12 weeks want to try baby rice

[chilipeppers]

My little girl is 12 weeks she has a reflux so i can't give more then 5oz of milk every 4 hours. This is fine in the day but i feel if i could fill her up at bedtime she might sleep better or even please god through the night! I'm thinking about trying a little baby rice at her last feed to see if that helps. What do we think about that,to young?

If babies weaned at 12 weeks don't show any problems in the short term, it doesn't mean there will never be any. Some will, some won't, would you risk it though knowing that all the research indicates the gut isn't ready? 17 weeks is the minimum age for weaning.

Why 4 hours though? I know reflux babies need to eat little and often, so could you maybe give her 3-4 oz every 3 hours, for example? DS is 7 months and has never gone for longer than 3 hours between feeds, sometimes 2.5 hours.

I know of very few babies who only eat every 4 hours. TBH I have something to snack on or drink more frequently than 4 hours.Also, the vast majority of babies don't sleep through at 12 weeks, they have tiny stomachs and can't go for so long without food.

BlueKangaroo, this is not a matter of sweet yoghurt versus baby rice. While the rice is way better, it's not recommended before 17 weeks, so the comparison is pointless. And 10 little spoonfuls is not such a small quantity for a 12 weeks' old stomach.

Pootle - in 1994 there was a big review of research and advice changed from 4 months to 4-6 months. In 2003 there was more research reviewed and the NHS and WHO changed their advice to 6 months.

As someone who had two babies with reflux (hence the name) all that happens when you give them solids is that they throw that up instead and its a lot harsher than them throwing up milk.

I weaned one at 16 weeks - made no difference to him waking in the night for feeds. The second one I weaned at 7 mos as I'd learned the hard way to wait!

My DH was weaned early and suffers terribly from IBS and digestive problems. I have heard similar stories from a lot of other early weaned babies.

If a baby can't even sit up to eat, and still has a tongue thrust reflex, there's no way it's ready. Breast milk / formula milk contain many many more calories than baby rice or purees and will fill your baby up much more.

ok ok everyone i get the picture that why i was asking for advice because i thought it was very young but when a doctor tells you something you would like to think it was the right thing to do,and yes thisisyesterday she really did say that i'm not lying! Thanks pettryrudence i'll look forward to the orange vomit :)

Thank you Rita Morgan. All my HV seems to know is what the advice is now - not why it has changed from 14 years ago .

14 years ago it was 4-6 months - I think there was an issue with people thinking you had to start weaning at 4 months rather than it being at some point between 17-26 weeks depending on the individual baby.

wasn't saying you were lying! i just wondered if she had actually said to do it now or just that you could think about doing it "early" but not mentioned an age

i do think that the advice she is giving is um, well, out-dated at best and if I were you I would seek a second opinion.

it might be worth starting another thread in the health bit, about reflux? cos I know a lot of people on here have experience and they may be able to offer more advice on how and when they fed and what worked for them?

is your little one on any medication for it?

Onepiece..no just the one baby, i mean to say when she has a feed she is a little bit sick. i.e wind she just struggles to bring the wind up sometimes. i dont know whether to consider it reflux, sorry to cause confusion!

We tried something called infacol before each feed which helped. Also, close to bedtime I would give my son a few smaller feeds closer together to top him up through the night. Luckily, for us though we had a really good baby that slept through at 3 weeks old. Anyway, hope this helps.

I'll do that,ta thisisyesterday! Yes she's on medication for it bless her. You mumsneters are a fierce lot! I'm new on here (1st baby) and i didn't think my Question would cause such friction!!

Thanks lizzie83 tried infacol. Might be a good plan to do two feeds close together in the evening. And lucky you sleeping through at 3 weeks! Well done!!

chili yes some of us do have strong/fierce opinions!

Some of the topics that result in strong opinions include early weaning, parent and toddler parking and a few others.

If you want to avoid the fierceness, then avoid the AIBU topic.

also if you think your question may be controversial, then do a little search first and you may find a helpful thread already there. :)

However ime on a lot of other boards/websites people will just give you lots of "nicey nicey" comments rather than tell you what they actually think or what the research suggests.

So on certain other websites your post may well have got a load of responses along the lines of "your baby hun, you no best" or "my neighbour's baby had solids at 3 weeks and is really brainy now" or "in the 1970s people weaned at 6 weeks and never did any of them any harm hun".

you missed out breast vs bottle onepiece! lol

it's true though, we do have strong opinions, and I would much rather tell the truth and risk upsetting someone, than just go along with something I thought was potentially harmful to a baby.

ultimately of course it's your decision, but there is a reason people feel so strongly about topics like this!

No No i like it just took me by surprise! Good to get some decent advice,although some people could chill the fuck out a bit! might go and start a new thread now about parent and toddler parking!!

well i was weaned at 6 week (rusk in my bottle) in 1972 and i got a first from cambridge, so it must be fine

weeks, obviously

embarrassingly my first was in ... languages (modern and medieval tho) >whistles

:) 6 weeks!!

well i dunno nonono you don't mention whether you're obese with multiple allergies or not? lol

I agree that the advice seems incorrect right down to the 5oz every 4 hours.
DS1 now 5 had horrible reflux and I was never ever recommended to do anything other than feed on demand and although I was breastfeeding him the dr did say that the same went if I ever switched to formula.

It did take a few changes of meds to get the reflux under control. There sometimes is a case for weaning a baby with reflux early but there is a danger that rather than this thickening up the stomach contents and helping milk stay down thus helping keep acid down, that the solids do thicken up the milk but actually make the problem worse and the acid continues to rise but the thicker food makes this more uncomfortable for the baby.

I would question the 4 hourly feeding thing TBH.

My 4 month old DS had bad reflux for the 1st 3 months. Used to give him 4-5 oz every 3 hours, with infant gaviscon before each feed. This worked well for us, and he slept through the night from 11 weeks. Before you rush to try very early weaning, have you tried gaviscon? It really is a godsend!