Introducing Solids to young babies

[MountainGirl]

My 11week old is constantly hungry,... He is now bottlefed, as I was giving him a bottle after all breastfeeds and he finally got fedup with the breast part of the meal,.. He is downing 180ml every 2 hours and has just reached 7kg,...(he was 3.1kg at birth). My GP has suggested starting him on rice cereal,.and I just wanted to get a second opinion on the pros and cons of doing this.

[the pero clinic]

Dear Scarlett_jasper ,

Does the doctor have any ideas as to why your bub is so hungry? He should be having approximately 150 ml of formula / kilogram of bodyweight each day – which is about 1050mL for him at the moment. If he is having 180mL every 2 hours (12 feeds a day?) then he is more than doubling this amount! He has also jumped up across several bands on the growth chart since birth.

The World Health Organisation recommends that bubs maintain full breast or bottle feeding (breast feeding is preferable where possible) until 6 months of age, when solids can be introduced. Some bubs do commence solids a bit earlier than this on medical recommendation. While it can help to alleviate reflux, assist growth, and subside hunger, the early introduction of solids is not always a good thing for bubs.

It is recommended that bubs are not given solids until 6 months for some of the following reasons:


The tummies are not developed enough to digest and tolerate the food
There is a higher risk of developing food allergies
They are orally unable to manage the purees and are at greater risk of the food going down the wrong way into their lungs.
Solids can end up replacing vital breast or bottle feeds
At this point, I would take your doctor’s advice on board, be aware of the ‘cons’ of introducing solids before 6 months, and be investigating possible reasons as to why your bub is feeding large amounts so frequently.

the pero clinic