Help, need weaning advice!

[Beautifulbella]

DD is 17 weeks old, and I'm curious as to whether I should start the weaning process. My reason for this are: she takes five oz of ff every 4 hours, but afterwards she is still hungry. I've tried to put her on 6pz but she has become very temperamental, for instance she will have the 6oz but will feed every 3hours and sometimes go 6hours without another feed. DD is constantly staring at my food or drinks, and tries to put anything into her mouth whilst I'm eating, normally her foot or dummie. She has just reach double her birth weight.

I know hv advise you wait till 6 months, but I'm just not sure whether she can start now. I have brought rusks and baby porridge suitable for 4m+ but after reading about rusks not quite sure I will give her them.

When I tried to talk to hv about weaning she didn't give me a straight answer, instead replied my lo is happy and healthy and I get a thumbs up.
What should I do? Any advise would be lovely.

Staring at your food means she's learning from you what to do with it - great that's she's interested but doesn't make her ready to join in quite yet.

With regard to being hungry, milk is really filling and will be perfect for her for the next few weeks . Besides, the first thing she eats really doesn't need added sugar (a lot of baby porridges do, and rusks do).

The health visitor wasn't helpful in skirting around your questions and concerns, but the 'happy and healthy, thumbs up' comment is nice - focus on that until she's ready to wean at 6 months!

Thank you. I was just really unsure as in-laws keep telling me she's ready, but yet again a lot has changed and new information is about on what's better for a child.

The NHS guidance says never before 17 weeks, and around 6 months is ideal when your baby is showing signs of being ready. These signs are being able to sit up (with support eg in a high chair with an appropriate cushion/insert) without slumping forwards or sideways, being able to pick up food and bring it to their mouths and having lost the tongue thrust reflex. It's unlikely that a baby at 17 weeks will be displaying all those signs.

Nothing you've described is a reason to start solids. Just give more milk as your DD demands it. Feeding patterns change as they grow and develop. No solid food will contain more nutrients than breastmilk or formula at this age, so I can't see any benefit to weaning at 17 weeks.