Feeding baby at 16 weeks?

[Sammx]

I'm a first time mam and absolutely need some advice! My boy will soon be 16 weeks old, he won't stop chewing his hands and takes a lot of milk through the day! He sleeps all night and only wakes once or twice for milk. However because he is chewing his hands so much, a lot of our older family members have all suggested trying some baby rice! I like to try and follow the guidelines and would ideally like to wait till 6 months, but they all say "well we fed ours at 3 months" but that is going back 20-30 years now and of course times change! Our HC said to start weaning at 4months, and I suppose that's only one week away but because I've read so much about starting weaning early, I'm worried about allergies and different problems that might come up. Am I just being paranoid? Any help from mams with the same problem or with babies the same age would be a big help! Thank you

Chewing hands doesnt mean he's hungry. Weaning is time consuming and messy. I'd leave it as long as you can.

The chewing hands is also teething or just what babies do.
My babies were very big (first over 10lbs) andxwhile I breastfed one for five months and the second for a tear, both started on real food at about four months. I think it was bananas at first. Never heard of an allergy connection with feeding food then, and guidelines are just that: guidelines. You do what you think is right for your baby, not what a book/other family/current trend says.

Definitely DO NOT wean at 16 weeks, they’re not ready. If you get helpful ‘advice’ don’t argue just smile and say you’ll look at it or something similar.

If you have a look at the NHS website, it says that chewing fists, night feeds and wanting more milk are not signs of needing to wean. Rather, your baby needs to be able to sit up and hold up their head securely, coordinate their hands to their mouths so they can pick up and eat food and they should be able to swallow, not spit food back out. That being said, some people do believe in weaning from 4 months and of course that used to be standard advice. I started offering solids to my now toddler when he was 5 months - he had super head control and was sitting unaided at that point. I currently have a 19 week old and I'd say he's nowhere near ready yet. Have a read of the signs of readiness and consider how close you think your baby is to being able to manage. My gut says 16 weeks is honestly too little.

I started dd at 17 weeks (the guidance at the time) and in hindsight it was too soon. With ds I started at 23 weeks and it was much easier and less stressful as he was ready then.

NHS recommends waiting until around six months.

Signs of readiness for weaning are:

• being able to sit upright
• a baby picking up food and putting it in their mouth themselves
• swallowing food rather than spitting it out

www.nhs.uk/start4life/weaning/ready-or-not/

We started weaning DD1 at 23 weeks but should could do all of the above. I have a 17 week old DD2 now who is definitely not ready yet. She is also chewing her hands like your DC but doesn’t yet grab food from our plates and shove it in her mouth the way DD1 did before we introduced her to solids.