Is it too early for solid foods?

[Yazza123]

Now my LO just turned 4 Months and she breastfeeds every hour which is exhausting for me as I am up most nights giving her long feeds but she never seems to be satisfied and whenever I eat or chee infront of her she’s extremely interested and starts to open her mouth.
My Health Visitor advised me that it’s not the best option to start feeding your infant from 4 Months even if it’s just one bowl of porridge a day because their digestive systems aren’t full developed yet but a lot of mums young and old have told me they have started to feed their babies from 4 Months and had no signs of constipation or discomfort.
When did you start feeding your infant solids and what would you advice?

I waited 6 months as recommended. BF babies feed regularly.

There is a link between early weaning and obesity. It's really not recommended.

Yes it's too early. Breastmilk is all baby needs. They feed a lot! And if you managed to get a bowl of porridge down, baby would probably get tummy ache or puke it back up. Baby watching you eat and opening mouth etc isn't an indication of wanting or needing food, they just like to mimic us.

Yes. 4 months is the absolute minimum age it should be considered and baby need to be showing all 3 signs of readiness.
Also, first foods are just meant to be an introduction to tastes and textures and milk is the main source of nutrition until 1 year.
You won't want a baby that is overfed on nutrient lacking bulk foods such as porridge.

Also with mine there has never been a correlation between sleep and food.

Frequent waking and feeding are both normal 4 month old development.
Exhausting I know.

Is there a local bf group you can get too?
Ours was a great support for everything including sleep deprivation

I weaned both my large babies at 6 months. One fed almost constantly for months, the other was very much more efficient and easier to feed . He still feeds 3 times a night at 13 months, despite eating 3 large meals a day plus a snack. He had a bottle of formula at bedtime from being young (my first was ebf and refused a bottle so I was keen for my second to have a bottle early ( it made NO difference at all to the amount he fed or slept. Neither did weaning.

I started both on solids at 6 months and both took to food very well.

I would advise you wait til 6 months. There are more calories in breastmilk than in any small amount of food you might get her to swallow. Being a hungry 4 month old means she needs more milk, not solids. It's not long.

I would wait until 6m ideally, although a couple of weeks either side would make little difference IMO. You want their gut to be ready for solids, and you can't tell that from anything you observe from their general behaviour. Plus as already mentioned, milk is far more calorie-dense than porridge or puree so if the baby needs extra calories then more milk would be the way to go.
Can your baby sit upright supported in a highchair? Lost their tongue thrust reflex? Pick things up and put them in their mouth independently? These are necessary skills to wean IMO.
Small babies do feed often, particularly during a growth spurt (which I'm sure I remember there being at around 4mo).

FWIW Both of mine (now 3yo and 21mo) began weaning at 5.5mo after they snatched food from my plate and stuffed it in their mouth quicker than I could move to stop them. After that I figured we may as well just get on with it, although we BLW so they were never really filling up on solids at that stage, rather just getting tastes and learning to chew and swallow. One was sitting unaided by then, and the other was sitting aided comfortably. They were clearly ready. I still stuck with fruit and veg only for a couple of weeks until they were 6mo.

I started at about 20 weeks, I found breastfeeding and night time sleep much more manageable once they were on solids to be honest!
Mine took to food very well and breastfeeds naturally spaced out to 3-4 hourly.

I started at 4 months. It was a conscious decision. I have read all research on weaning I could find and have decided that potential (inconclusive) evidence that early weaning reduces risk of allergies later in life outweighs risk of minor diarrhoea (which is negligible in countries like UK).

I started with introducing vegetable and fruit purees at 4 months and DD only had minor reaction (extra wind) to butternut squash. She liked everything else (carrot, sweet potato, broccoli, courgette, pear, apple, etc).

Here is a good summary of pros and cons of "early" weaning (it is definitely more informative when it comes to weaning than the Kellymom website that references old studies with tiny samples):

scienceofmom.com/2015/05/14/starting-solids-4-months-6-months-or-somewhere-in-between/

Breastfed babies definitely feed little and often. You could always try topping up with formula, or if you don't want to do that speak to a HV or gp. I weaned my son early at 5 months on the suggestion of gp and paediatrician as he was making himself sick with the amount of milk he was having. But I would try and just keep to milk for the time being x

There is a massive growth spurt at 4mths. My EBF baby went from 1 feeding a night (but lots of wakes!) to 4 feedings a night. It lasted about 3 weeks before it went back to normal. It is not a sign to introduce solids