17 week old and baby rice

[pamelat]

Any opinions?

The health visitor has asked me to wait another week as she is still gaining weight well but she is cranky (and has been for 2 weeks or so), waking frequently at night, grabbing my toast (!) and crying when she cant have it.

I believe she is genuinely hungry, especially at night.

Health visitor said to put her in her own room instead as that could be why is waking so frequently but personally I would rather satisfy her hunger and have her near us?

I know that 17 weeks is meant to be the earliest you start it but what are the negatives for starting it at 17 weeks?

Tiktok, lol!! I have absolutely no plans to wean just now, and especially not using grapes - dd's initiative not mine I'm just a bit confused about the whole showing signs thing. Basically, if she starts grabbing etc (as mentioned by Aitch) later on but is not yet 6 months, should I hold off or let her do it? Really keen on BLW so was wondering if this would be stifling that instinct...iyswim...sorry not explaining myself very well.

Thing is, babies will try to grab anything interesting, especially if you're showing interest in it.

how on earth would a six month old baby know that this stuff is food and will satisfy that feeling in her stomach that we know is hunger, but that she only associates with a need for milk? it's just interesting stuff, imo.

Oh yes dd has tried to feed ds several times, she seems to think he'll love cheerios

Because they are programmed to put everything in their mouths to test them out and find out what it is. Part of their body getting ready is the ability to chew things and push out anything that is too big.

I hate the word "instinct" being used as freely as it is, THAT is instinct, knowing "it is good if I can put this in my mouth and chew and swallow" not "I know my baby better than anyone". TBH IMHO if you don't have the instinct to tell a growth spurt you don't have the instinct to know your childs gut is sealed.

I'm worried when my next one is born Tink will be trying to smother it! She loves to cuddle her new cousin and will pull him by the head if you try to take him off of her. I caught her spoon feeding Bobba last week. She is very much the mother hen I think.

"as you mention it I FELT ME HIS MOTHER!!!! felt that my child was not settling at all..............you tell me my child wasn't ready for solids'...

I can't because I can not physically see inside your child's body, but nor can you.

So although I cannot say he definitely wasn't ready for solids, nor can you say he was, all you can say with any certainty is that he was hungry.

Can you say for sure your child wasn't going through a growth spurt?

I think if we're going to trust anyone's instinct here, it should be the baby's. When their tongue thrust reflex goes, and they start experimenting with putting food in their mouths, anyone has done BLW will tell you that it takes a long time for them to actually swallow anything. Mostly they play with it for a while, mouth it, chomp it, take it out, look at it etc etc

Surely this is more 'natural' and 'instinctive' than shovelling baby rice into them before they can even sit up, in a manner which doesn't allow them to choose whether they want to eat, let alone how much?