H's feeding has changed over the last two weeks. Shes been feeding constant and I put it down to a growth spurt. Now yesterday I cUght Rowan holding An apple I e to her mouth. I took it away and she just screamed. Gave her other things but she kept crying. So put it back to her mouth and she was chewing and sucking on the apple. Trev suggested I try her on baby rice today I was nit sure as she's not even 4 months yet. I BD her first then gave her teaspoon of baby rice that went straight down not one bit came out her mouth. She started crying so I offered her more milk but wouldn't take it. So offered more rice and she's gobbled that down too.

Trev says she's ready but she's not even 4 months yet. I don't wNt to cUse her any future problems I had 5/6 months fixed in my head to start her I just feel like I'm a bad mum by starting her now

What do you think should I just leave her? And start when I intended or see how she goes over the next few days?

Stupid $%&^*(& iPhone !!!! Sorry if some of the words don't make sense

I would go with it hun, babies tell you when theyre ready.....your doing the right thing by offering the milk first, and once shes had her fill, then topping her up with rice.

Years ago, 12 weeks was the time for weaning (i was).....both mine started at 16 weeks through 'them telling me'

xxx

it does sound like she is ready!!! i waited til 5 1/2 months with elijah, he wasn't that interested and although i thought i would wait til 6 months, he suddenly seemed really ready so we went with it

she is really young though so i understand why you aren't sure, i wouldn't be so sure at less than 4 months....i would talk to your hv if they are any good

sorry that wasn't helpful at all!

She is young but I ended up doing Awen at 16 weeks which was about a week before she turned 4m. Shes doing just fine. Go with your instint hon

umm little things like sucking on a apple and one or two spoons or rice isnt going to hurt is it? x

Certainly sounds like she's ready, bless her!!

I started Dexter at 16 weeks (well he did have a couple of tasters before that ) and I did Libby too, like the others have said - go with your instinct hun xx

its just her age putting me off

im not really sure that the ideas that giving baby rice too young can cause problems are totally well researched tbh - i do agree its a good idea to leave it a bit if you can, but if she is ready how about just giving her a meal of rice once a day and try and stick with that for a month or something like that? and just make it with ebm...that way you aren't *fully* doing the whole weaning thing but she is getting a bit more

see that worries me. she was grabbing my head to put the food in faster too! Was actually quite scary LOL and she looked really peeved off when we were rating our dinner and she had to sit there and watch

elijah was like that when he was ready its worth researching a bit as to what the claims are against weaning earlier? maybe give her rice at a mealtime with everyone else so she doesn't feel left out

I started weaning Amelia at 14 weeks actual age so she was one week corrected. I know that sounds awful but it was on the advice of her consultant as her belly couldnt physically hold the volume of liquid it was taking to fill her up.

I researched the issue very in depth and came to the conclusion that it was what was best for her. The guidelines are there for a reaon but they are not there specifically for YOUR baby. You know her best, trust your instincts.

Theres actually large research project going on at the moment called the eat study that is testing the current guidelines two groups of babies. Obviously under full medical supervision so in a few years they will probably change again.

Google it, it makes interesting reading x

Im LOLing at your phone-rating your dinner, it sounds like come dine with me

I did the one meal a day with Awen for a month just at dinner and it did slow things down to manageable levels for that time but if they are ready they are ready

I agree hun if she's ready then go with it. I know lots of people who have had to start weaning early and their kids seem fine. Like the others have said the guidelines are just that - guidelines it's not the law

she's obviously ready or she wouldn't have been able to eat the rice anyway

x

I think you know when she's ready. I was told by the hv because Jamie was big I might have to start him early. She did advise me to try and keep him exclusively bf until 6 months but that's because of my stomach problems, my gluten intolerance and the number of allergies we have in our family. Other than that she did say it was just a guideline. The whole thing with blw is that babies will eat what they need when they need it and I guess that would apply to a younger baby as well. I did keep Jamie exclusively bf but only because he didn't show any interest with food until the last week. If he's shown interest earlier I would have given him food earlier

Sounds like shes ready, she is young but what can you do if she seems ready. Maybe try just giving her baby rice, not other foods until she's a little bit older. We weaned Imogen at 16wks but just gave baby rice till she was about 19wks, then starting introducing purees then didn't introduce meat or anything too heavy till 6months

gracie had baby rice at 12 weeks because at that time she was having 9 x 9ox bottles of hungry baby milk and she was still hungry but she is fine it just meant that we had little hands stealing our food earlier than originally planned lol,

Go with what H wants, sucking on an apple is fine as all she will be getting is the juice x

Well She had her 40 Min feed at 7 this morning then we went out.

Got home at 9 gave her another feed (20 mins) she pulled off so i thought this would be a good time to see if she is still hungry wouldn't take the boob so offered her baby rice, scoffed the lot!

It was quite scary too, as her bouncer can be put in a lay down position and a sit up one. I had her in the sit up one and every time i put the spoon near her mouth she'd sit up and push herself forwards mouth wide open for the spoon, she was quite aggressive.

Then at 10:40 she had another BF.

So in 4 hours, 3 BF's and some baby rice. Is she a pig?

I would, I did with lilie at 16 weeks and with hollie sure she was aabout 13 odd weeks (god I dont remember but do with lillie)

Just go with it I say, I didnt tell the HV or anythin lol but im sure she had food before that sure lillie gave her a few things lol xx

i weaned alfie at 15 weeks i thinik. started on rice but he didnt like it so i went with porridge. he took to it really quickly tho and by 6 month or so he was on 3 small meals a day! x

She's actually sleeping!

She barley sleeps for more then 10 minutes during the day and has been zonked out since 12:30

ah the rce has filled her wee belly glad she is sleeping

i dont think its too early but i still hear my mum and grans words ringing in my eyes !

see now i feel bad as she's never really slept during the day. i'm still shocked she's still asleep. she fell asleep in the car i took her out at 1pm to go in and get rowan she stayed asleep, then we got home at 1:40 put her down and she's still soundo.

i'll be waking her up at 3 though for a feed. off to get some things done

shes awake so i'm back on here

I'm going to throw something a bit different into the mix here.......

(ducks under the impending tirade......)

I read somewhere and then really agreed with the idea that baby rice is actually a bit crap. It makes them all full but as it has no nutritional value it's effectively taking up the space that nice nutritious milk could be taking up baby's tummy. In the same way that a person can eat tons and tons of fruit and veg but then be malnuirished because they're not getting enough of the other necessary stuff.

To me 3 months feels a bit too young imho. At the same time I know very well that a nice cup of tea late in the morning is no substitute for a nice yummy biscuit or having my lunch early!

As you're BFing you can't really try switching to hungry baby milk or anything, but how about boosting your supply with some lovely fruit and ice-cream smoothies to thicken it all up a bit, or you could express off some of the early watery milk and offer H more of the thicker later milk?

I vaguely remember a phase of thinking my milk wasn't enough at around this time and that was the advice my HV offered. She said stop worrying about losing the baby weight and enjoy some good rich food. I didn't wait till 6 months though, it was about 4 and half months I did a bit of BLW (that is here's a bit of something that is actual food but that you've no hope of actually eating, but you can stick it in your mouth and gum on it a bit if you like!) prior to doing a combo of BLW and trad. puree route.



Anyway, that's just my opinion and your instinct will tell you what's best for H.

If you do keep going with the solids though - look out for some exciting nappies!!