weaning onto solids

[Feelingsolow12345]

when did you start your little ones onto solids?

How can you say a 9 month old is perfectly healthy or my child is fine when you won't know for YEARS what damage you've caused their gut??

Rh1annon your Hv was talking complete tripe and clearly isn't fit to be giving anyone advice.
6 months is the guideline, and you should only do it before then with a genuine medical reason to do so, and under the supervision of a doctor. No solids should ever be given to any baby before 17 weeks! That advice is easily accessible to anyone who has the a way to use the Internet!

What signs is baby showing?

I'm not sure either this time! Dd is a week off five months. She isn't sitting up on her own but is very strong and sits up straight in her pram, is very good at hand to mouth coordination and is literally grabbing my hands if I have food and trying to keep it in her mouth. I can't eat an apricot with her on my knee as she gets cross and grabby if I don't let her have a suck. Same with bread. She is exclusively breastfed, a very big baby. My DS was not like this even at six months, had no real interest in food until nearly a year and I just weaned at seven months when he seemed ready, although his milk Intake was still the majority even at 14 months. She is a very efficient breast feeder, sleeps well. No reason to wean except for her very keen interest in food. Never thought I'd think of weaning early but it seems silly to not capitalise on her desperation to taste foods (I mean have a little taste, not pureeing full roast dinner!). Still undecided and so far I just let her have a cheeky lick of stuff.

He cries when we eat and tries to get some. He can almost sit up on his own. Everything goes into his mouth.

I heard not to give them rice until they're a lot older. I can't remember where I heard it though.

My hv said not to put them on hungry baby formula as it can cause them to be even more constipated.

Yeah forget hungry baby milk

It's not worth the box. It just makes them more uncomfortable as it's harder to digest.

If they are hungry you just give them more milk it's that simple.

Though at 5.5 months it's not completely unreasonable to think you could start introducing food.

Baby rice at 3 months though........

I thought you wasn't supposed to give babies any solids before 17weeks??

That's what i thought to.

I'll also read the articles you have posted once I'm home.

If your struggling to get milk down a baby why on earth would you give hungry baby milk??? Also why would you wean!!??

It should be really obvious that you need to focus on upping the milk intake.

I hate all this 'my baby looked like he wanted my food' my DS might go wild over me shaving my legs doesn't mean I'm going to hand over the razor.

It's worth doing some research of ACTUAL signs of readiness.

Also if your doing 8 oz every 2.5 hours you could do 9oz every 2 hours?? Weaning is way more faff and time consuming than milk- I don't know what people moan about having to give milk to a baby.

You would probably find that amount of milk would stop anyway. It tends to even out.

If he's watching you eat and he's almost 6 months he's ready for weaning.

Start with veggies - mashed up carrots, cauliflower, brocolli. Then introduce foods as you go along. Fruit. You have to be a bit careful because of his exczema - you might find a list of foods that are common allergens that you could add bit by bit.

intrigued by what unimagmative said about signs of readiness and some experts do indeed disagree that showing interest in food is a sign (never knew this) because babies 4-6 months want to put anything in their mouths.

wholesomebabyfood.momtastic.com/readyforsolids.htm

I always thought it was a sign!!

Although I love baby led weaning and we started just before 6 months when we had the signs. Weaning is a faff, extra work and smelly poos - why anyone rushes to do it is beyond me

But those signs could simply be that he's interested in something you have that he doesn't. Give him some food to play with by all means but his main source of nutrition should be his milk.

I phoned the hv office and spoke to another lady. I I told her all the signs and about his eczema and she went if I think he's ready then go for it just find a list of what's the least allergenic food. So tomorrow I'll try him on some peas or carrots (depending what I have) then go from there

My older boy. 5.5 months.

My younger boy, 4 months. He wasn't gaining weight and now he finally is. I know a lot of people here go "YES BUT FOOD IS LOWER CALORIE" but my kiddo has breathing issues that mean he was getting fed up and giving up on the boob when he was even vaguely full and he didn't like the bottle. He'll take boob, sip a bit from the bottle and then still eat cereal (mixed with boob milk) so he clearly still has room.

If it's worrying you, the latest study says that actually kids weaned at 4 months may, if anything, be less prone to allergies so I suspect NHS guidelines may soon be updating. Results only came in a few months ago so it may take a while.

www.eatstudy.co.uk/

The study, for those curious.

Sorry to contradict your HV but if your baby has eczema they can be more prone to hay fever and other allergies (as advised by a paediatric dermatologist) so stay away from fruits like apples (as they come from a tree that blossoms) and try root veg like carrots or butternut squash first.

I never thought about the pollen off the apple trees. I'll get some root veg and try him on it.

Um, squash comes off a plant that blossoms...

I'll look into it before I buy anything

I'm not claiming to be an expert at all - just what the Paeds said.
Swg1 the allergy risk is trees that blossom apparently so not ground vegetables like squash

I started mine early he was lactose intolerant so hungry baby wasn't an option and it was clear formula alone wasn't doing it for him. I gave him a bottle then some food after he loved it and settled down by 11 months he was off formula and his lactose intolerance had gone. He's healthy as a horse now no allergies or food issues.

I think the idea is not to replace the bottle with food but to top up with food, for DS he wasn't satisfied with milk alone he wanted something more I'm glad I went with advice of people who knew him and my gut feeling it worked out well for us he was so much more settled on food.

4 months. That's what has been done for decades by my parents my parents parents etc. I didn't personally see a need for her to be on a milk only diet until six months. She drained 8 oz bottles in around 3 minutes which also contributed to my decision.

I'm going to wait till Monday his next hospital appointment before I do give him anything but it'll be the least likely to cause a reaction.