weaning

[mummy2t]

Hi all My little one is 20 weeks old and i have just begun to offer a very small portion of baby rice mid morning, he is doing really well with it and really enjoying it. Today i offered the baby poridge and he loved that too, how long should i wait before a offer more tastes and eventually start the proper veg and fruit purees? i dont want to go to fast with it all
all advice welcomed
steph x

[TinkerBellesMum]

Not sure what that has to do with anything, I had to clean food off of my daughter, but ok thanks.

[tori32]

Tink I can assure you that if you are not doing BLW then even at 6mths you will at some point scrape food off with the spoon , not to get more in, to ensure it doesn't set on their face and create world war 3 at bath time
Anyway, check out my lovely, healthy, chubby, weaned early, 14wk old baby, as I have now fathomed putting a new pic on the new laptop

[TinkerBellesMum]

Just look at BLW on the weaning forum. It's a lot easier I think.

[whatwoulddollydo]

oops yes your right I meant 6 months....could have started a riot if people thought I meant 6 weeks and thanks for the tip re rice; will certainly fast track x

[TinkerBellesMum]

I'm sure you meant to say he's six months next week



If you're starting at six months you could skip the baby rice stage, it's a lot easier, but then I think any MNer would already know that option anyway so I'll not go on about it

[whatwoulddollydo]

My son is six weeks old a week from today. I went to the paediatrician today (in Australia) for a general check up and asked if I had started solids yet. I said no, am starting (and I mean starting from scratch i.e. introducing rice cereal) next week at 26 weeks - as this was my understanding as to what was optimal - and his response was that in Australia they are now thinking that this is a little late and sometime in the fifth month is better (athough this contradicts what the local midwives have said!) I am not too concerned as son seems fairly happy and I am not suggesting that this advice is necessarily correct BUT am posting as an illustration of the wide array - and often conflicting - advice there is out there. We will be starting tomorrow with baby rice at 25 weeks and one day!

[TinkerBellesMum]

But not all parents do that. You often see babies faces being scraped with the spoon so that every last bit goes in and parents pushing past what the child wants. I have made a promise to myself that I won't see my brothers youngest from now till a lot later. He's 3 months old and already having solids. I felt ill last year when my brothers twin BILs were being fed. 3 months old, a large jar each, "they're so hungry, they take three of these a day and I'm having to give extra formula" I was the one who ended up with the extra formula down my top! The mother said "I'd have thought you'd be used to it" I told her if Tink had been as sick as that I would think there was something wrong with her.

[tori32]

Even at 6mths a baby will still poke its tongue out when given something new to eat. This is due to it being a strange texture and him/her working out how to deal with it. Babies don't magically eat like adults at 6mths i.e. keep their tongue in and che2w with their mouth shut.

[tori32]

VS My 14wk old makes it quite clear whether she wants food or not. When she wants the food off the spoon she leans towards it and opens her mouth (I have and would never push a spoon into a babys mouth without its consent). When she has had enough she will turn her head away from the spoon.
FYI babies are capable of communicating wants and unwanted behaviour from very early on- you have to be able to read non verbal cues well though. 80% of communication in human adults is non verbal BTW.

[BEAUTlFUL]

Thanks. xx

[TennantbellesMum]

That should say "I've not met any".

It sounds like nothing went in, so I wouldn't worry about it. Leave the solids till he's ready and able to put them in. Whilst babies develop at different rates they still develop in the same order (some faster, some slower) but the external capabilities come after the internal capabilities.

[VictorianSqualor]

BEAUTIFUL, It may possibly have harmed him, we know nothing about how much of the food it takes.
My opinion is all I can base this reply on, but I would imagine that a couple of spoons won't have made a huge amount of difference to the future of his gut.
If you stop now then fingers crossed it should be okay.
Do you know if he actually swallowed any of it anyway? From what you're saying he pushed it back out with his tongue so probably got very little anyway.

[BEAUTlFUL]

Reading this thread has made me feel worried... DS2 is 21 weeks and lately seems VERY hungry. Yesterday I gave him a soft bit of broccoli and he wasn't interested in eating it. Today I gave him 4 spoons of porridge and he loved it, but didn't eat, still poked his tongue out. Wasn't interested in a bit of banana.

Reading more about the signs of readiness (on here) has made me realise he isn't ready at all, but will that porridge have damaged him? Obviously I won't give him any more. But [eek]

[TennantbellesMum]

I work for the Breastfeeding Department at the local PCT (that covers most of Birmingham) professionals here are telling people to do BLW. I started it, after a HV & a MW told me about it, expecting a row and everyone was really pleased and behind my decision. I've not any that would say to start before six months, they're all quite adamantly against it.

[oops]

Message withdrawn

[josiemacy]

Luckysalem I totally agree! VS & I will always differ in our views, I can see that.

We should agree to disagree. Opinions are just THAT - ours are different, lets leave it. No venom or malice intended. Initially just wanted to defend OP from a barage of abuse !

Off to bed, anyway. Ta-ta.

[josiemacy]

In your experience. Mine hugely differs to this.

I see that a differing experience or opinion to that which you have equates to 'rubbish'.

Most mums I know that have weaned early have, as I said, resorted to this as the last point on their checklist of things it could have been that was causing their baby much unhappiness. Their instinct turned out to be correct,thankfully, & all are much happier as a result.

[LuckySalem]

Ladies - I hate to say this and I'm probably going to get shot down but..... for some reason josie you've really got it for VS and I can kinda understand it - yes she was quite forward and abit rude with the "fucking mentalists" comment but we need to stop this bickering and the "I'm better than you" contest going on between the 2 of you.

VS has her opinion and her facts, Josie has her own either agree to disagree or start another thread?

Hope no offence caused to either of you.

[VictorianSqualor]

"I am sure that there is no race or contest to wean the earliest"

Biggest piece of rubbish you've written. Sadly many mothers, and I know a few of them, seem to think babies being fed equates to forward baby doing things early.

[josiemacy]

Also the DofH recommends an 'iron-rich infant rice cereal as a starter food'.

[josiemacy]

FYI, copied & pasted signs that baby may be ready for 'mush' from DofH BUPA website;

• being unsatisfied after a full milk feed
• demanding increasing and more frequent milk feeds
• weight gain slowing or levelling out without a period of illness to explain why
• after a period of sleeping through the night, your baby begins waking because he/she is hungry

As for the link you sent me, that was one of many that I read.

[Ate]

I was advised by a paediatric dietician to wean my first child at four months.

It is not the end of the world! I don't propose this as a means of self justification.

'BLW' was my preference with my second child, at around six months. My third has had tastes from spoons from five months, I also consider this 'BLW', she was ready, no doubt about it. I have no set plans for my fourth, I'm sure I'll be BL again.

They do all differ and gut permeability doesn't decrease immediately at 17 weeks, 20 weeks or even 26 weeks! It takes until a child is 2 to 3yrs for their gut wall to stabilise.

Theoretically and at it's most sensational, anyone who weans prior to toddlerhood could be placing their child at a heightened risk of undesirables passing through the gut wall, therefore potentially incurring food sensitivities. Are WHO likely to recommend that? I don't think so. Though, give it a decade and they just might.

BLW can't possibly be considered as WHO-LW, DOH-LW, NHS-LW, doing so kind of misses the point.

Mummy2t, you made an informed and supported decision based on the information availabe to you at the time, for which no mum should be made to feel uncomfortable. I hope your child's weaning continues with success

[josiemacy]

BLW is also a source for much debate amongst professional bodies. But thats another thread! I am being slightly devil's advocate in some of my views because I wish for other MNers to have a more open mind based on their own child.

As you said yourself, the OP's baby was ready for solids, & appeared to be so from the obvious behavioural characteristics in the first place, so she did do the right thing, sought advice, and began with a minor & palatable transition to food & BLW .

As I said in a much earlier post, I am not disagreeing with anything you say, but you are like a dog with a bone on this matter - its NOT Black&White, & no matter how much you quote the guidelines I do beleive (as many do - are we ALL wrong?? Perhaps its you, god forbid, who is wrong?) that instinct of a mother is the best. How can you even attempt to advocate what is best without knowing the baby, living with or seeing the baby on a regular basis?

As for the so-called 'back-slappers' who wean early, I am sure that there is no race or contest to wean the earliest. Beleive you me, friends that I have known that have weaned at 4-5mths would have loved the ease of BFing without high chairs, mess, taking lunch out with them etc. Their decision was laced with exhaustion from constant demand feeding, lack of sleep, unhappy baby, weight loss of baby, & sheer misery over a long period. But hey-ho, if the guidelines say 26wks, or they have to have the manual dexterity to manhandle a bit of carrot into their mouth before starting any form of solids (even 'mush', or rice,quinoa,oats or other food groups used by all nations to fill them up if all the milk a baby can drink is not enough), then you stick to the narrow viewpoint you have chosen to adhere to & NEVER veer away from!

[VictorianSqualor]

The guidelines are 26 weeks, not 20 weeks.
See here they say 6 months.

Babies wake through the night for a variety of reasons, growth spurts can last more than a couple of days and GP&HV's are not experts in infant nutrition or they would have suggested BLW not baby rice.

The safest way to start weaning is BLW if started before 6 months with a child that is not premature, so why would 'experts' recommend pushing baby rice into a baby's mouth that has no say in the matter?

It seems, with further exploration and trial, that the OP's baby is ready for solids, but now she can be satisfied she is doing the best possible way forward for her child and anyone else who reads this thread who may have considered weaning early, hopefully will allow their child to lead the way too, and not think mush on a spoon is going to be 'safe' without any other way of checking.

[josiemacy]

The DofH recommends 20wks, but CAN be weaned anytime from 17-26wks. Of course there is no way of knowing whether the internal organs & digestive tract is mature enough to tolerate this. However, if a previously satisfied baby suddenly wakes throughout the night, & demands more milk than can be tolerated, & the mum rides out the 2-3days it can take for a growth spurt to be the obvious cause, then the recommendations suggest earlier weaning as long as advice is sought from the healthcare professional. I think Mummy2t said she had advice from HV, GP & a paediatrician.
A set of guidelines has to be a broad spectrum to cover all bases, & if advice is obtained from a clinical source, & these recommendations are given, then this over-rides any set of national guidelines, in my eyes.
Some babies are ready for (and likes) food, but dislikes lumps. Some babies want to pick up florets of brocolli & feed themselves early. THEY ARE ALL DIFFERENT.
However, this is just my personal opinion.