with their bottle milk. Its pretty bland I suppose and one day I got home and DP was feeding her baby eggs (hard boiled eggs mushed up in cup with butter!) I guess its trial and error every kid is different, maybe try her carrots one day pears the next?

Oh and back in the day we gave solids from 3 months, this four months thing is new, so I wouldn't worry if she eats it then i would say you're doing fine

why don't you give up for now, wait til she's a bit older then no need to faff with pureeeing nosh.

I wouldnt reduce any milk feeds as early solids are about introducing new tastes/textures not to replace milk which is much more important. (I assume you already know the guidelines for introducing solids changed to 6 months in 2003 from between 4-6 months prior to that).

As she is only 4 months I would give carrot instead of pear rather than introducing a second meal. Avoid gluten, egg, dairy, meat, citrus fruits, peanuts, fish until 6 months.

Is she showing the signs that she's ready? Sitting up, loss of tongue thrust, able to accurately pick up objects, put them in her mouth, chew and swallow?

The worry is that at 4 months they often aren't ready (guidelines are 6 months) and instead it just upsets an immature gut. If you're seeing constipation since giving the puree and planning on introducing water to combat it on top of already reduced feeds, then you're cutting the amount of milk she's having, replacing it with fewer calories (plus water which fills without the nutrition) and at this age all of the nutrition/calories should be coming from milk.

Nearer to 6 months you can just let her join in with your mealtimes and help herself to a range of foods. You'd cut out the worry of constipation and probably find it a bit less stressful.

4 months is too early to replace milk with food. A few spoonfuls of pear won't have anywhere near the nutrients of half a milk feed and if she is constipated then sounds like she's too young. "food is for fun" at 6 months

I followed Annabel karmel, she introduced baby rice first, then pear, carrot and apple. Each given at lunch time for three consecutive days before introducing the next flavor. She suggest root vegetables so the baby doesnt get a liking for purely sweet things.

Annabel Karmel is the queen of weaning :) We also weaned 'early' - but our baby was huge and I was happy he was ready. They are all individuals. To start with we did just vegetables/fruits and found he was really constipated and windy. We had to stop and have a break of a few days, but he was hungry and 300ml of milk a feed wasnt filling him, so started again with baby rice only. This seemed much more digestible, if dull! We reintroduced fruit and veg more gradually and it has been much more successful - we have to limit his intake as he would eat until he popped! And Annabel still advises a minimum of 500ml formula/breast milk a day alongside. Read her books and form your own opinions - she has done some serious research and knows her stuff! The Complete Baby and Toddler Meal Planner is good :)

P.S. I know they say food is for fun at this age, but it depends on your baby - for ours it was a need!!!

Thanks for all the responses. I have very much looked into weaning at 4/6 months old and the pros and cons & feel DD is ready. She has always suffered with constipation on & off since she was born so I'm not overly worried about this.

The water - won't be replacing any feeds, will be in addition. The 1/2 milk feed - I try to give her the rest of her bottle after she has eaten but she just doesn't want it. I wouldn't leave her hungry.

Thank u to Nigglenaggle & barbie1 - exactly what I wanted to know! Will toddle off to buy Annabel Karmel today.

I didnt give milk with solids - I gave a full milk feed and then an hour or so later I gave the solids. This helps preserve the milk intake and lets them have a little bit of room for the solids. Milk and food at the same sitting can be too much for a small tummy and you want to keep the milk intake the same with solids as an added extra

mine loved pureed (and later mashed) advocado and banana, absolutely tons of goodness in that (and not as strange a mix as it sounds!). we were told not to try solids before 6m? baby rice was a good thing to mix with a tiny amount of fruit or veg puree to start with I remember. Cooked sweet potato and carrot is an excellent puree with alot of vitamins and fibre, mine is now 2.8 and still loves sweet pot and carrot albeit as a mash next to fishfingers!!

If she's constipated are you sure there is enough water in her formula? The instructions on the carton are in ml not oz. One scoop per 30ml of water, an ounce of water is less.

But surely you are replacing milk with solids if she doesn't want the second half of her bottle??

I don't understand why people start at 4m. Weaning with purées is the biggest faff ever, and has risks. Why not wait a bit til they can just get on with it themselves?

I second loulou. Babies have a massive growth spurt at 4 months, look up '4 month sleep regression'... You should stick with the milk. It's tough - been through it 3 times, so I know how you feel. Why not try to give her more milk feeds? And try her on solids again at 6 months? Mine were/are BLW. DD3 is currently 8 months, and eats everything that we eat, with out me having to really mash/puree anything.

I weaned my dd at 4 months on the advice of my GP. DD never really liked milk, and I struggled to get her to take it. We had a tough beginning, I tried to breastfeed but stopped on medical advice because I didn't produce milk properlu. Looking back, I should have forcefed myself and drank much more water to try and encourage my supply, but at the time I was so swept up in 'baby' that I completely forgot to eat. There was no one there to tell me that I had to eat more so when the doctor told me to switch to formula at 4 weeks I did. Anyway, My dd had colic from 2 weeks, she hated milk as a result (both what little boob milk I produced and formula). By 4 months she had dropped 2 centiles so the doctor told me to start weaning. She was ready, sitting up, had lost her tongue thrust etc, so the doctor assured me it would be fine. We started with babyrice, then after a few weeks I mixed veg or fruit puree with it - Anabel Karmel style. I stuck at single veg purees until she was 6 months and then we introduced a wider variety of foods and finger foods. Good luck and happy weaning!!x

there's no proven harm in weaning at 17 weeks on in this country (see Millenium cohort, European food safety review) so no risk to speak about.

so really no reason not to start then if you think it might help with sleep (though no evidence it will help with that either!)

personally i'd stick with higher calorie stuff such as rice & milk rather than veg purees to begin with, (avocado also high calorie, though some don't like it so much) ...though to begin with it is just getting them used to the taste/texture.

My dd is 3.5 months and I'm giving puréed fruit once a day mixed in with baby porridge.....I don't reduce her milk though....I treat the food as an added extra....she's a different baby !!! It's amazing how she loves it x

All this bollocks about wait until 6 months....you know when your baby is ready! Mine pulls the spoon in, and people have the cheek to say she's not ready???? Whatever!!!! You go girl....why not try baby juice for the constipation...dd loves that

There are perfectly good reasons to delay- mess, sold food nappies nappies and the cost of food. Because unless there is a medical reason, small babies don't need solid food.

Of course a baby will suck on a spoon if they get the chance. It doesn't mean it's the optimum time to fundamentally change the food they eat. It's as good a sign as 'looking at my food'.

Babies guts are NOT ready for food at 3.5 months. Try doing some research first.

Any baby juice?! Argh there is no need!

'All this bollocks about wait until 6 months...' I'm sure you think your own personal experience makes you much more of an expert than those who have been researching weaning for yrs .

Weaning at 6 months involves introducing normal, home cooked food to baby (not jars or packets of food) - far easier than starting early on unnecessary purees I can assure you.

Solids at 3.5 months? mummy2lola is your baby really ready (i.e. independent or minimally supported sitting balance, and able to accurately see, grab and direct food straight into her own mouth) or are you just really keen to push her onto the next phase? I know it's exciting to progress your child, but the evidence is very convincing that early introduction of solids (i.e. before six months but especially before four months) is strongly linked to allergies, gut problems such as Crohn's, coeliac disease IBS, obesity and diabetes in much later life. Babies or young children may be 'fine' now, but why risk giving your child a really unpleasant middle- to late- adulthood? I just don't understand...

OP - current advice is that you give a full milk feed one hour before solids until well after six months. Especially at the age of four months when they really need additional calories due to a big growth spurt, you shouldn't be cutting any milk feeds at all, and should actually really be increasing them right up to six months.

And baby juice? I wouldn't even give my nine month old baby juice. Juice will be a 'sometimes drink' only when he's old enough to discover there are things to drink other than water and milk. Of course she 'loves it' - it's bloody sweet! Why give a baby a sweet tooth before they've even got teeth?!