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Weaning

Find weaning advice from other Mumsnetters on our Weaning forum. Use our child development calendar for more information.

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Original poster

how long did it take for your LO to get used to taking food from a spoon and some of it actually going down?

46 replies

lizandlulu · 06/12/2011 13:56

i have been giving my 18 week old rusk mixed with milk for a couple of weeks now, but she doesnt seem to actually swallow very much at all. she pushes most of it back out, or blows raspberries with it. how long does it take for her to get the jist of what shes ment to do with it?

OP posts:

BarfTheHeraldAngelsHeave · 06/12/2011 13:58

If she's pushing it out with her tougue, it means that reflex hasn't stopped yet and she's not ready for solids. I'd wait a couple of weeks and then try again.

Indith · 06/12/2011 13:59

If she pushes it back out then it is likely that she has not yet lost the tongue thrust reflex. Personally I'd be holding off the weaning a bit longer. See the last point in the box here from the NHS guidelines.

AitchTwoOHoHoHo · 06/12/2011 14:00

you have a huuuuuge window of opportunity for weaning nowadays, most HVs are advising waiting until 6months before giving them anything, so you can really afford to take a step back and wait until she's a bit more ready.

lilham · 06/12/2011 14:09

Have a look at the current NHS guidelines to weaning. Your LO cannot do "They can swallow food. Babies who are not ready will push their food back out." Only if they can do all 3 things in that page, he is ready for weaning. You just have to wait a bit more for him to be ready.

AitchTwoOHoHoHo · 06/12/2011 14:11

and if you do decide to wait until 6 months, then the methods of how to do it open up as well. NHS recommend mashed family foods, with finger foods as soon as the child can manage. and you can have a look at www.babyledweaning.com as well. good luck.

naturalbaby · 06/12/2011 14:26

if that's what she's doing then it's probably too early for her. it took one of my kids weeks and weeks and weeks to get the hang of it. give her a spoon to play with, no solids, no pressure. sit her with you when you eat with a spoon and give her the spoon to play with.

rusks contain gluten (unless you have gluten free?) which isn't recommended before 6months. have you tried baby rice, fruit and veg purees?

Moredofbumsnet · 07/12/2011 12:46

Dc1 one week
dc2 two weeks
dc3 3 months

marge2 · 07/12/2011 12:49

I hate to worry you but I still have to feed my 6 year old sometimes 'cos he is so lazy just doesn't get it.....bless him.

exexpat · 07/12/2011 12:54

If she's 18 weeks, and isn't getting the hang of swallowing, it just means she's not ready yet. My DCs started on solids at about 20 weeks (guidelines at the time, it's now much later) and were wolfing down mashed bananas etc from day one. Is there any particular reason you are trying to start her on solids so early?

Original poster

lizandlulu · 07/12/2011 13:54

im not trying to start her on solids, it is just abit of rusk and milk at tea time. i havent started giving her anything else as i dont think she needs to be fed more.
she has always been a more hungry baby than my dd1, she wants a bottle in the daytime every 2 hours. dd1 didnt have a thing until she was 6 motnhs on the dot.

i wanted to try and fill dd2 up for the night so she slept better. im not worrying about it, or pressuring her into it, or giving her anything else apart from rusk.

i think i will persevere as i am untill she gets the hang of it i just forgot that it was a case of her swallowing the food, not just spooning it into her mouth!

OP posts:

Indith · 07/12/2011 14:34

Rusk is a solid. Giving anything other than millk is starting her on solids however little the amount.

Anyway, you have the information, it is up to you to make the decision. Just please remember what naturalbaby said, until 6 months you should not give gluten so perhaps if you are going to continue replace your rusks with baby rice.

mejon · 07/12/2011 14:37

By pushing it out she's telling you that she isn't interested or ready to eat anything other than milk. If she's needing a bottle every 2 hours then let her have it. Unfortunately giving her rusk won't guarantee that her sleeping will improve. Why waste your time persevering if she's clearly not interested? Really, I'd just stop and try again in a few weeks.

Original poster

lizandlulu · 07/12/2011 14:46

thank you for all the info, i really like other peoples thoughts, i dont have many mum friends who i can ask. second time round you would think it would all come naturally but its so hard to know what to do. all the information seems to contradict itself, the rusks say they are from 4-6 months so i thought i was ok giving her those

OP posts:

naturalbaby · 07/12/2011 14:46

what you are doing is starting her on solids.

baby rice only has one ingredient and is more suitable for a baby under 6months.

Wigeon · 07/12/2011 14:48

Afraid there is no link between taking solids and better sleep, so giving her rusks won't help her sleep longer. Have you tried asking for advice here on making sure she's having enough formula (sounds like you are formula feeding?)?

NHS advice is that you shouldn't give gluten or wheat - so that means rusks - before 6 months (even if you are giving other solids like vegetables) because it could harm your baby - link here.

Wigeon · 07/12/2011 14:50

Ah, if the rusks say "from 4-6 months" perhaps they don't contain wheat or gluten? Have a look at the list of ingredients. But they still won't help your baby to sleep...IME babies sleep through when they are ready and there's not much you can do about it!

Original poster

lizandlulu · 07/12/2011 14:52

i dont know if it is just coencidence but she was sleeping through, then started waking which prompted me to start the rusk and she sleeps through again now. she is a very good sleeper now. i might leave off the rusk for a few days see if she changes

OP posts:

Original poster

lizandlulu · 07/12/2011 14:55

just chgecked the ingredients and the contain gluten AND wheat! will leave off them for a few weeks!

OP posts:

Indith · 07/12/2011 14:57

Lots of babies start waking at night again around that age. It can be linked ot hunger and growth spurts in which case more milk is the best thing or it ca be linked to development and learning new skills which can send their brains a bit haywire for a while and they forget things like how to sleep.

If she is hungry then milk is the best thing, it is more calorie rich and also contains all the nutrients she needs. The risk with early solids is filling her up with "empty" calories.

It is confusing though, there is so much misinformation around and unfortunately HVs are not always up to date on training. It doesnt help that food producers are allowed to label things from 4 months either. The NHS info that has been linked to is excellent though, it is nice and simple and accurate.

TheChristmasTreeSurgeonsMate · 07/12/2011 15:00

There does seem to be a readiness factor - mine got the idea on day one. We were probably a month or more later than where you are now.

lilham · 07/12/2011 16:12

Mine got the idea on day 1 too and its really big lumps since we are doing blw. DD was 24 weeks when we started though.

naturalbaby · 07/12/2011 17:33

beware there is a massive 4month sleep regression/growth spurt/development which confuses everything.

KLou111 · 07/12/2011 19:49

If she's ready, you'll know. Guidelines are exactly that, GUIDELINES/ADVICE!! All babies are different. They are not robots where they are programmed to hit 6 months and shout 'Give me solids now!'
I have been advised by my HV that if my baby is ready before 6 months, I will know. He's 17 weeks on Saturday and has been having baby rice for the last 4 weeks (HV said at our last appt at 13 weeks, she hoped we'd make it to 17 weeks, but if we thought we should give our baby a bit of rice, he should have it at our discretion.
You are the babys mum, and mum knows best!! Yes the research is there blah blah, but no doubt it'll change in another few years and go from 6 to 9 months, the same way its gone from 4 to 6, and 12 weeks to 4 months before that.
If your baby is struggling, give her a few days and try again.
Hurrah on the sleeping through though, my baby since rice now wakes once from 7pm-7am, may have to try rusk to skip the one waking out!!

Original poster

lizandlulu · 07/12/2011 20:02

oh and thanks for the other post, its good

OP posts:

AitchTwoOHoHoHo · 07/12/2011 20:03

the reason your hv said that she'd hope you'd have made it to 17 weeks is because she knows that feeding babies solids before then has been shown to cause kidney damage, so i would take issue with your 'guidelines are just guidelines' thinking. they are there for a reason, and one of them is to encourage people to wean as close to 6 months as they can because it moves the window to around then and decreases the likelihood of damage.

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