Should I introduce a little baby rice?

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DS2 is 20 weeks and exclusively breastfed. I was fully intending to stick with just the breastmilk until 6 months but this week he is struggling to go more than about 2 and a half hours between feeds (he's always been a 3 hourly boy). He's a big boy at nearly 18lb and was wondering if this might be a sign he's ready for food?

Any advice much appreciated!

Being hungry isn't a sign of being ready for food. In fact feeding baby rice is counterproductive because if they're not ready for solids then their gut can't digest it and they end up hungrier than if they'd just had milk. The signs of readiness for solids are:

Stay in a sitting position and are able to hold their head steady AND
Co-ordinate their eyes, hands and mouth, can look at food, grab it, and put it in their mouths all by themselves AND
Swallow their food. Babies who are not ready will often push their food back out, so get more around their faces than they do in their mouths.

Basically if your baby can sit up in a highchair and feed himself banana then he's ready for solids. If not, not.

Agree with Zuleika- being big and wanting more frequent BF are not signs of readiness for solids. If you haven't read Baby led Weaning then it might be worth a look, even if you are planning to use purees, because it explains really well how to tell if your baby is ready for solid food.

I have a big baby, same age, a bit bigger. He's NEVER gone less than 3 hours.

But milk has more calories than pretty much any alternative. I don't want to fill him up on nutrition-paste!

My DS never went more than 2 hrs. It's normal... Agree with others not to introduce foods before 6 months. It won't help and may be harmful

NutritionLESS paste I meant

On a spoon - not a bottle! I've argued this many times with DM, DSis x 2 and MiL

Thank you

Hello mouse glad to see you again round these parts. My DS went through a big growth spurt around that time and the feeding was relentless. It is perfectly normal and no baby rice is required!

Introduce baby rice if you think your baby is ready !
Dd1 was weaned by a paediatrician at 2.5 months and she's fine.
The health visitor old me last week with DD2 that as long as it not before 17 weeks its not been known to harm babies !!!
Do what YOU think is best for YOUR baby

There's another similar thread at the moment, and I can't link at the moment so I'll repeat myself!

Not long ago 17 weeks was the point at which weaning was advised. DS had solids from around then, but we skipped the disgusting baby rice in favour of purees (tip: baby rice is a useful thickener for purees that are too runny!). He is fine - no allergies etc. It's not a very fashionable view at the moment, but personally I wouldn't discount weaning now...

Hello LAF

Thank you, everyone, for the advice. My DS1 was weaned from 17 weeks (as per the guidance then) which is why I'm a bit thrown by this phase DS2 is going through!

I'm going to put it down to a growth spurt for now and reassess in a week or so if it doesn't settle down. He's just had both boobs and another 4oz that I had in the fridge!

Hopefully he'll sleep for a bit now. Thanks again

If he's had both sides, there is no harm in offering the first side again either.

I weaned DS at around the 17 week mark. He loved his food then. He's almost 1 now and begging to become fussy

They changed the advice from 18 weeks to 26 several years ago because of the link between weaning before the gut is ready and digestive/gut problems later in life such as IBS.

yes, better to look at studies of population and subsequent (e.g.WHO) advice about when to wean rather than individual experiences. It is about the likelyhood of healthier vs. unhealthier (and also longterm health). Did read (maybe sweden, as these things tend to be) that they backtracked on 6 months exclusive bf to 4-6 months (depending on when baby shows interest in food) due to increased gluten allergy when ebf until 6 months. bf alongside introducuction of potential allergy food helps babies reaction to it to prevent intolerances (apparently!!). This doesn't mean meals or anything that would fill them up but just the odd small bit of finger food to explore.
dd likes her milk every 3 hours and shes on 3 blw 'meals' at 9 months.

I have DD2 her first baby rice today she is a dinky 14lbs 21 weeks tomorrow.

She has very short gaps between feeds but always has, I've given baby rice as she's steady when seated with a "prop", got the spoon in her mouth herself and swallowed not tongue trusted it back out. She had been tryi g to grab and eat our food and wailing when prevented. I don't care what anyone says she wolfed the whole bowl, screamed when it had gone and is ready! I also believe in blw hence allowing her the spoon and the choice I will gradually offer other bits and bobs.

My HV has attended recent seminars suggesting the WHO advice is not strong, and in fact there is a window of opportunity between 18-28 weeks in which to introduce a range of taste and texture of solids and missing this increases fussy and problems feeding. So if you wait the recommended 26wks then do purées you get issues introducing textured food. Which is why BLW is good as after 17 wks baby will eat when they are ready.

I believe the USA and a few other European countries rejected the WHO guidelines and still recommend 4-6 months.

softly if you are concerned a out your DDs weight why would you introduce baby rice which is less calorific than baby rice? Have you read the booby whisperers 9 Reasons on baby rice?

I'd love to know more about this seminar and wonder whether it was one of the information days put on by a baby food company. Window of opportunity indeed

I'm not concerned about her weight she's actually jumped a percentile recently, I meant as in she's ready even though she's small therefore it's more about readiness than big babies need weaning early which is a fallacy.

I realise I could have worded it better!

Eau I genuinely don't think do, she'd the first savvy HV I've had and she always investigates behind the research rather than taking at face value. She's a huge supporter of bf and co sleeping based on research.

at eau. I didn't try wine until I was about 20 but strangely really like it. Don't think my Mum missed my wine window

I introduced rice and purées at 19 weeks to my Ds.
He's 13 months now.
I think the whole leave it until they have hand eye and hand to mouth co-ordination is rubbish, my Ds didn't have hand to mouth co-ordination until quite late on (well past 6 months) and there is no way I would have been able to wait that long.
My HV was more than happy for me to wean when I did, simply because my milk alone was not enough for him.
I think people just like to regurgitate generalised health 'guidelines' without knowing your baby.
Do what you think is best, I did and as far as know Ds is ok, no allergies and is not obese.
At the same time I understand many babies can and do go without until 6 months, after all every baby is different.

As with all research, 6 months would have been an average based on the data set available and given certain assumptions. If you plotted every baby individually you'd end up with more of a bell curve. 6 months will suit say 60-75% of a population and there will be outliers either side - so some will need to wean sooner, others later.

Seems like you need to read the other clues they're ready and do what you think is right :)

If you read the précis if research here it does look like the WHO guidelines are not absolute.

I would reading this be prepared to stick my neck out and say it would be better for breastfeeding rates and reducing gastric problems to say EBF to 4-6 months, with an absolute on no weaning pre-4 months.

That way it's clear feeding before the 4 month cut off is actually harmful and makes it seem less like an uphill struggle than stating EBF to 6 months and women giving up as it seems too hard, they won't achieve it so what's the point? UK stats of how many early wean and how many mix or FF show it's not a realistic demand.

'Window of opportunity' - what nonsense! Apart from anything else if you wait till six months you don't need to bother with baby rice and purees you just go straight to textured food, so it's a complete fallacy to say that there can be 'problems' introducing textured food later on. DS has never had a puree in his life and I'll be doing BLW with DC3 too.

I will ask her when I see her for sources on this research now I'm curious!

It's funny though anecdotally we know most mothers don't make the 6month mark and on all other aspects of child rearing from disci