Baby rice

[AmyZak]

I'm going to start my little girl on baby rice she is 16 weeks old. What's the best way, time to feed her with it? Anyone got any ideas?

Firstly, she's too young (17 weeks is absolutely youngest, nearer to 6 months is better), secondly baby rice is not a good first food. Call your health visitor for advice - there might be weaning courses available near you.

Here's the NHS advice: www.nhs.uk/start4life/first-foods

Why have you asked this twice?

She doesn't need baby rice at 16 weeks, or at all. It's a waste of money. Just go with her cues. If she's going longer between bottles then logic suggests she won't be hungry for food either.

I'm only asking for advice. And why do you need to be funny about it peaceloveandbiscuits. I'm a first time mummy who is just asking and seeing what everybody else suggests

Baby rice is tasteless stodge with no nutrition in it. And babies only need milk until around 6m. Then you can introduce lots of different tastes.
www.analyticalarmadillo.co.uk/2011/12/nine-good-reasons-not-to-use-baby-rice.html?m=1

I was a first time mum two years ago and it was impossible not to be bombarded with current weaning advice of: no solid food until six months unless medically advised. Just give your baby milk when she asks for it.

It's very daunting being a first time mum. I've got so many different people telling me what to do, I've just got to do what's best for my lg

I gave my DCs baby rice at 12 weeks, it was the done thing back then, the boxes of it said from 3 months. They loved it and all three did very well on it.

They are now adults....with food intolerances /allergies and digestive problems. I blame the early introduction of baby rice/porridge etc. I wish I knew then what is common knowledge now. Just don't do it Op.

Best thing to do for her is to wsit until six months

I had two big and very hungry babies but my first didn't need food until 6 months (she has allergies incidentally, so might not be caused by that Maiden) and my second 5 months as he was literally drooling at us at mealtimes and draining his bottles dry!

If she seems hungry, why not try increasing milk intake or switch to hungry milk? Mine had formula every 3 hours, sometimes 2 hours - day and night with my boy!

If you leave it to 6 months they can eat almost anything. I read that purees are a leftover from early weaning since a 4 month old can't manage anything else.

Seriously i tried with purees from about 5 months and he was barely interested. First proper meal was Christmas dinner at 6ish months. Loved it and he barely eats purees. So much easier to feed when he was actually ready.

I gave mine baby rice from 3/4 months - but like Maiden that was the standard advice back then. They were fine. Still are. No allergies/intolerances/digestive issues. And I think the same can be said for the rest of their generation. And mine (I was started on rusks at 3/4 months).

But the advice is different now, so if your baby is still happy with just milk then why not stick with it for another couple of months?

The medical advice is very clear that you baby should not have anything other than breast milk or formula until they are 6 months.

This really is very very very early to start with solid foods. I also wouldnt start with baby rice, its not great nutritionally

Why are you starting early?
If it's because she's not sleeping, chewing her hand, watching you eat, reaching for food or feeding more these are all completely normal things for her to do at 16 weeks and do not mean she is ready for food.
Don't listen to your mum/nan/aunty flo who will all tell you they weaned at 8 weeks and it didn't do any harm. They also used to smoke in maternity hospitals too. Times have changed.
Don't let them tell you to put rusk in the bottle either it's a choking hazard.
I've been told all these things by older members of my family and ignored them. Another good one is give them food to help them sleep this doesn't work either. There are more calories in milk and they literally will have a couple of teaspoons of food at first.

Doing the best for your baby is waiting until six months. I have four dc and have always gone by the rule I only feed them things I would like to put in my mouth and baby rice is rank. Leave it until she's older and you can start with proper food.

Mine wouldn't eat the stuff, its gross. (At 6 months.). Don't hurry to wean, its just a stress

Baby rice is polyfilla not baby filler. .
No nutritional value at all.

Hi OP, i started on baby rice about 5 months, she was clearly ready for it, i made it up with formula milk then as it's so bland (it's more to help fill them) i added fruit puree/fruit and veg mix puree. This was after i had given her plain veg puree though as it's best to start them on that to try and avoid them only taking sweeter foods.
I spoke to my HV and she had no issues with the baby rice as long as it wasn't every meal, which it wasn't. For breakfast i'd go with porridge. Make sure baby is ready, mine started dropping milk feeds, as if bored by it, she'd watch us eat and try and grab bits, she also had constipation from Gaviscon so i tried her on prune puree at 4 and half months to help and she loved it, clear to us that she wanted to move on from just milk so we started on the 4 month jars/pouches as they are thinner and smoother than the 6 month ones

Since you're asking the question I would say hold off why do you think she needs food at the moment ?

I have a 91st centile boy who feeds every three hours he is six months now but we didn't start introducing food until 5 1/2 months. His brother however was a milk monster who was on 50oz milk by 17 weeks and we weaned him early as couldn't get any more milk in him. I'm not averse to early weaning when it is warranted but I would talk to your health visitor First

Don't bother

Sorry about the negativity on this thread op!
I was told to start weaning and my DD is 5 and a half months, I would wait until at least four months to start feeding her. Speak to your health visitor if you're worried she's not getting enough food but she may well just be teething! Also the best thing to give your baby when you start weaning is vegetables, it helps them to eat vegetables first. Have a look online on the NHS website, there's lots of help on there. I'm a first time mum too btw it is hard to know what's the right thing to do.

I'm glad you've posted this, I'm ftm too to a 13 week old and have lots of people telling me either wait until 6months or 'on our day we weaned at 3/4months'. Not sure what I'll do yet, when I was reading into it there were guidelines for how you know when baby is ready which said about swallowing etc. There was also a thread the other day saying look at books from early 90s as all modern books are promoting 6months plus. Don't know what I'll do yet you know your baby best.