Early start on solids

I know your baby has to be at least 4 months to start on solids but has anyone started earlier?


My baby is about 18 weeks now and is taking about 27oz of milk a day and weighs about 16lbs and has been sleeping over night for a while now.

From the end of last week, he has been waking up at about 5am screaming with hunger. I started only giving him about 2oz of watered down formula but he just wakes up at 6am hungry again.

I haven't changed his routine at all and just wondered whether he is ready for solids. I know there are concerns with baby's digestive system not taking to solids but is 18 weeks to early to start?

the midwife i took my baby to advised that the baby should be at least 20 weeks, if not the recommended 6 months.


check with the doctor for the best advice.


my bub will be exactly 5 months on the 10th and he had his first teaspoon of baby rice today!

yes, not too good to start too soon unless advised by your doc. and even then, it's still your call - because of my bub's low milk intake, the doc advised solids at 4 months. but i refused...however after 1 month of no improvement in his milk intake, i gave him his first taste of rice today. i figured 5 months starting is better than 4 as their digestive systems are just not matured enough to handle solids!


try cara's advice....or maybe give him 1oz more for each feed during the day and see if that improves the situation?

Thank you both for your advice, I will wait until at least 20 weeks before trying solids on him.

I think I haven't given him a full bottle at 5am because I was too afraid that he would get used to this feed and I would be back to square one.


I'm really excited for you Wheelymate, I can remember my daughter's first teaspoon of baby rice as well and I can't wait for when my son starts solids. Believe it or not, I'm actually looking forward to the mess!

Happychick

Consult a midwife if you are uncertain. A mother in my mother's group in Sydney saw the midwife as her baby had been sleeping through the night until around the same time... 18 weeks and she advised her to simply start solids. Some babies just cannot wait. Ours started at Week 18 too. As far as not starting earlier, think about what Robin Barker said in Baby Love, in the past, there was a time when babies started solids at 6 weeks! So when to start solids is all dependent on the research of that era. My bubba will be 5 months this Sunday and we started two weeks ago only after I endured two weeks of being woken up at 2 or 3 am. Mind u... it's hard to be woken up at that time especially when you are used to sleeping through the night. However, having said that, the midwife at the Early Childhood Centre that I attend did mention that if a baby sleeps from 11pm to 5 am... you should consider that he is sleeping through the night. You may have different advice or views. We are from Sydney so we are simply going by the Australian way. Incidentally, our bubba is on the heavy side... 8.6 kgs at Week 20. We've just given him rice cereal for a week then we moved on to parsnip, carrot and brocolli. Didn't want to ruin his taste buds with fruit just yet as we figured if he doenst know what sweet is like, he would just swallow the greens. And, it worked for us! Good Luck!

This waiting to start solids at 6 months is a relatively new thing. When my youngest 2 were born it was 4 months, sometimes younger. My 2nd child started solids at 6 weeks, which was a fairly common practice in Germany where he was born. He was a very sickly baby, was allergic to milk and had reflux, the thicker consistency of fruit and veg was the only thing he could keep down. The later 3 had all started by 4-5 months. I understand that one of the reasons for starting solids later is the increase in food allergies among babies, but this seems to be increasing each year despite starting solids later than ever. When my kids were younger we were told not to start solids any later than 6 months beacuse the later you start the more difficult it is to get them eating lumpier food, now its don't start before 6 months. I was also told to eat liver twice a week when I was pregant with my 1st, but by the time I was pregnant with number 2 only 14 months later we were told to avoid liver at all costs. I'm not saying either way was wrong, just that advice changes year to year. You know your baby best, go with your gut instinct. All babies are different and some are ready to start solids earlier than others, in the same way that some crawl or walk earlier than others.

I agree that starting solids at 6 months is relatively new as my daughter started solids at 4 months with no problems.

It may be that my son is going through a growth spurt stage but with him, they usually only last a couple of days and needs more sleep and not more feeds. This waking up at 5am has lasted about a week now and I really don't want him to get too used to it.

I can't give him anymore milk at every feed as he won't take anymore than 5-6oz each time. That is why I was wondering whether he is needing to start on solids earlier.

I fed him his last feed later last night at about 11pm, but he was still waking up at 5.30am wanting his milk. He usually sleeps to about 7am.

I'm off to the peditrician (sp) this week for something else, so I will talk too her then and see what she recommends.

In anycase, I will probably start him on solids at 4 months as he seems to be ready ie. staring at me when I am eating and moving his mouth. I fed him a tiny bit water using a teaspoon and he opened his mouth willingly each time and managed to swallow the water instead of spitting it out.