when to introduce baby rice?

[reidie]

my son is only 12 weeks old, however he is no longer lasting the 3 - 4 hours between feeds. he takes any thing from 4 -7 oz per feed. several people (family) have suggested i try baby rice, but is he not far t young to try this? what age does he need to be? i thought it was 6 months. My mum insists that because it would be a very small amount he will be fine! HELP!

Well,guidelines say 6 months until food introduced.
Baby rice has far fewer calories than milk.It just sits in little tummies like wallpaper paste and shuts them up.

You'd be better off sticking to milk for now.

Also,giving food is a right faff.Enjoy the peace while you can!

Noooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo! he does not need baby rice...current guidelines say 26 weeks.......

the teeny amount of rice you could possibly try and get into him...would not make a jot of difference......please do not give him rice......

he is probably having a bit of a growth spurt and if he is hungry...milk is the most nutritious, filling and calorific thing you can give him.......

things have changed in weaning guidelines ...weaning too early is a big strain on the digetive system,..and a doubly bad idea if any food allergies in the family.

offer milk as and when he needs it....not rice. which is vile anyway!

yes, current guidelines say 6 months.
this is a classic growth spurt age. all babies go through it,. he will want feeding more but it's perfectly noirmal and will probably only last a few weeks (if that)

never would be my answer it's tastes foul like wallpaper paste

sounds like a classic growth spurt, just up his milk feeds, a few teaspoonfuls of baby rice is going to do nothing really to satisfy his appetite the milk has far more calories

thank you for the advice. it is as i thought. i think i just needed someone to agree with me. thanks again

Never!

Seriously - never. No need for it. Tis vile stuff better off sticking paper to walls.

And at 12 weeks - he only needs milk.

Think about how long you go during the day without something (drink of water, cup of tea, biscuit, Polo mint, three course dinner) passing your lips - I bet it's not four hours!

your very welcome

I know what it's like, people just cannot get their heads around a baby needs only milk for the first 6 months. It's like a competition "my baby is SO advanced he was on baby rice at 8 weeks, milk wasn't enough"

Sometimes you just need someone to say it's fine just to up their milk and agree with you.

sweetkitty - when you say 'up the amount of milk' do you just mean to feed more often? because he doesnt seem to take more milk during his usual feeding times (i make him sound like an animal)and if i do feed him more regularly will this not knock him out of the routine that dh and i have worked so hard to establish?

routine at 12 weeks....great! but his needs will change frequently as he grows and changes.......don;t constrain yourself by expecting him to feed the same every day...we don't do we? a general pattern is good...don;t expect it to be set in stone...!

i drove myself up the wall for the first few weeks after he was born trying to establish his routine, i quickly realised that i need to be flexible! he eats around the same time every day (give or take half an hour for each feed)and has done since day 1. He is a very very good little boy (touch wood!)and i dont want to knock him out of his routine -vague as it is. i see your point though about us not eating at the same time every day. i am just a little worried that it may have a knock on effect to his sleeping pattern and the number of times he wakes in the night for food.

My ds started at 4 months. He was ready though. He was taking about 40 oz of formula a day. Started waking up at night (he slept through at 2.5 months). And got very upset to see us eat, and was curious about what we were doing. I put rice in a spoon he opened wide an hasn't looked back.

Your ds will give you other signs when he is ready.

No need for baby rice. He may well ask for more feeds when he is having agrowth spurt - just give him more milk. The nutrition he needs is milk, even if that menas more feeds and possibly night feeds.

Babies are interested in testing things in the mouth (eg toys and fingers) as at this stage,it is a prime sensory organ-takes in far more information than the hands.

Thus people often interpret this interest with putting things in the mouth as need for solid food.

As for warching people eat with interest,well,babies are designed to watch everything we do with interest,whether it is sorting socks,feeding the cat or having a nice meal.

If it makes you feel any better,I am a speech and language therapist,and part of my training was to know exactly how and why a baby develops.

thank you for all the great advice! i'm still very new to this (MN as well as motherhood) and its nice to have people to ask for advice! thanks again

In the nicest possible way, please do not assume a 12 week routine is going to work forever more. If he's not going 3-4 hours between feeds it's because he's hungry and needs more milk. Your routine will just have to adjust to that. Everything changes, always - that's just how it works.

DS has now started taking 6-7oz bottles! i think the growth spurt is well and truly underway! i think i just saw his routine fly out of he window!