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Weaning

Find weaning advice from other Mumsnetters on our Weaning forum. Use our child development calendar for more information.

Original poster

Is 3 months too young to start on baby rice ??

75 replies

jackie21 · 07/05/2009 21:26

Hi everyone, I am a new mum and to be honest a little bit clueless LOL !! Well my 13 week old baby girl has always been a really good eater since she was born, she was drinking a full one of those bottles of formula in the hospital from the first feed !! We moved her onto 2nd stage milk when she was 6 weeks (although our HV advised not too but when she was on the 1st stage she was wanting 7oz every 3 hours and being sick a lot because there was too much in her little belly) since then she was satisfied with 6-8oz every 4 hours and started sleeping through the night at 9weeks For the past week however she has been stopping at 4oz and refusing to take more. This may sound cruel but if i keep the bottle in her mouth and ignore the crying then she does eventually take the normal 7oz. But today she has just point blank refused to take more after the 4oz, she just doesnt seem interested in taking more. Going from 7oz down to 4oz is quite a big drop. She has always been a good weight, well a little chunk in my case,, you should see her thighs LOL. She was 6lb11oz when she was born but she is 14lbs now.

Now the main question is....is 13 weeks too early to start giving my baby girl baby rice ? I know lots of people and read lots on the internet about people starting at this age and earlier !! She is able to sit up in her chair and been able to hold her head up for a few weeks now, she is very sturdy.

I really dont want to speak to my HV about it because i relaly dont find them helpfully, all they do is go by the book and can only advise by the book, i dont think they understand babies who are not textbook !!

Any advise will be a great help !!

LOL just realised how much I have wrote !!

OP posts:
Original poster
jackie21 · 07/05/2009 23:15

Thank you very much Liahgen

xxx

OP posts:
GColdtimer · 08/05/2009 07:17

jackie, liaghen's post talked a lot of sense. I hope it helps. There really is no need to wean her early and there is no way she is testing you - babies just dont do that. I weaned my DD a little bit earlier due to family pressure and it made things worse. Try to hold out as long as you can.

And in future, use MN as your first point of call, not google!

Lulumama · 08/05/2009 07:29

the best thing you can do is to let her take as much or as little milk when she wants to

each day and each feed can be different

as an adult, you have days when you cannot stop eating, and days you just pick at your food.. same for babies, you cannot expect her to drink the same at each feed, each day

liaghen has given great advice, and i honestly think that just taking a step back and reassessing what you are doing will help.

sounds like she is growing briliiantly on milk, and is not ready for anything else.

click on the 'Babies' topic at the top of the page and there is a link to some excellent info on weaning

Original poster
jackie21 · 08/05/2009 11:45

Yeah thats what I am going to do. She will realise that if shes hungry she will eat. She only took 4oz at lunch time yesterday and was perfectly fine and slept for the same amount of time so she obviously didnt need that extra amount.

Well this morning she took the first 4oz fine then i winded her and i tried her with more and she took it fine and drank 7oz no problem.

I will just let her lead the way and let me know what to do...

Thats for the weaning information, i had a good read through it and was really helpfull, I probably will be back on in a few months when I start the weaning process just so I can get some help and advise when the time is right.

I have started another post about my little ones wind problem if anyone has any advise on that could you reply on that post aswell.

Thanks very much everyone I am now a Mumsnet fanatic, everyone is soo honest and helpfull !!

xxx

OP posts:
Blu · 08/05/2009 11:56

The idea that young babies are manipulative, push boundaries, or test us is a very common myth, handed down wrtly as 'wisdom' by many a parent.

And true, that will start....but you have another 18m at least to go before you have to deal with THAT little parenting challenge! And even then, they are not being 'naughty' - just doing what they have ben programmed to do - try, try and try again in the face of adversity - how else would they learn to walk?

For now, she just expresses her genuine needs, discomforts - and hopefully happinesses.

In fact, babies can survive halthily on milk alone for much longer than 26 weeks...so there's no rush.

Good luck!

lowrib · 08/05/2009 12:22

Welcome to mumsnet jackie21 I've found it's brilliant place to get help and advice, and it's great that you can usually get a reply to something that's bothering you so quickly.

About the amounts your baby takes at a feed, I'd really try not to worry about it. If you think about a breast fed baby, there's no way of seeing how much milk they take, as you can't see the milk going in! So people just have to trust that their babies know how much food they need, and luckily it turns out that actually they do!

With formula I can see it's tempting to compare how much they are eating form one meal to the next, as you can see exactly how much your little one is eating, but in fact it's much better to just let her have as much or as little as she wants. Force feeding her isn't necessary at all, and is probably not very good for her.

Also if she's eating only as much as she wants I wonder if that might help with the wind?

Good luck, and let us know how you get on

muppetgirl · 08/05/2009 14:28

Jackie21

Why not join the postnatal thread from the moht your lo was born?

I have loved my thread for my second son and have been talking to them for just over 2 years now and they have been an amazing help when I needed advice. We actually don't talk about the babies/toddlers all the time...

re weaning my 1st ds was weaned at 15 weeks (guidlines were 16 weeks then) Ds 2 was a large baby -1/2oz off 10lbs but didn't really wean until 27/28 weeks and I was amazed. They're all different!

Good luck
x

MrsMattie · 08/05/2009 14:35

Hi Jackie. Welcome to MN. When it's your first baby it's really hard not to stress over every little detail and also to be racing towards the next milestone. I do remember that feeling! But honestly, your little girl sounds perfectly healthy and happy as she is. Babies can actually get most of their nutrition from milk (breast or formula, doesn't matter) until they are a year old, so there is really no need to hurry with weaning. Good luck!

Original poster
jackie21 · 08/05/2009 14:48

thanks muppetgirl could you direct me to where the postnatah threads are, that sounds like a really good idea, nice to talk to people with babies who are the same age.

OP posts:
imaginewittynamehere · 08/05/2009 15:28

Jackie, Feb PN group Here

Stretch · 08/05/2009 15:36

Hi, welcome to MN!!

Can I just ask, is she on 2nd stage milk, ie 6months plus, or the white/hungrier baby milk?

I ask because I was told you shouldn't give the follow on milk until 6 months because of not enough nutrients?? I'm sure someone will put me right though if wrong!!

Original poster
jackie21 · 08/05/2009 15:38

hiya Stretch its the one hungrier babies, Cow & Gate that she is on. It says from birth on the tin.

OP posts:
Stretch · 08/05/2009 15:46

Oh ok! Sorry!

FWIW, DD1 used to be sick a lot of her milk, so I started giving her 3-4oz every 2 hours instead and she seemed to keep that down more, not all the time, but better than before.

smellslikebaby · 07/10/2010 15:21

hi guys im new to mn and im also a first time mum,and i too have been wondering if it was too early to start my lill boy on baby rice as he too is 13weeks an drooling all over the place an constly trying to steal our food lol.
i also panic alot when he goes through days of were he will only take a couple of oz an then another day he will clear 10oz in one sitting an i think that is way too much food! he weights 12lbs12oz but he was 4 weeks early born so i worry constantly about him coz he was a prem baby! but reading this thread has put my mind at rest and i now know to hold off on the baby rice and to just let my little man (who is laughing his head off as i write) to just let him lead the way! so thank you, you guys xxx

muslimah28 · 07/10/2010 19:59

its so good to see how MN has helped you come to the right decision smellslikeababy. one of the above posts offered some very good advice too- use MN as your source of info and to get advice rather than google! it sounds like youve done this, with a good result!!

CherryPie3 · 08/10/2010 18:58

smells like baby, our babies are the same age, well my ds is 14weeks today.

Could your lo be starting the teething process? I've found my little ds is biting my nipple when I'm feeding him and I've had to start wrapping dribble cloths around him as he's soaking his clothes through with drool! MAybe time to invrest in teething gel :)

My ds was also a little bit prem, born at 36+1 so not too bad but still only weighs less than 11lbs - I'm not worried thpough as I can see him thriving (wish the hv's would see it that way tho!) :)

CherryPie3 · 08/10/2010 18:59

god my typing sucks!!

lauzaa · 06/01/2011 22:59

jackie dont listen to anyone of these clowns, they are living like textbooks! my LO started on baby rice at 12 weeks & was absoloutly fine with it, i made up one teaspoon of rice with 7 teaspoonfuls or her milk & she ate the lot first time then finished a 8oz bottle after it. she settled better that night than ever before & has continued to do so she is now 17 weeks. if u feel ur LO is ready then give her small amounts maybe even just two spoons to introduce her with her teatime feed, the more she gets it the more she will take. also my LO had colic & reflux really bad & i found this also helped settle her with these she wasnt in as much pain, so go with ur gut instinct afterall the HV is just ususing guidlelines, a mother knows best!
good luck with weaning ur baby.
i also gave my LO porridge with her breakfast bottle when she was 15 weeks & that too went down well, my LO was also sick less after solids :D
xxx

Northernlurker · 06/01/2011 23:22

Old, old thread and even I who weaned at 17 weeks think 12 weeks is too young!

Mummy2Bookie · 07/01/2011 17:22

OMG why would you force feed your baby? There's no excuse for that. It's not rocket science, if baby doesn't drink, then baby is not hungry. Your young age is not an excuse.

peppapighastakenovermylife · 08/01/2011 21:27

Lauzza Hmm. There is a certain comedy element to you saying 'go with your gut instinct' when advice like that puts the baby's gut at risk...

alfonzo · 08/01/2011 21:35

Shock Agree with peppa, what dangerous advice.

jandmmum · 09/01/2011 02:42

not sure why this old old post has been revived by my calculation op's LO is now almost 2! Hmm Lauzza not sure if you're just trying to cause controvesy. Research is just there to be ignored. Your LO may be ok so you think but why take the risk?

Kathryn1002 · 09/03/2011 22:16

I think a lot of answers to this post were very rude, it almost seems like you all forget what it's like to be a new mum that needs advice. Maybe holding the bottle in the babies mouth is not the best thing to do, but to react so harshly was uncalled for.

I'm a new mum, also 21 like Jackie. I have been asking around to see about weaning my baby girl between 3 and 4 months, all my relatives would suggest me going ahead with it as they have found that children these days are more fussy about food, perhaps because before 6 months they have not had anything other than milk.

I understand that the guidelines are 6 months but i think this is mainly for the health professionals to cover their backs incase something goes wrong. My Mother in law is a head nurse at a local doctors practice and she has also told me to wean my baby from 4 months on, although she is not allowed to offer this advice to her patients because of the 'guidelines'.

Jackie, i'm sure whatever decision you make will be the right one, 13 weeks may be a bit early but i would definately give it a go when your little one is 4 months. If it done so much harm why were we all weaned earlier than 6 months? My aunt was put on baby rice when she was 3 weeks and that done no harm. Haha.

I don't intend to cause any arguements, i just feel that being harsh with your comments is not the best way to help a new mother.

Kathryn1002 · 09/03/2011 22:19

I know this is an old post but i just wanted to have my say...