Please talk me out of giving baby rice at 5 months

[naturelover]

DS 5mo is a big hungry boy, fully breastfed on demand. The problem is I'm exhausted as he's up at least 3 times a night to feed.

EVERYONE is telling me to give him solids as it will "fill him up" for longer.

My instinct is NO because a) wanted to do BLW from 6 months, b) guidelines say 6 months, c) he's already sensitive to dairy in my diet so I intend to wean very gently and cautiously.

I did BLW with my daughter and it worked brilliantly, but they are not the same baby so I wonder am I cutting off my nose to spite my face by waiting till 6 months? I'd like to think I'm pragmatic.

I realise that by doing BLW as well it will take longer for him to take in more food.

I am having a real dilemma and would appreciate your advice and experience.

PS I don't think it's a growth spurt, he's been feeding 2.5-3 hourly around the clock since birth

I'd feed him. My 1st baby was given solids when I knew (as his mum) that he wanted more than milk and he was younger than yours.

Your instinct isn;t your instinct as it's what you WANT because it's what you've read. Follow your real instinct.

I'm with TeriHatchet here...you know what your instinct is to do really, it just doesn't fit with the mental picture of how you would manage weaning your ds. To be fair, you could probably try combining the two - a bit of baby rice followed by some blw finger foods that he might (or might not! ) like to play with try.

I don't think hllding off for another 3-4 weeks will make an enormous difference, except possibly to your sanity

DD2 was also still feeding every 2 hours at night at that age, so you have my sympathies. However just before 6 months her sleep started improving (despite not starting weaning until 6 months) and now aged 6.5 months she has only woken once per night for the last 3 nights.

So far she's showing very little interest in solids so the improved sleeping is definitely not linked to weaning in her case. Not sure this helps but just thought I'd share...

You could try it. If it doesn't make a whit of a difference (which going on personal and annecdotal experience from friends it probably won't), then you could go back to just milk for a few weeks.

Nothing to say that once you've given a couple of spoonfuls of baby rice (which lets face it, will be mostly milk anyway) there's no going back.

There are no foods which are as high in calories as breast milk, so even if you give your baby baby rice, your son won't be taking in extra calories. Breastmilk is very calorifically dense (is that real English?!).

I can sympathise, as the advice changed between by dc 2 and 3. My honest opinion is that life is far easier if you can wait, as they get on to lumpier (ie more BLW) so much faster than lots of purees.

Sleep is a totally different issue from food.

One way to help yourself is maybe to think about where he's sleeping - can you just pop him into bed with you for a night time feed so that you don't wake up fully, and can get right back to sleep?

IME food made absolutely no difference to DDs sleep (although she was 6 months when we started). Terrible before, terrible after.

It may make no difference at all to your son.

Oh, and she would never eat rice either. Try it yourself. It is minging.

DS co-sleeps with me part of the night - starts the night in his cot and then joins me in bed later. I think if I was actually getting up properly each time I'd have collapsed with exhaustion by now.

Though often I have to get up anyway to change nappies. He pees so much in the night - no nappy I've tried yet can last the night. Sometimes the nappy change wakes him up fully and of course that's when it's exhausting as he takes a while to settle.

Although I agree BooKangerooWonders that sleep and food are different issues, he does definitely seem to be waking from hunger.

Thanks everyone, I appreciate all your views.

DS is similar, but I just don't think food will make any difference to him - not enough to make me go through the faff of earlier weaning, when he'll be capable of so much more at 6 months, and won't need to introduce food as carefully, or puree, etc. dd was huge (99.6th centile) and a big feeder - her sleep was utterly screwed when she started weaning. I think it's co-incidental, but don't set much store by the weaning-sleeping thing nonetheless.

I have a theory that much of what we do as parents of babies is to fill in the time until they grow out of it themselves...

naturelover - I'm certain DD was waking through hunger too (every 2 hours from birth to 5.5 months ), but for some reason she has stopped feeling so hungry at night and is now managing with just one feed in the middle of the night (it's been 4 nights and counting now ) Hang in there... it'll get easier.

I weaned both of mine at 5 months, because I thought they needed solids.
With ds2, I started off with babyrice and purees etc and then a few weeks later switched to BLW without any problems.
If you as his mother think he needs something else, just try it. It doesn't mean you can't change how you do it at a later date, or if he isn't keen you can stop and start again in a few weeks.
Nothing is set in stone, it is all a process of finding what suits him and we only learn by trying different things.
Don't 'talk' yourself out of doing it, try it and prove he either wants it or he doesn't.

Would she take an expressed bottle? I find when my DD has that she sleeps better. I think it's because it's easier so she has a fuller tummy before drifting off to sleep.

You're so nearly there. I don't think it really will affect sleep necessarily.

You've told us your instinct is to wait until 6 months and I believe you. Follow your instinct.

I've been advised to give an expressed bottle before, by a bf counsellor. The main difficulty is finding the time and opportunity to express with a toddler to run after (impossible).

I wonder if it's my "instinct" to wait till 6 months or the fact that I'm lazy and can't bear to puree stuff after BLW worked so well for DD. And, admittedly, a concern about allergies and a desire to preserve the famous "virgin gut" for as long as possible. He has eczema already and we have some allergies in the family, plus he is sensitive to dairy in my diet already. I've had to give up all my favourite foods!

I appreciate all your answers.

naturelover, my DS now 3 has multiple allergies, we were strongly advised by the allergy clinic to wait until 6 months to wean DD.

I can totally feel your pain as at 5 months she started waking up loads more and everyone was telling me to get her onto solids.

I did wait till 6 months and actually the time went quicker than I thought, and do you know what? It has made bugger all difference to her sleeping, in fact it's got worse as she is now doing a 3am poo.

The real thing is it probably does not matter that much, the evidence against early weaning only shows evidence of actual risk with babies being given solids before 17 weeks, on the other hand there is no evidence of benefit before 26 months. So evidence points to their being no harm in trying but also whats the point

I just gave my dd pieces of fruit and cooked veg to play with at 22 weeks on the assumption that if something went in she was probably ready and if it didn't she wasn't.

anyway just do what you feel like. It is only food after all

obviously meant 26 weeks and not months

"There are no foods which are as high in calories as breast milk"
not sure about that...chocolate fudge cake?

I'm in a similar position, DD is 5 months and desperate for food. Going to do my best to awit until at least 24 weeks and then do BLW - she's already showing the 'ready' signs, sitting up, bringing things to her mouth, screaming when we're eating but refusing a feed - it is fun

I have very reluctantly just started ds1, 17 weeks, on baby rice. He was feeding constantly suring the day and night, seems to be hungrier than my other 4 were.
He has now gone back to sleeping from 9.30pm to 5am, I only give him rice twice a day at the moment and am will continue to bf as much as he wants, but feel that he is more settled.

If your insticts say no, then follow them, just saying what I have done! Good luck

As he has allergy-related issues already I think you are doing absolutely the right thing by waiting until 6 months.

witchwithallthetrimmings do you have a source for that? It sounds a bit like what my HV told me... she said that if babies have had any formula, ever, then they have already been exposed to an allergen so there was no extra risk in giving solids early as long as it was after 17 weeks - so they advised all mothers of FF babies to wean at 5 months I was convinced she must have been mistaken but would be interested to see any research on it.

I do remember how hard it was around the 5 month mark - in fact I did cave and started BLW just using fruit and veg at 21 weeks. However it was more because DS could see the food and wanted it and was getting so worked up at not being allowed it that I thought we might as well let him join in, not a lot went in at first anyway. TBH I can't remember if it affected his sleep or not but it shut people up when they asked! I think if you do decide to wean early it makes more sense to do BLW.

I'm not convinced that if babies are waking up because they're hungrier automatically means you should give them solids iyswim. How does one reach that conclusion? It still doesn't mean their digestive system is mature enough to cope with anything other than bm.

Read all about it:

No rush

agree. I don't have this problem, DD's sleep has always been dreadful

My DS fit the description in the OP. Weaning him made no difference whatsoever, he is now 3 and a bit and eats tons and is still (a) constantly hungry; and (b) not sleeping through, although to be fair he doesn't get fed in the night any more, he wakes for different reasons now.

Sorry. I honestly reckon that's just how some babies are.

We started weaning when baby was grabbing food out of our plates, that was at 5 mo.
From friend's experience weaning early has not helped sleeping through.
also the guideline has only recently changed to 6 mo, it used to be 4mo and some baby jars etc say from 4mths.

You can't go by what baby jars say as they are just trying to sell you a product.

I'm with BooKangaroo. OP, I thought the same as you, I wanted to wait till 6 months but suddenly at 5 months DS was waking in the night, feeding loads. Was greatly helped to delay weaning by reading the weaning section on MN (the site, not the talk forum). Also, apparently there is a very common thing where babies who've previously slept through suddenly start waking and feeding at night around 4.5-5 months. It's a developmental stage and very normal, but often mistaken for 'baby needs to be weaned'.

Before I'd read all this, I got some baby rice, tried to give it to DS and he hated it. Tried some mushy carrots, he hated those too. Nothing really got in, and that's when I reconsidered. As has been said, nothing you can shove in your kid's mouth with a spoon will give them more calories than breastmilk, so I'd save yourself the hassle!

Your instinct will be right. Don't just go on some target you set at the beginning, before you even knew your little boy! You can express some milk to make the baby rice up.

but if you don't want to, then just nod sagely to people and say 'good idea'. But you can't complain about being tired to those people afterwards remmeber!