Indications for starting solids

[nkenward]

Hi all,

My bubs is 20 weeks/4.5 months old. To date he has been happy on 5 x 200ml bottles of milk a day and occassionally might have a 6th, but this has been rare.

Over the past 5 days, he has been constantly wanting his milk and has increased it to a standard 6 x 200ml, and is almost wanting a 7th and occassional I will give it to him for his last feed - just to settle him.

He seems quite content with this, but is a sign of a growth spurt - or is it that the milk is not satisfying him completely?

The mother's group nurse told me not to try solids quite yet - and wait as long as I can, that it could just be a settling issue. But he has been sleeping through the night, and the first feed of the morning - he has a very distinct cry - which I can now predict for each other feed - I am not sure.

I have given him some puree apple - just to see how he takes to eat - and he opened his mouth accepted the apple - and there was no tongue reflex.

I would be interested to see what others think.
Thank you.

[draught]

The reason for delaying starting solids until 6 months is to do with the ability of their gut to digest food - it is not properly developed yet and introducing solids now can lead to major problems later in life with food allergies, obesity etc. While it is great that the tongue reflex is gone, my advice would be to wait for another month at least - if he needs an extra bottle of formula so be it - it isn't hurting him - he is growing so needs more nutrition.

Others will tell you about starting their children early for all sorts of reasons, and that the tongue reflex is a good sign, but the recommendations on waiting are for good reason, so unless you have medical advice to start earlyI would recommend waiting.

[Mum2Lucas]

It is recommended that you dont start until 6 months or even later than that really. I started early though because he is such a hungry baby. And he was always interested in my food so i gave him some of his own because he get's really cranky if i eat food and he just has a bottle. Now he get's cranky if i have a glass of water and he doesnt have any so he has most of my water now out of a cup too. But yeah some eole say that if they start to be interested in your food you can give them some solids.

[the_queen]

I wouldn't start him on solids just yet - his extra hunger does sound like a growth spurt. Like Draught said, if he needs more milk then so be it.

Remember, as much as the companies pretend to care about babies nutrition etc, a baby food company really just wants to sell their product, so that's why it will say on the jar/box "start from 4 months" etc. The best information available at the moment says don't start solids before 6 months, and there's no problem if it's left later than that.
:)

[jonesso]

I started my bub on plain farex with breastmilk @ 20 weeks - just one teaspoon once a day. After one week I added one teaspoon of pureed apples to it. The next week I switched apple for pears. After 4 weeks I upped it to two teaspoons of farex, one of fruit. I introduced a 2nd meal of plain vegies (e.g. mashed pumpkin, or mashed potato, or mashed sweet potato - all plain, mashed with cooled boiled water and/or breastmilk) and at 28 weeks I introduced a third meal and am now gradually increasing his meal sizes.

Why did I start solids @ 20 weeks? Because I wanted to try bub on it and he started to take an interest in what we were eating, imitating us chewing, being very curious when we had food. I only did very small, plain serves and introduced different foods very, very slowly. The solids pre-6 months supplemented breastmilk and formula, they didn't replace a bottle. Now he's 7 months old and having three decent sized meals a day and five bottles of varying sizes - 100mL with a meal, 150mL first thing in the morning and 200mL mid-arvo. The meal ones I will try to cut down abit as he likes diluted juice as well and is so may start to come around to water...

It seems that there is always a new "phase" as to when you should start solids... it used to be 9 months, then 4 months, now 6 months... do what you feel is right for YOUR bub - if he seems hungry then try some farex. If he doesn't like it or seem particularly interested, leave it and try it again in another couple of weeks. There are some bubs I know who are 7 months and only just starting on solids now, have shown no interest prior. There are others I know who were 3 months when they started and loved food and were so interested in it from the start. Babies are so different, I really don't believe that there are any hard and fast rules for it.

If you're concerned speak to your dr about it.

Good luck. PM me if you want anymore food ideas or have any qu's.

:) Sonia

[kyannas*mum*]

its said you are not supposed to start solids till 6 months, but all babies are different, they recomend babies of a certain age are supposed to drink a certain amount of milk but they dont each child is different.

i no people that have started there kids on solids early and later in life they have been fine,

if you baby is accepting it i feel its fine to give them a small amount, a friend of mine took her bubs to chn at 4.5 months and was told to start introducing solids at that point, and he loves it and goes great with it.

so you do what feels right only you can decide.:smiliedance:

[Natasha Wells]

I started DD at 4 months and never looked back. 6 months is only a recommendation as babies/toddlers are having more food allergies. Only approx a year a go babies were told to start at 4 months and when i was little (it seems like such a long time ago :o ) my Mum started me and my brother at 3 months. So if you have no history of food allegeries then give it a try and start slow and see how you go. If you find it isn't working then stop and try again in a month or 2. All of my mothers group started before 6 months and from reading alot of forums so do alot of other mums. So you do what is best for your son you are his Mum at the end of the day and know him best :p

[Rhys'Mum]

I'd suggest waiting. I think my little man would happily have had some earlier but I waited and for us it was definately the best thing.

From what I understand they get enough nutrition from milk until their iron stores start to deplete at around 6months - so there is no nutritional reason to do so. If they have an increased appetite for food then certainly give them more food but you don't need to change it and give them a different type of food just because they are more hungry.

Nappies smell heaps, heaps worse once they start solids - warning, need gas mask - I'd delay that as long as possible (lol).

There can be issues with introducing solids aside from possible allergies. My little man actually cut back really hard on his milk feeds once he moved to solids and while he was getting enough overall to feel full, he wasn't getting enough. He started to become a little unsettled, started waking a bit in the night, growth started to slow down a little - what's worse its apparently not unusual. Being 6months plus it was possibly easier to spot that it was a problem and not just normal for him and easier to identify the cause.

Yes, there's new research all the time and things do change so if there's no absolutely compelling reason not to, why not take advantage of that if it comes from a credible source? If its good enough research for the world health organisation to go to the trouble of changing its guidelines and there's not a clear medical reason eg losing weight while ploughing in milk, then its good enough for me.

[Kaileysmum]

Hi
My bub is the same age as yours. She is doing the same thing. But around this age is when they increase their formular intake to 5x240ml, so your bub is drinking the same by having 6x200mls, so I wouldnt worry about it. Im just giving dd more formular 3x200mls, and 2x240mls, And shes happpy with that. Babys know when they need more or less!!!
As for solids, I have tried dd on them and she wouldnt take them. The recommendations is 6mths, but if you and but are happy starting solids, you should be fine as shes 5mths now and my CHN said to start around 5.5mths. Hope this helps.

[LittleBoysRock]

DS started on solids at 4.5 months as he was also getting hungry. He was also trying to grab out food all the time and really watching us when we ate. He was definetly ready. My CHN agrees. We haven't looked back, he is a great little eater and a VERY healthy little boy :)

Goodluck with starting your baby if you decide to. :)