How much baby rice to give?

[Maia290]

My baby is now 4 months old and I have started giving him baby rice as I think he is hungry with just breast milk.
I need some guidance on how much and how often I can give him rice.
In the packet of 'baby rice' it says to give just 1 table spoon of rice mixed with breast milk, and I am giving it to him in the evening, so hopefully he sleeps for longer at night.
But how should I increase the amount of baby rice he is having?

He's very young to be having solids, you don't want it to reduce his milk intake at this age. I'd keep it to a minimum - it should be just about trying new tastes, not filling him up.

Probably bad news for you, but we were talking about night wakings in my mums group today. The small group we have sees a difference in sleep only after adding meat in the baby food. And these are 6.5 to 8 mo babies. All the early weaners (4mo) are terrible sleepers and purees make no difference. The good sleepers tend to wait till 6mo. Some of the early weaners were up to 3 meals a day and still woke 2-3 a night.

Have you considered the 4 mo sleep regression.

Forgot about the how much bit. You can give as much as your LO will eat. And you increase when they finish the food. You never force food into a babies mouth. So wait for him to open his mouth. Initially I put the spoon on her lips and my DD will suck it in herself. at only 4mo you should watch out for the tongue thrust reflex. If the baby rice just sits on his tongue and he pushes the food out of his mouth instead of swallowing, he's not ready for solids.

At 4 months old, would you consider giving your LO a formula feed rather than baby rice?

You can also get hungry milk which doesnt really have anything "extra" in it nutrients wise, but it does fill up your LO's tummy more and make them feel fuller.

Adding formula to their diet rather than solids at this stage makes more sense to me, but my LO is FF anyway.