When does baby start eating baby rice properly

[Boot1]

Have just started weaning DS on Friday aged 14 weeks. Have started with tiny amount of baby rice and at the moment he is just giving me funny looks and practically all of it is dribbled out, which I know is normal. Can't remember when DD aged 3 1/2 started responding and actually eating it. I want to keep going as he is an excellent sleeper and its only been this last week its been unsettled which I presume is due to him being hungry. Any ideas please?

If he is not interested leave it for a week or so. My ds never really liked the baby rice so I used to add pureed pear or apple to it or go for well pureed carrot as it is more intesting. i tend to use the baby rice as an add in to make the purees more filling.

Not ready. 14 weeks is very early and you could try more milk/formula first to satisfy the hunger. I don't think its "normal" for it to dribble out, I think its a sign you should wait. Babies are unsettled for all sorts of reasons.

Boot1 - your babe gets most calories from milk : breast or bottle... not solids. Certainly NOT in the current quantity. It is very common for babies to become unsettled at night at that age.
I know plenty of babies who do not touch solids before at least 20 weeks whether they do or do not sleep through the night... even some who slept through the night, became unsettled at 16 weeks and slept well again at 20 weeks to only start solids at 26 ! His nights are not a sign that he is ready for solids in my humble opinion.

So if your main worry is sleeplesness.,... well increase the milk intake. Very few babies are able development wise and gut wise to start solids before 16weeks..... this is why he is giving you the funny look

Bob... totally agre

my oldest adam took what felt like 5 mins to get on solids. he would woolf it down and cry if you werent fast enuf. i just hope his brother chris is as easy to ween

Bob, Pupuce - I agree. Babies go through different phases of development, which affect their sleeping, etc. - it doesn't necessarily mean they are hungry. My two were both very big, but they didn't have solids until 22 weeks - then they took about 1.2 seconds to get the hang of it!

Boot1 - when you say "dribble out" it sounds like your ds still has his "tongue thrust reflex" which means he will reject anything other than liquid until his body is ready to take anything more substantial. As others have said, 14 weeks is very, very early to think about weaning. 26 weeks is now the recommended age, which is another 14 weeks away from now!

I think there was a thread recently about starting solids having nothing to do with getting a baby to sleep through. It's more about good sleeping habits and lots of wind down time rather than hunger. My ds was 9 weeks when he slept through from his last milk feed at 10pm (5 b/f feeds a day), but was weaned at 24 weeks. He wasn't ready to drop the 10pm feed until that point (98th centile hungry sprog)

Try increasing his milk and wait a while longer if possible. Plus remember baby rice is minging anyway

All the best with whatever you decide, but have a Google search for the tongue thrust reflex thing and see what you think. hth.

Agree with others. I think it's too early for your ds.

Thanks for the comments - very helpful. Trouble is he is not that fussed with his milk. He is so laid back and happy. I think this may be because he was so big when born - 11.10 and is now up to 17.1 he just doesn't need it. He will take between 7-8 oz each bottle and as I say was sleeping all night from 7-7. Think I will leave it another while as see how he goes. Thanks again girls.