Is 15 weeks too early to start with a small!! amount of baby rice

[cupcake78]

DS is feeding up to 7 times a day anything from 7-8oz bottles. He is a big baby.

Last two weeks he has started to wake every three hours in the night for a feed after sleeping throught for over 6 weeks.

I am tempted to give him a very small amount of babyrice as part of his last night feed?

I know people say not until 17 weeks but does 2 weeks really make a difference? I wouldn't give him anything else.

current advice is 26 weeks in fact

IMO any time is too early for baby rice as it is just like wall paper paste and, also, will not necessarily make any diffeence to your DS's sleeping

sorry

As tommy says baby rice is yak!

Lots of people are going to say not until 6 months ... mine had baby rice at 15 weeeks before the new 'rules' but they weren't keen on it tbh. If you do go for it - baby porridge is better but make sure it is gluten free and not ready brek as it has sharper {lol} pieces in.

(((runs and ducks for cover))))

I waited until 26 wks with both of mine. If you do this you can miss out the baby rice altogether and go staright for homemade fruit adn veg purees.

too soon

baby just needs more milk at this age

People don't say not until 17 weeks, they say not until 26 weeks. Up to 7 times a day is not very often for a baby under 6 months old, and 7/8 ounce bottles are fine.

Of course it is entirely your choice, but 15 weeks is 11 weeks before the recommended weaning age.

i think you need more signs that he's ready to wean than the night waking. night waking imo happens for numerous different reasons (teething/ illness/ cold/ just a bloody phase!)
dont start to wean in the vain hope it will help them sleep through - it never does (and i weaned both mine early)

At the risk of having things thrown at me I did with DD (prior to the 26 week recommendation) in fact she was only 14 weeks - mixed with puree fruit/veg. She was/is fine - now nearly 6. Waited longer with DS but still didnt get to 26 weeks, think he was about 19/20 weeks- he was a big baby too.

Look at all the info and the reasons behind not feeding prior to 26 weeks then make your decision. If sleep is the only reason your doing it though it may not work and plently of milk feed babies sleep through - may just depend on the child/habits etc. Good luck with your decision.

I need to ask something here, although I should point out first that I fully intend to wait until DS is 26 weeks before weaning.

We constantly talk about how all babies are different and develop on their own timescales, so how then can we say that all babies shouldn't be weaned before 26 weeks? There must be a case of some babies needing food and being ready for food before then?

BTW I am not trying to start a fight I am actually interested in the answer

totally agree sherby - they are just guidelines though and not 'rules'

The baby police really don;t exist - you are just made to think they do!

Cupcake - I weaned at 14.5 weeks using flavoured baby rice (strawberry and apple I believe). I would do it again. I did baby rice until 17 weeks and then quickly progressed onto fruit and veg (pureed).

If you have any other questions please ask.

HTH

Cupcake

I started dd2 on a small amount of babyrice about 15wks as dd2 just doesn't like milk.

And before your all shout at me dd2 is going from the 91st to the 75th centile as she will only drink 4 to 5 oz, if i try to give her more she is just sick.

She will eat her few spoonfuls of food and will reject milk. SHe is only having 2 or 3 a day.

As to the arguement about early weaning causes more allergies I don't believe this as the number of allergies are rising not falling as they should if you beleive this arguement.

Anyway after my little rant do what you feel what is right for you and dc.

They have a growth spurt at around 16 weeks which can be difficult but will pass.

Baby rice won't even fill a baby up in the way that milk does and the advice is not an arbitary guideline but based on evidence that digestive systems are not developed enough to really deal with anything other than milk before 26 weeks.

Ds was enormous and managed fine on just milk for nearly 7 months.

no, the 'not before 17 weeks' thing is a rule, you risk damaging your baby's kidneys by doing it early.
sherby, i think the thing about the 26 weeks is that the baby might be ready 'earlier' but you as an adult don't really have a clue whether they are or aren't, and since they can't tell you it's best to play it safe.
however, i did BLW and personally if my baby was over 5 months and could clearly feed themselves without any assistance from me i would operate on the basis that they were ready internally as well. that said, dd lasted til 6 months no bother.

Give more milk at this stage. The stuff you will be giving to replace the milk will have less calories anyway.

From Kellymom:

"Developmental signs that baby is ready for solids:

Solids readiness depends on both the maturity of baby?s digestive tract and baby?s developmental readiness for solids. Although the maturity of baby?s digestive system is not something that we can readily observe, research indicates that 6 months appears to be ideal for avoiding the allergies and other health risks of too-early solids. After this point, different babies are ready for solids at different times -- developmental readiness for solids cannot be determined using a calendar.

Most babies are developmentally ready for solids somewhere between 6 and 8 Months

Signs that indicate baby is developmentally ready for solids include:
Baby can sit up well without support.
Baby has lost the tongue-thrust reflex and does not automatically push solids out of his mouth with his tongue.
Baby is ready and willing to chew.
Baby is developing a ?pincer? grasp, where he picks up food or other objects between thumb and forefinger. Using the fingers and scraping the food into the palm of the hand (palmar grasp) does not substitute for pincer grasp development.
Baby is eager to participate in mealtime and may try to grab food and put it in his mouth."

Hope that's useful!

Thanks for all your help.

He woke twice last night for more food. He will not take more from bottles.

He is already chewing, does still have a slight tongue relex but in the last week it has reduced. At meal times he stares at us and sometimes shouts at me during the day when I am eating so I have been giving him a teething ring to chew on which he just smiles at and happily chews away.He can and does grab and put things in his mouth, not to suck but to chew on.

Are these signs he is wanting food? I know he is starting to get teeth so it could just be that as well.

i don't understand, if he woke twice for food you are presumably givin him milk in a bottle and he's taking it? so is he fine, but it's the night waking you're objecting to?

Milk will provide much more nutrition for him than baby rice will. Baby rice is pretty pointless nutritionally and while you may think he will sleep better/be fuller with it, I would very much doubt whether it would make any difference whatsoever!

My ds was an extremely hungry baby but weaning (which I did at 6mo) made absolutely no difference whatsoever to his sleeping and, for a very long while, made no difference to how much milk he took.

Obviously it's up to you but personally I feel weaning for hungry babies is a complete red herring - they need more milk not pointless weaning foods. (And I am speaking as the mother of the hungriest baby in history!!)

Plus weaning is a major PITA so my advice is to delay as long as you possibly can, not start as soon as possible!!

Sorry - also meant to say that his sleep pattern changing is much more likely to be due to teething than feeding. My ds always woke more and took more milk when teething so it may have looked like he wanted more food, but was prob just comfort/habit.

In answer to OP: YES. Weaning before 6 full months is not a good idea. Others have probably explained why (have only read OP, am in a hurry).

the guidelines are 26 weeks for the protection of your little ones health in later life
all bsabies are different so it will dependhow hard it is for the parents to get to the 26 week mark but is worth the possible hecticness and hard work
realistically anything you could maybe get into him will have way less calories in it than his milk so whats the point

7/8 ox bottles at that age and that many of them sounds fine

its a growth spurt age so up the bottles to 9oz and see how he goes

he may not be hungry he may want some water, he may be teething..

If he's happy just chewing it's probably teething. It might explain the night wakings too as he is in discomfort. Giving him things to chew on (not food) is the right way to go IMO.