Introducing baby rice....

[Ilovefood15]

Not sure if I'm posting under the correct section but what age did you first introduce your baby to baby rice. The only thing waking my DS during the night is for his bottle and I wonder if I maybe put a bit of baby rice into his bottle might make him sleep longer?

Any advice appreciated

How old is your lo? Imo los are designed to wake in the night until they are ready to sleep and from my experience any amount of food doesn't make any difference to night waking. 2 of my 3 were up every night for a good couple of yrs my dd 6 still has frequent night waking. Have you thought about trying hungry baby milk or a comfort milk. Both of these are thicker and may fill lo up more.

If you do decide to try it becareful of the teat, adding rice might mean lo struggles to suck it through the teat, maybe try a variflow one.

Please don't add baby rice to a bottle. It is a choking hazard and as such is no longer recommended.

If your baby is over 4 months you could try spoon feeding baby rice before bed to see if it helps. But I would try hungry baby milk before you resort to this.

Have you seen your HV about his sleep? It is quite normal for small babies to wake frequently. From my own experience, introducing solids (which I did at 6 months) made not a jot of difference to their sleeping patterns.

Adding baby rice to a bottle is a choking hazard, please don't do it.

My DS was still waking for a feed overnight aged 1. You don't say how old your baby is, but some babies do still wake up overnight, adding food doesn't make them sleep any longer and they need the calories from milk when they're little.

I see from your other threads that you baby is about 9 weeks old, is that right?

It's completely not advised to introduce any kinds of solids like this before 17 weeks. There are several health risks associated with early introduction of solids. As the PP have mentioned it is also a choking hazard. At 9 weeks waking several times a night is unfortunately completely normal.

Do you have someone who can share night feeds with you, or can you get a family member to come over and stay for a couple of days to help with night feeds? It sounds like you need a bit of a break and some help.

ilove have you read the MN info on weaning? It's very good

Waking at night for food is normal too, no matter what anyone tells you. Their stomachs are so very tiny and your Lo needs the milk to grow and develop.

If you are ffing, have you got someone to share the night feeds with?

Thought you might like 31 ways to get your baby to sleep and stay asleep and this on normal infant sleep

9 weeks? At that age they're supposed to wake overnight. Babies stomachs are tiny and need refilling often, it's all normal. It's exhausting yes, but normal.

My son still wakes at 16 months for a a bottle. Weaning has made no difference. Baby rice is disgusting, don't bother.

Putting baby rice into your baby's bottle is a serious health risk. Please don't do it. Talk to your health visitor, and she can probably help you with deciding when to introduce anything that isn't milk to your baby.

At only 9 weeks old, babies are pretty much supposed to wake up during the night. We all hear of the odd one who sleeps through at 8 weeks, but those babies are very, very rare - they just get talked about a lot! When they this young, their tummies are all only tiny, and they need topping up with milk frequently. And it's milk they need, not solid food at this age.

Hang in there... It's natural to feel exhausted when you have a nine week old baby, but they grow up so quickly. They all sleep through the night eventually.

Once your baby is sitting up, able to pick up food, put it in their mouth, chew and swallow, they're ready. This will happen around 6 months.

A baby waking for a feed does not need weaning. Weaning does not improve sleep, in fact it often makes it worse. Babies need calories and when under 6 months, they need only milk which has everything they need.

Have you got help?

We skipped baby rice altogether and went straight to finger foods at six months or so. Unfortunately starting solids didn't help dd sleep through the night...

There's no real point, there are no calories in baby rice so therefore all that happens is you deny them the milk they actually need. Rice/rusks/anything in a bottle is a choking hazard - if they're ready to eat it, they'll sit up and try and put it in their mouths for themselves!

Babies need their caregivers in the night for reassurance, for cuddles, to feel safe and secure. And because they have tiny little tummies that aren't designed to hold an entire night's worth of food and drink. Babies were designed to breastfeed, and milk production is higher in the quiet, safe, dark night - just because we now have formula as a safe option doesn't change that genetic programming.

Our hv said there wasn't any point to baby rice (or any other "baby" foods for that matter). Just start on real food at 6 months.

it is v tricky in the early months when you crave a full nights sleep.. try and nap in the day if you can, get help with housework where you can etc.

I picked up baby rice in the supermarket when ds1 was five months old. Idly reading ingredients in the queue, I noticed that one of the main ingredients was calcium carbonate, which sounded kind of familiar. . Mulling it over as I stood there, and thinking back to chemistry gcse, I remembered that calcium carbonate is chalk! ! Why would I feed my baby chalk? ?

Breastmilk/formula are balanced foods, with plenty of calories and the nutrients baby needs. Baby rice contains chalk, and has very few calories.

Keep on with the milk. ... and talk to your health visitor.

It's also on the nhs choices website that baby rice contains trace amounts of arsenic. Not sure I would want that going into my baby.
Weaning at 9 weeks is ridiculous, sorry. Your baby is designed to wake through the night. They need feeding, not filling up with something non nutritious.

Yes, rice generally does contain trace amounts of arsenic. Eating actual rice is okay, but when it's processed I think the arsenic kind of becomes more concentrated. That's why you're not supposed to give rice milk to children under five years old.

greenbananas - thanks for that, I didn't know about the rice milk thing. I don't think baby rice has much nutritional value anyway does it?

Baby rice is basically floor sweepings isn't it?
There's a good article somewhere about why it's pointless and no good for babies - something also about it being so processed that it turns to sugars almost immediately when it's in the mouth.

If you're giving your toddler the odd cup of rice milk once a week, I wouldn't worry too much about it. However, it's not suitable as a main drink, because arsenic accumulates in the body.

My ds1 is allergic to dairy, and I have always been told at hospital not to give him rice milk as a substitute. However, I have occasionally given him porridge made with rice milk. Once in a while won't hurt, but it is definitely something to be aware of.

Just a quick one. Mum of DS 7.5months, weaned at 6months on real food but do occasionally mix fruit purées with porridge in the mornings - some of the fruit purées contain baby rice ie. cow & gate Mango, Apple & baby rice ... So I mix a spoon or 2 of that with the porridge.

What's your thoughts on baby rice that way???

I think baby rice is fine in those jars of fruit puree. It's just a tiny amount being used as a thickener, like you might put cornflour in a sauce.

Cool! I never went down the baby rice route ... it's crap & they don't even like it! Makes sense about being a thickener for the pouches of fruit.

It's fine as a thickener for other stuff - I used the free packet in chicken curry when ds wasn't ready for whole grains, and you can make ginger biscuits with apple juice, baby rice, ginger/cinnamon and water too