Advice about starting solids

[Kelsc]

My lo is 17 weeks tomorrow and when I got him weighed three weeks ago he was almost 17lbs.

Anyway he has 36oz per day. He used to sleep through and has done pretty much from birth, but he's now started waking at 4am hungry, this morning he woke up and took a 7oz bottle and drained it!

He seems to get exited whenever we eat next to him.

Is it too early to start? my concern is that he's got eczema, and they say you should be careful with allergies right?

could it just be a growth spurt?

[Freya'sMum]

Hello!

It could just be a growth spurt, and as the recommendation is to delay the introduction of solid foods until at least 6 months, I'd try increasing the quantity of milk first. Next to babymilk, solid foods have very little nutritional value, so don't actually solve hunger in the long term, or nightwakings, and they can actually interfere with milk intake which is what babies need most of all until 12 months!

It can help to think of milk as the Eat in EASY, and solid foods as an Activity, so if you wanted to offer your lo a warm, steamed carrot stick to play with after his milkfeed whilst sat at the table while you eat your lunch (for example) you could see what he does with it - this is the baby-led weaning approach and really helps babies to let you know when they are ready to start solids! There's more about it is the FAQ section.

The recommendation to wait until 6 months is in part about increased risk of developing allergies to foods introduced before the gut is mature enough to cope with them, so if there are already indicators that ds is prone to reactions, you may want to be more cautious!

Ax

[Shdef]

Hi Kels

This exact thing happened to us, too. Same age, same weight, everything. It was true, he was hungry and the milk wasn't enough for him any more. So what we did, we went to the pediatrician and she said don't start solids yet (as we have increased allergy risk in the family, too, eczema, hayfever and asthma) but put him on hungrier baby milk. In Germany stage three milk says four months onwards on it, I don't know how it is at your bit.
I would definitely ask the doctor, he may even tell you to give him rice cereal at night (mixed with formula) as this isn't really an allergen. But it may only be a growth spurt.