BF 19week old too early for baby rice?!

[Hannah7]

My DD is nearly 19weeks, still feeds every 2hrs in day and 2-3 times in night.

She is in 75th percentile for weight, seems unsatisfied nd tries to gnaw anything that dares get too close to her mouth! She also watches me so intently when im eating!

Know WHO says bf till 6months but they use to say 4, DS was 6months before gave anything else but he was ff and very satisfied and settled.

Any thoughts appreciated :-)

Baby rice is horrible stuff. Use baby porridge instead. :)

Yes - too young

Milk is much more filling and calorific than baby rice anyway

I don't think WHO said 4 months but advice was not to wean any earlier than this (am sure someone will tell me if am right or wrong)

Feeding 2 - 3 times in the night is within the bounds of usual, if knackering night feeding activity for a barely 5 month old

You have done amazingly to feed for this long - not too much longer until 6 months and you can skip the baby rice altogether and offer all sorts

She's on the 75th centile so it's not as if she's failing to thrive.

Maybe look into BLW - that way you can introduce solids whenever you like but they will only eat it when they are ready.

I personally wouldn't bother with wallpaper paste baby rice.

Personally I would offer something, either baby rice or porridge as Panzee says. I'd use your own judgement.
I had an older lady for my health visitor and she encouraged mums to give baby rice and veg purees around the 4 months mark, as she believed a BF baby would eventually become unsatisfied with just breast milk for 6 months.
You're doing a fab job with the BF, keep it up and use your judgement with the weaning, and perhaps speak to your HV.

i agree - keep going (don't want to scare you but mine is nearly 9 months and still waking twice in the night)

according to the baby led weaning book, gnawing hands and watching people eat aren't signs that a baby is ready to be weaned.

i agree - keep going (don't want to scare you but mine is nearly 9 months and still waking twice in the night)

according to the baby led weaning book, gnawing hands and watching people eat aren't signs that a baby is ready to be weaned.

yes too early - sorry

sorry, incompetence. i agree with rubyslippers that is - too early to wean

Daydream dolly - sounds like your HV knew very little about breastfeeding

There is no reason at all why a baby cannot make it to 6 months on just Milk

She isn't too young. It would be perfectly reasonable to offer her some solid food if you would like to start that but in all probability it won't make a lot of difference to her waking. There is no gold medal for 'holding out' to 6 months. Baby rice isn't the only option either. As I recall you just need to avoid gluten and things which have a high tendancy to cause reactions - such as strawberries. A lot of pureed fruit and veg is suitable at this age if you want to do puree.

I'm 3 weeks further on than on and holding out for 26 weeks. There is nothing, including baby rice, that you can give your baby pre 6 months that is more calorie dense or nutritious than breast milk. Baby rice might fill your baby up but it's just bulk, nothing more and it's foul wallpaper paste IMO. There's no guarantee she'd sleep better either. And weaning is so much more fun once they're bigger. They get it so much quicker. I weaned ds early and he is the worst eater on earth (he's 12 now and a nightmare). I weaned dd1 later and she's a great eater at 9. This could be coincidence but I'm not risking it. :)

I would get hold of a copy of Gill Rapley's book, Baby Led Weaning.

19 weeks is definitely meant to be too early, I introduced baby rice early (around that sort of time with my DD2, thinking it would be the magic bullet in terms of sleep, but it made absolutely no difference whatsoever)
If it were me I would just feed, feed, feed on the boob, but that may not always be possible.
No judgement involved in saying that however

To those who say milk is more calorific than baby rice - what if the rice is mixed with the milk? Surely then that is more calorific than milk alone and so the baby would take in more calories in that feed than in a milk feed alone... or am I wrong on that?

Every 2 hours is very normal for a baby of 19 weeks. Babies need to feed very often and they often nurse for reasons other than hunger or thirst. It is difficult especially if you have been used to a ffed baby who possibly went longer between bottles then your DD is currently.

Kellymom has some good info here on delaying solids to 6m/o.

PS Gluten is a no-no before 6 months due to the permeability of the infants gut.

peasplease - rice = 85% carbs - good question - how can it be less calorific than bmilk which is 89%ish water?

mine both slept better when weaned. yes i know that is purely anecdotal.

the current recommended min is 17 weeks (UK not WHO).

She is feeding normally. There's no need for baby rice or anything else yet, and besides, it really will make no difference; milk is much more calorific.

IME DS didn't start sleeping better until he was eating meat and fish when he was about 8 months. Pureed fruit and veg and things like baby rice made no difference.

Her taking an interest in you eating is her natural curiosity; it doesn't mean she actually wants to eat whats on your plate. And, she is possibly chewing on things to sooth her gums as she could be teething.

Try and stick with the milk for a bit longer, each week gives your baby's gut another week to be prepared for food.

HTH

"I had an older lady for my health visitor and she encouraged mums to give baby rice and veg purees around the 4 months mark, as she believed a BF baby would eventually become unsatisfied with just breast milk for 6 months."

Your HV was talking out of her arse and quite frankly should have been withdrawn from duty til her training was updated.

Chewing hands is a developmental stage, as is watching things intently. Neither are signs of readiness for solids.

breastmilk - average 24ish calories per oz changing over the 24 hours.

plain porridge with water 18-20 calories per oz.

porridge more difficult to digest i should think, so may make the baby not appear to need feeding, however, i gather that part of the point is that babies spend their time growing not digesting so breastmilk is really easy to digest. Its also full of amazing things like antibodies and is antibacterial too so its the best choice out of the two.

the hour intervals that you are feeding your baby sound emtirely normal . 19 weeks classic time for night wakings too.

My DS, who was also a larger baby, seemed extra-hungry from 20 weeks and started night waking and feeding more and more frequently. I stuck with the WHO advice and waited with food until 5.5 months - but I certainly won't be doing that with DS2!

As soon as I gave DS1 his first taste of carrot he was over the moon, and it was obvious he'd been ravenous for weeks. I have pics of him stuffing the spoon into his own mouth at that very first meal. He was actually laughing with delight, and cried when all the food was eaten.

He went straight on to two meals a day and felt much better for it. Hardly used baby rice, made him constipated. Porridge, veg much more successful.

Will definitely keep better eye out for signs of wanting food this time and go with DS2's signals, not blanket advice.

I think 19 weeks is quite early, I held out EBF until 23 weeks as by that point really was BFing 2 hourly day and night, i didn't mind 2 hourly in day but 2 hourly in night was so tiring. I introduced a bottle of formula at 10.30pm as I didn't want to introduce solids before 6 months, and I found that after the bottle of formula he did a 6 hour stretch and was only up once in the night which really helped us get through to 6 months. I posted here for advice and I agreed with the comments that milk more nutricous and calorific than baby rice or carrots hence offering formula top up rather than some baby rice.

My HV (also older lady) said to delay weaning until at least 6 months, although he thought some veggie purees at 5.5 months ok.

PeasPlease, Milk is more calorific than milk + baby rice because the space in the baby's stomach which is taken up by the rice means that there is less space for the more calorific and more fatty milk IYSWIM. Rice + milk isn't as good as milk + milk.

OP, sounds like completely normal feeding to me. Lots of babies wake lots at this stage due to the 4 month sleep regression (more info here, here, here and here.

The sign of her being unsatisfied with milk is weight loss - is that happening?

Trying to gnaw things and put them in her mouth is a normal developmental stage - not anything to do with needing weaning.

Intently watching you is also a normal developmental stage. DS was like this from 4 months, but he was also fascinated by me putting on deodorant - it didn't mean I started giving him deodorant, though!

The NHS recommends encouraging your baby to eat finger foods before 6 months if they show the signs of readiness - ie when they are sitting unsupported and are able to pick up and taste finger foods independently. The recommendations are here.

My 9.5 m.o. feeds at 2-3 hourly intervals in the day and 1-2 times a night, even though eats roughly half an adult portion of solid food at most meals.

EdgarAllen and peasplease - probably because the volume of milk mixed into the babyrice is a lot smaller than the volume consumed during a breastfeed.
Just why bother giving powdered rice? Would you want to eat a platefull of plain rice with maybe a little milk stirred in?

I've got a six month old DS who is also on the 75 percentile line, and exclusively breast fed. He slept through from 10 weeks old, then started waking again when he got to 18 weeks, so I started him on some vegetables (not the dreaded rice!) When he has had rice, he's immediately got very constipated. They have changed the advice from 3 months to a minimum of four, and preferably 6, but you have to remember that you know your baby and each is an individual. If he seems disatisfied after feeding and restless, then he is proably ready for solids. Gnawing hands and watching others eat is a normal stage, and doesn't indicate readiness for other food. Try it and see!

you see, i see that claimed on websites, and usually when they say that food = less calorific than BM, they are talking about fruit/veg purees. I have never seen a calorie comparison of rice vs bmilk vs bmilk + rice.

i wouldn't eat banana porridge either, but they love it.