Baby rice! At what age did you introduce it.

[norash40]

At what age did you begin to thicken your childs feeds?

Ds1 who is now 3 and a half- HV said 4 months.
Ds2 who is now 1 and a half-HV said 6 months!

Use your common and KNOW what YOUR baby wants and when he wants it by trying it-he/she will soon let you know if they dont!

It is not about using instinct or common sense unfortunately it is about research showing that there is an issue with a higher percentage of babies weaned earlier than 6 months going on to develop allergic reactions such as asthma / excema later on in life you were told 4 months 3 years ago, fine (so was I) but since then the British govt. has adopted the advice the World Health Organisation has been giving for over decade, which is to wean no earlier than 26 weeks

as parents we can go with the best advice available for the long term health of our children, or we can choose to ignore it and say my instinct says to feed him/her now

I started baby rice when dd was 12 weeks as per the advice at the time. ds1 was 10 weeks when I put a spoonful in his milk at the last feed of the night - this ensured he slept thru the night. He was also 10-11 weeks when he started rice from a spoon. ds2 was around 4 months, again as per advice at that time.

2 years ago ds3 was 4mths when he started solids and the advice for ds4 is 6 months! However, I have followed my instinct, I may add with the support of my HV, and started ds4 on solids from when he was 13 weeks.

I think personally it's a question of common sense, all my babies have been weaned before the recommended age to no ill effects.

For the record, 3 of them had started suffering with eczema before they started solids so I don't go with the theory that weaning early causes it.

The advice is not new but has been around for over a decade. It also helps prevents problems in later life eg irritable bowel syndrome.

A hv that tells you it is okay to wean before 4 months doesnt know what they are talking about and I complained about mine.

Sadly, it takes time for health professionals to be uptodate.

The signs that are usually attributed to a need for weaning are myths. A babies gut is not ready until around 6 months no matter how big the baby is.

Surely common sense is to follow the recommended research rather than a hv who lacks this knowledge.

My HV did advise me of the current guidelines. I think I failed to make that clear - sorry.

What she did say was if I was going to do it anyway regardless of the advice she gave, then she would support me in that.

4 months for my lo. Agreement with my hv over this.

never. Could not understand the concept at all. What's wrong with squished up normal rice?
Gave that at six months.

Slihgtly off thread I know but I really want to know the answer. What is the generally held reason for allergies increasing in the population? It seems that the rate is increasing despite later weaning.

Don't shoot me down in flames, I am not trying to be infmallatory, I would just really like to know.

Slihgtly off thread I know but I really want to know the answer. What is the generally held reason for allergies increasing in the population? It seems that the rate is increasing despite later weaning.

Don't shoot me down in flames, I am not trying to be infmallatory, I would just really like to know.

Or even inflammatory

We're not as dirty, we use antibacterial EVERYTHING (it's in fridge linings and chopping boards, FFS!). Personally, I think it's because of a greater reliance on convenience food - there's no way we can know what effect all the pesticides/preservatives have on us.

And the rise in formula consumption plays a part too - babies are more likely to get eczema and allergies if they are formula-fed.

Cool! Thanks, hunkermunker - it's always puzzled me how the more we learn about how to prevent allergies the more problems we seem to have with them, and although the genetics play a pretty big part most people just go Er when you ask the question. Personally I'm just delighted that it's now actually recognised as a problem; when I was a kid if you said you were allergic to foods people looked at you as if you were from Mars! (yes, I have admitted before to being really old...)

Have you tasted baby rice it is vile!

I started DD on mashed banana just before she was 6 months. I don't understand this competitive thing about weaning babies early.

Next one I'm going to eat the baby rice in labour!!

started ds on baby rice at about 5 1/2 months...