Boring weaning questions

[Spanglyprincess1]

Baby is 19 weeks old. We started weaning as he's a very big boy, 99th percentile for length and he was heavily watching everyone's food.
He's eating everything and really well. Love's his baby porridge, general veggie mushes etc and fruit. He has some baby snacks which he devoures and apple slices.
When do I up his meals to three? He's currently having breastmilk X 8-10 feeds a day from first thing to last thing at night. He's also ahving porridge in the morning a snack and then vegetable mush and fruit mid afternoon. But he's seeming really hungry and crying for more food quite often. Am I feeding him enough?
He is passing fluids and solids fine still.

It really isn't recommended to give them before 6 months. Same goes for dairy, meat and wheat.

The recommendation to delay introduction of allergenic food is based on old observational (i.e. less reliable) studies. The latest extensive (independently funded) research shows exactly the opposite:

www.food.gov.uk/research/food-allergy-and-intolerance-research/eat-study-early-introduction-of-allergenic-foods-to-induce-tolerance

"The EAT Study has found that introducing allergenic foods into the infant diet from three months may be effective in food allergy prevention when sufficient amounts of allergenic foods are consumed.

For those who fed their infant the recommended amount of peanut there was a significant reduction in peanut allergy, 2.5% in the standard introduction group compared to no cases in the early introduction group . (0%).

There was also a significant reduction for egg allergy- 5.5% in the standard introduction group compared to 1.4% in the early introduction group.

The EAT study suggests that cooked egg can be a safe way to introduce egg into infants’ diets before six months of age which contrasts with previous studies which have used raw egg powder."

I wouldn’t introduce or push more food- I do understand the want to wean early given his size and hunger but if still hungry just offer more milk. At this age they aren’t greedy he’s just hungry.

The EAT study wad done on babies who were breastfed so they do not know whether the same results would be true for formula fed or mixed fed babies which is why guidelines have not changed and probably won't in the near future

There are several smaller studies that have come to the same conclusion as the EAT study for all babies:

www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16740862
www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20920771

The only reason why WHO advocates for delayed introduction of solids is to encourage extended breastfeeding. The only potential downside of weaning between 17 and 26 weeks is an increased risk of minor diarrhoea. That is it - there are no other benefits of waiting for longer.

I do not know whether UK will change the guidelines but at the end of the day it is up to parents to make decisions about their children and I personally find it useful to be familiar with the actual research.

I thought the other major benefit of waiting longer was a safety issue - baby needing to be sitting properly / supporting neck and head weight? To minimise risk of choking? Of course many babies are sitting solidly enough well before 6 months I suppose 🤷‍♀️
Our weaning didn't kick off til 7 months properly, after a run of illnesses. And our boy was fine with milk on the 85th centile. But he was formula fed, so don't know if that makes a difference.

Wow baby too much hungry

I started a debate. Baby can sit up almost unaided - his balance isn't great through so I use a bumbo or support him not to topple when I feed him.
I did introduce a smaller third meal but it was rusk and milk along with some fruit - loads of breastmilk after. He went mental when it ran out - full hissy fit. But he slept through again which im hoping was the feeding plan (fingers crossed the extra fullness helped).

Rusk isn't great either - too sugary

Yes come on, if you’re going to wean early don’t do it onto utterly shite food! Rusks have more sugar in them than a custard cream, and nothing beneficial.

Real, natural food, not processed shite!

I got the sugar free and low salt ones
The normal ones were too high in sugar. Baby likes them.
I make my own meals for him from the farm veg locally normally. He likes the apples best so I usually mix them with squash or pears or root vegetables.
I agree that varying food is best and I try and avoid packet stuff apart from porridge.

If they were sugar free they had added fruit juice and are probably just as sugary. Baby rice or porridge with no added sugar are healthier

Even the "reduced sugar" rusks have as much sugar as a digestive biscuit or a rich tea.

Saw HV today for weighing and she's very happy with him and his weaning. Spoke about foods I'm giving him and again happy with varied diet etc.
His weight is still stable and progressing as expected nearly 18lbs at 19 weeks - giant baby as so tall.
So thank you everyone for advice esp ref baby rice idea and eggs. I'll stick to how things are going an keeping giving him fingerfood after meals to practice chewing etc and milk