Early weaning?

[MrsHD]

Hi all,

When Dd was a baby govt guidelines were to wean from 16 weeks, but we started at 13 wks as she was ravenous. She's a very healthy girl with no weight or health probolems so I don't feel we did a bad thing.

I have a very big, hungry new baby and no way on this earth can I see us lasting til 6 months on milk alone. We're nowhere near weaning yet, but I must confess I'm looking forward to the day when he can have something a bit more satisfying than milk in his tum. He's mainly Bf with some FF on his extra hungry days.

Just wondered whether anyone here would consider weaning from 13 weeks? I'm not talking meat and two veg, just say one baby rice meal a day for a while?

Thanks.

i thought the advice was that you should try to wait until AROUND six months but shouldn't give solids before 17 weeks.

i began at 16 weeks with dd just baby rice like you say and i also have a very big hungry baby who is currently 10 weeks and is now feeding every 2 hours in the day so i dont think im going to last much later than 16 weeks either. my daughter has had no problems and i would say she came on tons once i did start introducing baby rice as she drank very little milk.

no, personally I wouldnt - having read why you're not supposed to start weaning until around 6 months I wouldnt take the risk - why are you so keen to do it early anyway - milk is much more satisfying than a bit of baby rice - they just need more milk feeds at that age.

Its like the SIDS guidelines IMO.

Some babies feed more than others - some need feeding every 2 hours and some every 3 or 4 - that doesnt mean they need baby rice at all.

IMO saying that one child who has been weaned early has had no problems is rather like smokers who say that they have smoked all their life and it has done them no harm...

Even if your baby is very very hungry, and you need to feed her or him an awful lot, could it really hurt you that badly just to wait those few weeks? It might seem endless to you but it really isn't long in the grand scheme of things. Even waiting until 18 or 20 weeks might be a better idea than weaning at 13 weeks, don't you think?

Also, formula or breastmilk does actually have more calories than baby rice or equivalent. The only reason they need it more often is that it's easier to digest. If you give your baby something else, you won't actually be satisfying him or her, you'll just be tricking his stomach into taking longer to digest something that's of less nutritional benefit. I can't really see the point, tbh, at least not from the baby's point of view.

I thought that the guidelines had recently changed to start weaning between 4 and 6 months, when your baby is ready. If you start early, stick with easily digestible foods.

No, the guidelines are around six months and never before 17 weeks.

Everything Horton said

Can a few spoonfuls of baby rice ever equate to an additional BF, visit www.kellymom.com theres a table of calorific values of typical weaning food versus BM and FM.

If you wait until around 6 months you can ramp up the quantity of food quicker and give protein, dairy and wheat if not allergic

the problems associated with early weaning aren't immediately evident and can develop later on in life such as ibs or allergies.

i was of a similar oppinion when i first found mn but after reading some of the threads on this subject (& there are a lot) i understand the guidelines better. there's been a good one recently on blw before 6 months. if you have the time to read through it all, there's some very good advice and information!

What starlight said. Lol at Hell on earth growth spurt as well - so true. A few weeks ago my then 15mo started waking at night again and milk was the only way we could settle him. I thought he CAN'T be hungry after the amount he's eaten. Anyway, it settled again after a few days and I then realised that all of a sudden he was no longer requiring turn ups on his 12-18 month trousers!

Growth spurts - get used to them!

good post from starlight

it is categoric advice to not wean before 17 weeks, and to look for signs your baby is pyhiscally able to digest food other than milk

those signs include loss of the tongue thrust reflex and the ability to sit unaided with good head control

baby rice is not as satisfying or calorific in terms of volume alone than milk

if your baby is hungry, more milk is the safest thing you can give nd the most filling

if you are breastfeeding then the more he goes to the rbeast, the more your supply will reach his demands.

i would absolutely never consider weaning at 13 weeks , even if was 'just' baby rice

I know it can seem counter-intuitive that babies, especially very large ones, can survive, and thrive on a liquid diet alone, but it's true. try thinking about it in terms of calorie content instead - if you were trying to lose weight, would you eat some rice and carrot, or a pint of full-fat milk?

As purely anecdotal evidence - my daughter was 10lb 11oz at birth, remained on the 99.6th centile for height and weight until 6 months, exclusively breastfed, and only as she was weaned did she start to drop down the centiles a little bit.

Growth spurts in a big, hungry baby are a bugger, absolutely, and some days do require a leap of faith, but there is good evidence that there is no harm in waiting until 6 months, and no benefit in starting before 6 months.

[shakes head along with everyone else]

Hungry babies need calories, baby rice has less calories than milk, hence hungry babies need more milk. Feed, feed, feed to keep your milk supply up.

Sorry, didn't realise it was an older thread [slaps self on wrist]

MrsHD I had a baby like yours and he hung on until 6 months - he wasn't even very interested in doing more than playing with solids until 8 or 9 months anyway. He's still a complete chunk at 18 months!