Starting Solids

My baby boy is 18 weeks old. I started him on solids at 3 and a half months. He seems to dislike everything and when he does eat, it doesnt fill him up he is still having a bottle every 3 hours. and he is sleeping worse then before.
Anyone else the same, or have gone through that.

Hi,

I'm not to sure what you've tried other than solids, and i don't know if you've spoken to your Dr. about this, but have you tried something like a thickener in his formula? I can't exactly remember the brand (i'm thinking back about 8 years here), but I think there is a Gaviscon Infant thickener and possibly one by Karicare???? I know they are available from the chemist. Maybe adding some thickener to his bottle might make him feel a little fuller?????
I used this for my 8 y.o when he was a baby for reflux.
Thats another thing you could look into, some babies when they have reflux tend to eat / drink more to try to relieve the burning feeling they have in their chest, or refuse because of the pain caused from eating / drinking. This would explain the difficulty settling as well.
I am having the opposite problem with my 20 week old at the moment, we stopped breastfeeding about 4 weeks ago (my milk dried up), and since being on the bottle she's not interested, and has very little appetite. We haven't tried solids yet (i'll be posting my problem today as well hoping for suggestions).
I hope this at least gives you a starting path as to what it might be.
Goodluck, and i'll look forward to reading more when you work it out.

I started my 6 mth old baby on solids when he was almost 4 mths old, although he was a hungry baby he wasnt interested in his milk too much. Once i had him on solids we were both alot happier. He still only has 2 solid feeds per day and 4 milk feeds of 200mls but i learn from him on how much and when to give or increase his food intake. Its hard though! everyday is different.

I have a 4 mth baby girl and she is quite advanced and big for her age. She is breastfeed as well as top ups on the bottle. She still seems hungry and is showing interst in food. My health care nurse urges me to wait another 2 mths, before starting solids, to try and reduce the chance of her having allergies. Unsure what to do? I feel she would be more settled and sleep sounder...

Hi ks,

you said your little girl is 4 mths, how many weeks is she, like is she at the start or end of 4mths?
My little girl is now 22 weeks (she'll be 5mths on Sunday), I started her on rice cereal about 3 weeks ago, because of feeding problems since going to the bottle. She wasn't to impressed with it to begin with, and really didn't seem interested, however I persisted in offering her a little each day after her morning bottle. At the end of last week she started showing some interest (at 20 weeks), and on the weekend we started offering a small amount of weet bix (about 1/4 weetbix softened with boiled water, and a little formula). This week, she has been having 2 teaspoons of rice cereal mixed with formula and 1/4 teaspoon of pureed apple in the morning, and 1/4 weet bix at night, and appears to be loving it.

I think you really need to go off your own instincts and feelings, obviously starting to early wouldn't be a good idea, but if you feel she is ready, offer a small amount of rice cereal and see how she accepts it. Go slow, obviously you wouldn't go rushing into giving her pureed veg or meats for a while, but there shouldn't be a problem with rice cereal and weet bix as they are both fairly natural products with no additives. Usually they say not to introduce eggs to a child until after 6 mths.
Another thing to consider is how at risk your baby is for allergies, do you have a family history of allergies, or do you have any allergies (even as mild as hayfever)?
Check with you Dr. if you are still not sure.

Just for comparison sake, we have a very strong family history of food and skin allergies, my son (now 8) started on rice cereal under medical advise as young as 6 weeks as he had severe gastro oesaphagael reflux, my other daughter (now 5) started on rice cereal at 8 weeks because she was always unsettled. Now considering they both started at about the same time, my son has no allergies or other medical problems, and my daughter had allergies to just about everything. I really think allergies depend more on the individual child, and your family history.
There are brochures and books advising the best time to start different types of foods and what foods have a higher risk of allergy reactions (such as eggs), your health centre might be able to advise where you can get these.
Good luck, i'm sure whatever you decide as her mother will be the right thing for both of you.

Hi there,
My daughter went through stages like these.
He might be having a growth spurt.
Sarah

I read somewhere recently about a formula for hungry babies that's called something like "formula for hungry babies". Apparently Nurture make it. Maybe check that out - it might help?. Other than that I don't know what to suggest - my 5month old just started last week on baby rice and that seems to be going okay. She's more settled and sleeping through again (apart from last night with her teeth!)

Maya is now 4 1/2 months old and I followed my gut feeling and started her on rice cereal + pear last week. She loved it, she was so happy and is enjoying it every day. I've had no problems but in the last couple of days she has had very upset moments where I can't settle her and is wakin more through the night. I feel she is teething, and felt a lump on her gum, how can you be sure?

Hi ks, I read your message and it sounds just like my daughter. She's 5 months this Sunday and the last few nights have been exhausting with her waking up grizzly and hungry because she didn't finish her last feed but lost the plot instead. (She was sleeping 10hrs through previously) She's also been getting upset when I give her solids (snap - I give her baby rice and pear too). I have to calm her down after every 3-4 mouthfuls - she tries to chew the spoon and is just generally cranky. She's definitely teething - dribbles a lot, chews everything, red cheeks on and off, patchy feeding, grizzly. Another check for teeth is look at the gum and if you can see a whitish patch then she's definitely teething. It sounds to me like Maya is teething - hope this helps.

I started my son on pear and banana rice cereal at 3 months in the afternoon. A week later started him on some pureed apple or pear.I then started giving it to him in the morn.A few weeks after that I added some pureed veges in in the afternoon.And went on from there.
He is 6 months on Sunday and he has the 6month cereal in the morn,he loves the multigrain one,he has pureed fruit or vege for lunch and an arrowroot biscuit or teething rusk and for tea he has pureed meat and veg and pureed fruit.If I feed him heinz tins he eats 1 tin in the avo and two at night.But I have been making my own.A box or cereal will last about a week and a half.
I breastfeed him in the morning when he wakes ,he has 2 bottles during the day and then I breastfeed him before he goes to bed at night about 7-8pm.He sleeps all night everynight.
I went to a session this week with a heinz rep who did a cooking demonstration and spoke about what to feed and when.She said to start him on lumpier food now that he is 6months. He will gag but it is a natural action and if I give in to him and give him puree again he will be very hard to feed as he gets older and won't accept lumpy foods.
As far as allergys do not give egg white to babies under 1 or anything with nuts as this can cause an allergy. I steam foods such as pear, apple, plum, peach, peeled grapes, rockmelon, pumpkin, potato, carrot, zuchinni, parsnip, broccoli, peas and I cook some meat, grate it and then I make up different batches and puree.To some I add some eggyolk from a hard boiled egg or maybe some grated cheese.He eats the custards and the gels in jars too.
He loves his food and the more variety he has the less fussier he will be when he is older.On the cyh sa weight chart he is in the middle so he is the average weight for his age.
Don't hold them back and have miserable babies.Seek some advice and let your babies enjoy the wonderful food out there.

i was giving the best advice , if u feel they need solids or extra mills in bottles do it see if there is any reaction after four days if baby is happier go for it babys are all different and most health clinic nurse have no children they are textbook nurses the worst do what makes u and baby happy listen to mothers they know better grin

I start my boy on some solid at 3 mouths now he is 6 mouths old he has only 3 bottles of 240ml a day .
he wakes up at 6am i feed him at 8am then he go to bed at 8.30 untill 11.30 ..........