3.5 months - too early to start on baby rice?

[Maiakins]

My dd was a very big baby - almost 10lb at birth and continues to be in the 98th percentile. I breastfeed her, but over the last 2 weeks it doesn't seem to be enough. She gets very hungry after 2 hours and is waking more in the night-time. She is also putting everything in her mouth and gets very upset if she sees anyone else feeding.

Do you think 3.5 months is too early to start introducing a tiny bit of baby rice? I know 4-6 months is the time that most people advise starting, but since she was such a big baby I'm thinking it might be ok now. Did anyone else have a big baby at birth and what was your experience?

I'm not surprised she wasn't gaining enough wait if you'd been told to supplement with formula. And soy formula is particularly problematic - much lower nutritional value than a. breastmilk or b. normal formula, only advised for babies with genuine milk allergy, as is then the lesser of two evils. then to instruct you to add in baby rice as well just compounded the problem! No wonder she stayed so tiny, the stupid health professionals were reducing the most nutritious and fatty item in her diet, ie breastmilk.
I know advice changes, but your dd's poor weight gain on top-up and solids just demonstrates what crappy advice this was. Current advice is based on demonstrable facts: breastmilk is the most suitable food for babies, standard formula is fine, early weaning before babies' digestive system is ready puts them at risk of developing food allergies.

I have recently heard that the important bit of 4-6 months is the AFTER 4 MONTHS bit... and that 6 months was brought in to 'advance the average' age of weaning because lots of mothers were weaning before 4 months with detrimental effects. Don't offer this to dissuade you, Maiakins, but interested to know if others have heard this?

I'm sure you're right Edam, and I would get different/better advice today. I'm not sure why the hospital put her on Soy formula; I think they thought as she was prem that ordinary formula might start an allergy or something. Then I was advised to carry on giving what she'd been having. It was so different with my first one; he was totally BF till weaning and gained weight fine. I did continue BFing dd for a further 8 months or so (stopped just before she was one) but obviously, as you point out, she was getting less of it than she could've been). Still, all a long time ago now and she has turned out normal size, though quite short (genetic that one, as I'm short too).

It's brilliant to see all this. I had introduced b rice at 3.5 months BECAUSE dd wasn't putting on much weight and the spoon encouraged her to take a bottle. Having read all this, she hasn't had any solids today and I won't be re-introducing them for another few weeks. I agree that there is too much emphasis on weight gain when a baby is obviously thriving but HV has a way of making even the most relaxed mum panic!

Oops actually hadn't seen that your dd was prem, no idea whether it's advised for prem babies. But as you said in your post, she's fine, tbh although it's useful to take advice on board they all survive whatever the trend at the time is... all those poor babies raised the Truby King way in the 40s managed, but can't imagine leaving a tiny baby to cry to 'exercise their lungs' or sticking them outside in the pram in all weathers now

Actually Edam there was a post once from one of those babies who was still having counselling as an adult thanks to those methods.

Really? That's interesting. Saw a documentary once with a poor woman whose husband had forced her to leave the baby outside a la Truby King IN THE SNOW. Guess the husband was a bully and taking it too far but the 'expert' gave him the excuse he needed. Baby caught pneumonia and died . Poor woman was still grieving something like 50 years later. Awful.
Was just trying to say, whatever we do to them, (almost) all of them survive. Did you see the thread on what we were fed as babies? People posted that they'd been given watered down Carnation!!!!!

Everything I've seen that looks reliable says that the appropriate recommendation is 6-9 months; the American Academy of Pediatrics says 6 months because the later figure was judged to be too big a jump and there is one study suggesting that introducing cereal after 6 months can cause problems (but fewer problems than introducing it early).

This has to do with the age at which the digestive tract matures, and not with size or the quality of water where you live. Whether it's what your grandmother would have done depends on the age and location of your grandmother.

Kellymom on solids has lots of good info.

I agree to try to hold off for a while. Recent research has linked early solids to development of diabetes as well as the other problems already discussed.