weaning advice needed for 1st time mum!

[inmyopinion]

i am a first time mum to a 13 week old DD and would really like other mums advice on weaning.she is bottle fed, dont know if that makes any diff but i have been told different things about when to start.17 weeks, 20 weeks, or when they start to wake in the night again she sleeps from about 5pm to approx 5 or 6 am
i dont want to start too early and i dont know whether you need to stick to a strict date or if there are signs to look out for.also, how do you do it? i have been told baby rice is the best starter but how much do you give and how often? do you still give them the same amount of milk?? help! many thanks fellow mummys!!

The WHO advice is now 6 months. When you first start with baby rice, mix a teeny bit with her usual milk, and literally give just a teaspoon at first (once or twice a day), to get her used to the texture. Don't freak if she doesn't want/like it - it's a lot for them to get used to! At first, her milk consumption should be exactly the same.

What I would really recommend is getting a book, although from memory I think the NHS book thingy had good advice. We are vege, so our books are maybe too specific for you, if you eat meat.
HTH for now; I am sure more forthright mummies will be along with advice shortly, but I didn't want your post to drop out of sight.

I agree with bugmum, i did exactly what she is telling you to do

DD started at 18 weeks, but hated the rice cereal. Tried her with pears, which she took to straight away. A lot of babies don't like the rice, so bear that in mind when you think she is ready. Was still giving 4 full milk feeds a day, as initially the solid food is so minimal.

26 weeks at the earliest, don't bother with baby rice, just give her FOOD!

if you wait til 6 months you can skip the puree stage, no need for baby rice at all. have a look at threads about blw (baby led weaning) for some ideas.

current advice for introducing solids from UK NHS is 6 months ( 26wks). Earlier than that the risk of baby developing food intolerences/alergies is thought to be higher.
Theres no rush , you have many many weeks to look for info and decide what you want to do and how.
Introducing solids is NO guarentee of solid sleeping. Sleep patterns change as they grow and nothing you can do will stop that.
Check out the weaning and feeding boards for more focused info.
If your in the Uk, talk to your health vistor, they can get you a weaning booklet that is quite good and the book 0-5 which also has some usefull guidelines.

The general advice is 6 months. We started with bananas & mashed sweet potato which DS loved. One of the things to look for is that the tongue-thrust and gag reflexes lessen. There are lots of websites that have advide if you google "when to start solids"