Baby rice at 10 weeks?

[Nikki6659]

This is my first baby and my health visitor is pretty useless, so looking for someone who’s maybe done similar.
My baby was 9lb 4oz at birth, he’s now 10weeks and is over a stone. He’s perfectly healthy, in proportion and within NHS guidelines, he’s just a big lad (dad is 6’’4 and built like the proverbial brick outhouse).

He’s very forward for his age, been holding his head up for weeks, pushes to stand up and right now is cutting his first tooth. He has 7oz every 3 hours without fail but is still hungry. I’m wondering whether to give baby rice a go, to start the weening process? My husband and his siblings were weaned between 6-8 weeks under doctors advice as they were such big babies. Granted this was almost 30 years ago.

I just don’t know what to do! Midwife and health visitor said don’t give them hungry baby milk as it just blocks them up 🤷🏼‍♀️
We have no family history of allergies of any kind, but heard all sorts of bad things about weaning too young.

Mmm the advice on having enough teeth came from my last HV so that's worrying..... anyway it's probably just best to follow the nhs guidance www.nhs.uk/conditions/pregnancy-and-baby/solid-foods-weaning/

Babies don’t need any teeth to wean, their gums are pretty hard! Most babies only have a tooth or two at 6 months, some none at all.

I normally don't comment on these early weaning threads but 10 weeks is absolute madness! You will wreck his digestive system as it's not ready yet for any sort of solids. The WHO guidelines now say 26 weeks for solids and years ago the advice was 17 weeks. No one has ever said it was a good idea to start solids at 10 weeks. Please don't do that to your child. Just give more milk. Maybe try hungry baby milk?

My boy was over 10lb born, I was the same, worried he wasn't getting enough, even the Midwife who saw me at home a few days after birth said I'd need to top up such a whopper with formula. I just fed on demand until 6 months-ish, he was also a very strong baby, holding his own head etc as you describe, It was tougher as he got older as he would grab stuff off my plate whist I was eating! From about 5 months I'd let him take tastes but under a watchful eye and he never chewed or swallowed any of it. Good luck op, try to hold off as long as you can to let his little tummy develop xx

He's too young for solids. 6 months is the advice. Baby rice has zero nutrition or benefits. He needs more milk no matter how forward or big he is.

All four of mine were weaned at 4 months as that was the advice back then and they are all fine. Only my first was having baby rice at 12 weeks on the advice of the doctor however it wasn't for weight reasons, she had silent reflux and the doctor thought it would help her keep milk down.

10 weeks isn’t even close to 4 months though!

No solids before 6 months. You'll just make him sick. Give him more milk.

DS2 was 9lb 12oz. He was ebf until 6 months. He's 7 now, and although the youngest in his class, is still one of the biggest.

Dd spoke long before getting first teeth at 18 months .it s no measure of development!
Your baby is not advanced in head holding or legs. It s just typical development.
He is still in pre weaning stage wait til 4 months at least

We were given the go ahead to wean at 17 weeks with Ds2 as he had severe reflux, and this was under guidance of the paediatrician at the hospital.

He was already on prescription formula. Didn't help him so we stopped, just handled the throwing up and and did baby-led weaning at 6 months.

I know lots of older generation folk like to tell us what they did differently 40 years ago. Formula was very different back then, in my parent's circle of friends no-one though twice about dipping a dummy in whiskey to "help a baby sleep" or even put a rusk in a bottle and feed a young baby to fill them up - choking hazard.

I mean we didn't even have seatbelts in the backs of cars never mind car seats

You just have to keep feeding your baby milk. It is all they need and he just needs feeding more often or more milk. It is crap but true.

And baby rice is vile, have a taste

Bloody hell. Just give your child more milk!

Why haven't you upped the 7oz if it's not enough for him?

DD has started on 7oz every 4 hours this past week and she's just under a stone at 15 weeks.

To all people saying ‘give him more milk’ do you not think I’ve tried that?! Clearly that’s the first thing any sane person would do! It doesn’t fill him, he averages about 7oz.

Also to anyone pointing out I don’t have a child genius, I’m quite aware of that, but thanks so much for highlighting it anyway 😂 I guess I’ll hold off entering him in the guinness book of world records just yet. I was simply repeating what I’ve been told by the HV, midwives and doctors I’ve seen over the last 10 weeks.

I’m thankful for the responses of the helpful people, but I certainly won’t be asking for advice on here again. Let hope some of you don’t pass on to your children to be judgmental when someone asks for help!

River cottage do a lovely cookery/weaning boom

So give him milk more frequently then. His gut won't be able to digest solids yet.

I'm not being judgemental, you want us to say, "Start him on solids", but he's way too young. I don't know about ffing, you'll need to ask someone who's done it.

You are only feeding him every three hours so milk must be filling him up or he would be feeding more often or if milk was not enough for him you would be feeding constantly. What do you think a full up baby would look like?

“There is a window of time to prime the gut to accept foods without mounting an immune reaction, and by 6 months you’ve missed the boat.”

This is a myth although repeatedly led worryingly often by HCPs in my experience

As the others have said there is more calories in milk than food, especially baby rice and veg- just up his milk

@Nikki6659 If you've upped his milk what signs is he giving that he's hungry? I'm just wondering if he is exhibiting behaviour that you are interpreting as him being hungry but is actually something else?

Yes I don't really understand either, sorry.

If he's going 3 hours after a feed without being hungry what's the problem? Is it that you think he's having too much milk?

My DD is 8 weeks and has 6oz every 3 hours. It's completely normal. I cannot imagine giving her food in two weeks time. Baby rice is rubbish anyway. DD has a really strong head and holds it up pretty well, but this has nothing to do with be ready for food.

If your DS is finishing 7oz no problem then offer 8oz. He has no need for anything other than milk right now. Agree with @RiddleyW, interested in what hunger signs your DS is giving that perhaps you're misinterpreting. Is he screaming with hunger for those 3 hours in between feeds?

For context Nikki, if you were breastfeeding, at 10 weeks your baby would probably still be cluster-feeding for at least three hours solid at least once in a 24 hour period, and feeding every 2-3 hours other than that.

If he’s going for three hours between feeds and not screaming constantly, why do you think he’s hungry for more than milk?

Nikki why do you think he’s not full? That doesn’t really make sense if he’s being offered as much milk as he wants

If you think hes still hungry but wont take more than 7oz at one feed, then decrease the time in between feeds. Try a few daytime feeds with just a 2 hr gap in between, or 2-1/2, rather than 3hrs.