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

[VictorianSqualor]

Why not try BLW mummyt2?
If your baby is really ready for food and hungry for it then put them in their highchair with some carrot sticks or something.
Let your baby tell you what it needs.

[bergentulip]

I think if your baby is hungry, and just getting a few mouthfuls of baby rice, at pretty much 5mths, that's absolutely fine. You know your own baby.

And, if GP advised, he/she also perhaps think your baby looks developmentally at that stage too? And going by what you have discussed with them.

I think comments like "please stop feeding your baby" are a little too scare-inducing, and if it was me would make me feel like I had been poisoning my child or something.

FWIW I started with just baby rice for both mine, for a good 3/4weeks. Both big babies, both hungry babies, both getting mooooore than enough milk, they were starting to grab at my spoon and watch me eat, plus I needed a way to satisfy them and keep them full. Plus, they both took to it very easily and loved food from the start. 3day rule is brilliant as far as I am concerned, and certainly produced no weird behaviour with food.

Keep away from the meat and protein until it is recommended and needed in their diet though, if for nothing else other than to save you from the unbearably stinking nappies! + all health reasons of course....

[bergentulip]

(at 4.5mths, sorry, did not actually put that bit in. They were both 4.5mths)

[lulumama]

GPs are not necessarily well up on infant nutrition or feeding.

the upshot is they don;t need baby rice or anything else at this age.

milk is all they need.

we need to get to grips more with the fact that young babies feed a lot, and have a lot of growth spurts.

6 months to wait to give food is hardly a life time.

[yvonnek]

i i don't disagree with you about why you gotta wait, there is an appropriate age for a reason.

but i had a terrible experience and spent weeks listening to ds1 screaming after a feed (breast fed)

all because i was advised by mums who i thought were right and i felt i was being a bad mother by not giving him solids earlier,

i learned from that with dd. i held her off for as long as i could but by 21 weeks we'd already undergone 2 weeks of her complaining after feeds and "shouting" at us when we were eating. she could eat mashed food, not pureed from 21weeks. no gagging, chewing.

what would you want mothers like myself to do.

let to her cry for another 5 weeks.

in my books thats child cruelty. when i know she was hungry!

i went to my doctor to ok it at 21 weeks

[mummy2t]

like i have said, he is still having the same amount of milk as before, more infact, the volume of milk he was wanting to take often made him sick.
what would everyone do in my position? i was all for waiting until at least 6 months, he wasnt.
he is hapily taking the 2 spoons of rice from a spoon, not spitting any out.
i am not saying everyone should wean at 17 weeks, i dont agree with that, but i didnt see any other option with MY son, everyone is different,
idontbelieveit, you havent offended me, but i really didnt see any other way, like i say the more milk i gavehe was sick, the volume of the milk was just 2 much.

[bergentulip]

What about in the case with my 4mth old who was getting big VERY quickly, too quickly really, very chubby, could have ended up off the scale enormous if I had continued to give the amount of milk he was demanding?

And when I say demanding, I don't mean whining, or me being pathetic and giving in, or mis-reading his cries of tiredness or overstimulation. I mean definitely 100% hungry.....
Baby rice meant that he reduced his hunger significantly, with just a few mouthfuls, and thereby ensured his weight gained at a normal pace.

[bergentulip]

Sure, they do not need anything other than what milk provides until 6mths, but I don't think it is necessarily harmful to the majority of babies.

[ten10]

What I did was to give baby rice for the first week then i started mixing veg or fruit puree with the rice. I gradually cut down the rice by adding more and more veg or fruit. then i mixed milk with the puree and then did puree on its own.

and after a week i added another solid meal, so did two weeks of lunch then two weeks of lunch and dinner then moved on to three meals a day.

i moved on to wheat based food, beans and pulses and fish and chicken at six months and then red meat at seven months.

my little boy sounds alot like yours, after sleeping through he started waking, then waking twice , then three times during the night and when i fed him baby rice at 20 weeks he was desperate for it and couldn't get enough. he immediately started sleeping through again.

he had not been gaining weight enough and had slipped from the 75th to the 9th centile,
where as when i started him on baby rice he started to gain weight properly as he was still having just as much milk, but now he was having the extra rice too.

[mummy2t]

thank you ten10, just the point i am trying get across!
i think the way i am doing it is far more easier on a babies tummy than giving him a carrot stick, how is he suppose to eat that, when he hasnt even cut a tooth? eating is something that has to be learnt and i think i am introducing it in the most gentle way.
going from just milk to a carrot stick is abit extreme. i am giving him his normal amount of milk, plus 2 spoons of baby rice with his milk and gradually building up.
i must say that i know i asked for advice but, telling me to stop feeding my baby is quite offensive. ido actually feel that u all think i am harming my child,

[ten10]

don't let anyone bully you into feeling bad about your mothering decisions.

[lizziemun]

Mummy2t
Ignore those demanding you stop feeding your child.

I started weaning dd2 at 19 wks on advice of my Hv because dd2 wasn't drinking milk. I was lucky if i could get her to take 15oz a day with each feed taking an hour with her screaming and me pinning her down and forcing her .

Any way i started very slowly and from 19 to about 24 weeks she was only having baby rice and porridge type feeds. Only then did i start introducing more types of foods.

And for those who say it wrong, dd2 slept through the night from 8wks but screamed all day. Now at nearly 10mths she eats far better then dd1 who i waited wean until 5mth as the rule then. Now at 4.6yrs i am still having probelms with dd1 eating and sleeping with her. But dd2 who is now only having 3 bottles (cows milk) a day but eats anything and everything you give her.

[mummy2t]

thanks lizziemun x

[VictorianSqualor]

Ok, you're all so intelligent that the people in the know i.e the people that write these guidelines and do the tests should be asking you for advice.
Knock yourselves out, think what you like, have fun, just make sure you can look your child in the eyes and tell them it's very possibly your fault if in later life they have ishoos.
I do love the way you can all decide hunger=solids

[VictorianSqualor]

"i must say that i know i asked for advice but, telling me to stop feeding my baby is quite offensive. ido actually feel that u all think i am harming my child,"

You quite possibly are. That's the point.

Fucking mentalists.

[lizziemun]

VictorianSqualor

It got nothing to with 'you're all so intelligent that the people in the know i.e the people that write these guidelines and do the tests should be asking you for advice' It about doing what works for your child.

I know i failed at everything i couldn't breast fed as i didn't produce milk, dd2 didn't/doesn't like formula so i did what was best for my child like you did with yours.

As for harming my children, i personaly think you are either born with allergies or not. I have my own allergies which i have since birth so how i was fed/weaned had nothing to do with it.

Or by the way i am not a '
Fucking mentalists' i am a parent trying to do the best for my children and not trying to imposse my veiws on anyone else but help when someone who has asked a question.

[lulumama]

y bergentulip on Thu 03-Jul-08 19:06:59
Sure, they do not need anything other than what milk provides until 6mths, but I don't think it is necessarily harmful to the majority of babies.

exactly, to the majority of babies... who knows whose baby is in the minority that could be harmed

totally agree with stellawasadiver;s last post

also, for lizzie whose child woudl not tolerate milk.. most babies are not like that. so it is hardly an example of why to wean earlier.. if a child is drinking lots of milk.. why add food in to the equation earlier?

[lulumama]

mummy2t

why ask about weaning when you only want to hear, yes you are doing the right thing?

re carrot sticks... if a baby is ready for food, physically, then they can eat a carrot stick with or without teeth.. a boiled or steamed one.. not a piece of raw carrot.

you say all advice welcome and you don;t want to go too fast.. but only want to listen to the advice that says 'carry on regardless'

current weaning advice is 26 weeks

[VictorianSqualor]

"i personaly think you are either born with allergies or not"

Exactly what I meant, you know more than the experts of course.

Thanks for proving my point.

[VictorianSqualor]

And, FWIW, I don't give two hoots what risks you want to take with your baby's digestion system, what I do care is that anyone who is undecided and doesn't know the facts may read this thread and think it's fine, and their child might not be okay.

[bergentulip]

Okay, on the topic of 'just give your baby more milk'..... me doing that was meaning he was getting tooooooo much milk, and the 2/3 spoons of baby rice in the morning did make a difference. For my child.

DS2 suddenly started waking more and more and more in the night too, and introducing a small amount of solid did make a difference and control the amount of milk he was drinking. I think it was very important that I introduced solids as early as I did, otherwise I might be sitting here with a very overweight (and yes, I do think it is possible to overfeed your baby) 7mth old.

He was hungry. It helped curb his appetite.

[lulumama]

fair enough , as long as you recognise that it is not appropriate or right for all babies.

[bergentulip]

yes, I do accept it is not appropriate for all babies. Of course not. But it's not 'poisonous' to wean all babies before 6mths either.

I also accept that it's impossible to tell which baby's digestive system is ready, and which is not, but maybe it's another one of those 'calculated risk' situations again, based on observation, intelligence, and knowing your child.

Oh, I dunno, I don't want to get into an argument about it, I just thought it a little scare-mongering for people to say "stop feeding your baby solids" in a pleading manner... or words to that effect.

I see your point, accept your point, also know what the recommendations are, yes, I am not ignorant and always readily listen to others' advice/opinions etc.... I don't want to come across as thick-headed and stubborn, I just took my calculated risk on this particular issue with my two, and it seems to have been the right one for us.

[mummy2t]

as i keep saying just giving my child more milk wasnt working, the volume he was taking was just making him ill, so in the end even more hungry!
i think that the guidelines are 6months, and if you child can get to that great but if not you have to do what u think is best, personally iam not going to keep giving a hungry babmore milk to the point of him been sick when i can give him literally 2 spoons of very sloppy baby rice just to take the edge of his hunger.
the manufacturer's are selling foods from 4 months plus and shouldnt be allowed to do so if the guidelines are from 6months. if i was soooooooooo bad, then all products would be recalled, whats happens if a stairgate is sold and found to be harmful? its recalled!!
so if baby rice is soooooooo harmful what the hell is it still doing on the shelves!!!!!!
i am not asking advice to hear i am doing the right thing i am asking advice of the next steps of something i have already done, not to be accused of harming my baby. i hope you all arent ever accussed of harming your child because it's a fucking awful feeling.
thanks for making me feel like absolute shit