Any point in baby rice?

[camflower]

is there a case for giving it to an exclusively breastfed baby who is five months old next week and putting on weight v slowly?

he used to have a bedtime bottle of formula until just before Xmas, when he rejected it (that was another thread) and has done so ever since and although he is still gaining he is almost on the lowest centile on those damn charts.

Apart from the weight he is bright, alert and incredibly active and has wet/dirty nappies. should I hold my nerve and wait until 26 weeks to wean or is there something to be said in these circumstances for giving baby rice.

Any advice would be welcome

no, baby rice has no calories in it, and may replace some of the milk he is taking. in which case he'll be worse off!
the best thing for him is milk milk and more milk

he sounds absolutely fine. he is putting on weight, alert and active, weeing and pooing.... what more could you want???

someone has to be at the lower end of the chart

Baby rice has the taste and consistency of wet cardboard, it's main aim is to introduce a new texture into your baby's mouth as all they have had is milk. Very first foods should never be given in replacement for milk, they should be in very small amounts so your baby can get use to the texture. The jars which are aimed at babies of 6 months should say on the back that a baby of 6+ months shouldn't be fed the whole jar, they should only have a very little, an older baby should have more. There's way too much in these jars IMO.

It's just that the weight is going on soooo slowly it makes me doubt my milk supply. He was nearly 9lb at birth, lost just over 10 per cent of his weight, which he regained in 2 weeks but at nearly 5 months he is still o nly just over 13lb. As u can see I am paranoid about him being too skinny!

(NB you are using the WHO bf-baby charts, not the red book ones, aren't you?)

cam I reckon it's just the way he is supposed to be.
I can understand why you're concerned, of course, but I honestly don't think you have anything to worry about.

he'd be telling you if he needed anything more

I had this, DS' weight gain slowed at 4 months and the HVs were concerned, said I was stressed which was affecting my milk supply (this is a load of rubbish, stress doesn't affect milk supply) and they said I had to weigh him at 5 months and if he hadn't gained then I was to start him on baby rice.

I was surprised and said "But I thought baby rice had less calories than milk" and the HV (she was a NN I think, actually) said "Oh you'd be surprised, it does make a difference to their weight gain"

I avoided clinic that month and was unable to make it the month after - they didn't ring me or chase me or anything. I did BLW with DS and he didn't really eat much until fairly recently (he is 15m now) - I had him weighed the other week for the first time in months, and he is now on about the 75th centile, he was between the 50th and 25th before, so he evidently hasn't suffered for it.

Remember: "Food is for fun until they're one"

Mrs B: chart in my red book says for breastfed baby boy .... Is that the who one nowadays? Well he is scraping along between the 9th and 2nd on it!

Thanks everyone I guess he is just a skinny minny and likes to wake at least 3 times a night for a bfeed. It is quite hard when everyone seems surprised that he is not having any solids yet. But then why should they know about the latest guidelines if they Did their weaning back in the day ...

Cam, have just googled the charts. Am suprised to see that DD is much higher on those than she is on the ones from the HV.

This is a link to the boy growth chart

Camflower - I am going through exactly the same as you. My little girl was 9lbs 2oz at birth and only lost a tiny amount, regaining her birth weight well within ten days but then it all went slow and she is now seven months and weighs just over 15lbs. I have been really stubborn as if I didn't go for weigh ins i would not be concerned about her. She is the happiest, brightest most active baby in the world. She has been trying to get up and walk since she was a babe in arms and is already crawling and pulling up on furniture but she looks so dainty 9not skinny but slim)!!The midwife tuts and looks worried every time i am in and has tried several times to get me to top up and wean early (once telling me to try a certain formula which was extra fattening and would be "just like giving my baby macdonalds!!!!!!. I caved at 23 weeks and started rice but you know what it has made no difference whatsoever. Also I was put on domperidone to boost my milk (though I didn't think it needed boosting and this just made me feel engorged alot of the time) - my little madame just won't eat any more than what she wants herself. She is still gaining 100 grammes a week roughly. She's top of the chart for height and 9th for weight and 50th for head! I am still beating myself up about it from time to time - thinking that perhaps if i'd have stuffed her with top ups maybe she'd be bigger but I don't think she would have taken them. I agree with thisisyesterday some babies just don't fit into the neat little chart and gaining weight consistently shows growth. Hang in there til you and your baby are ready for the weaning.

Baby rice is terrible stuff. No case at all ime and o. Just keep with the mummy milk. I second what others have said already. My little fairy was born 7 lbs 6oz in August (were you on the August thread?) and now weighs about 12lb 8. She's done what my other girls did- started roughly on the 50% percentile and gradually sunk back over the first 4 months to somewhere near the bottom. I think she's roughly on the 9th at the moment, possibly a little lower. Her sisters got down to the 9th and the 2nd respectively, and are in rude health and still very much growing at 14 and 12 yo.

Actually I think that starting off larger and then gradually sinking through the charts, as long as they're healthy and active, means that they had a really good uterine environment and are therefore well set up for life on the outside. It's got to be better than the other way around, surely? Like my friend's baby born at 5lbs 3, who basically doubled her birth weight in less than two months.

Xwordgeek - couldn't believe my eyes when I googles that chart. Ds was suddenly on the very highest centime ... Then I realised I was looking at 5 weeks, not months ... Yup, he is still falling off the bottomso it must be the same one!

That said I am now feeling much better thanks to everyone's replies. I always find stuff to worry about even where it seems there is none. But then after nearly six years of trying to conceive, endless fertility investigations, severe endometriosis, a couple of failed ivfs and then at least three spontaneous miscarriages you can see why I might always expect things to go wrong. Duchesse I wasn't on the aug babies thread but I was a constant frettting lurker on the pregnancy one!

You and me both camflower- both with the 6 years trying and the fretting...

My HV actually put the WHO charts in my red book. They advise against too frequent weighing, and give useful guidelines to the HV about what type of weight gain is acceptable in fully BF babies.