Is it 2 early 2 wean 4 month on 2 solids?

Question

My little girl is four months on 4th jan, she is on 4/5 8oz bottles a day. she is waking earlier for a feed in the morning! and constantly muching on her hands.

Answer 1

once she is draining a 8oz bottle all the time and wanting more then weaning the next step.

Answer 2

HEY! my son will be 4 months on 4th of Jan also!! hehe. My son ALSO drinks A LOT of milk every day. he probably only takes about an hour break (if he's awake) between meals. He does sleep longer though throughout the night since he's well fed. But he has been having skin rash since he was 2 month old. It seemed to have gotten worse, which keeps him up half the night. But my doctor says due to allergies that might be caused by new foods, he says i can introduce him to one item every 2 weeks. He suggested that i give him home made baby food (so no preservatives) like smashed apples or spinach. But nothing that is highly allergic like strawberries or kiwi. I think i will check with my doctor again, once he's hit the 4 month mark and if it's ok I would feed him the solids that the doctor recommended

Answer 3

my daughter is around the same age but eating more!!! She is breastfed and feeds every 3 hours during the day and at night we give her an expressed bottle and she can take up to 12oz!!

I was worried that she may need weaning as she too munches her hands after her feed. I spoke to the health visitor today and she reassured me it is fine to feed as i am and that as long as the baby is content between feeds then i should not worry. The hand munching thing is totally normal and a way of exploring their bodies.
I felt reasured and will continue with the breastfeeding as my baby is definately content and sleeps all night from 8pm until 7 am. She does occassionally wake earlier but i give her a dummy and she settles back to sleep very quickly.

Hope this helps.

Answer 4

You know your baby the best. Try some baby rice & see how she goes. We did this with our daughter at 4 months, she turned her nose up so we waited a few weeks & tried again when she started wanting my toast. This time it worked, she only had a spoon a day for the first few weeks, its a very slow process sometimes. Our daughter struggled on mushy food , prefering solids as we think it soothes her teething so we gave her toast & bananas at 5 months building up to a full adult diet along with baby milk by 7 months. Its been perfect for us doing it this way, but for you it may be a whole lot different, my friends baby is 2 months older than ours ( 16 months old ) & is still on pureed so don't expect to go by the book, go by your baby lol.
Its trial & error, just stick to bland foods at first, avoid salt, nuts & so on. Oh & don't put baby rice in your baby's formula, it messes with the nutrients that your baby needs. I only think parents do this in the hope that their baby sleeps through, this is selfish, your baby's health comes first.
Edit; When I say my baby was on a full adult diet by 7 months I meant not pureed, non salty foods such as whole veggies, sandwiches, fish, cheese & the like.

Answer 5

It is really difficult when your health advisor/ midwife/gp tells you 6 months and act like they know your baby better than you..i had to start my girl on 'solids' at just over 4 months..she was clearly hungry and just milk didn't do it anymore..i started off with a little taste of baby rice in the morning and evening, it was just a tiny little bit just to get her used to taste and texture and swallowing of course, after a week a made the potrions a little bigger and then just contuinued like that..after about two weeks i also tried her on some fruit and veg purees...must warn you, it is only about 1 % that actually goes down them the first few weeks :) there's a lot of spitting :)
if she doesn't want to 'eat' then you can give her some liquid baby rice/porridge that she can get form a bottle..might be a good idea to give her one of those in the afternoon anyway, i did, and it took us through the night..till she got more hungry that is :)
Don't worry too much..if you think your baby is ready for the next stage she probably is..just go with the flow and try it in small doses..it is all fun :)
Good luck

Answer 6

It's not too early to give solids, but you can't wean her to only solids, she will still need a lot of formula/breastmilk.

When you start solids, I recommend starting with one meal each day and using oatmeal cereal instead of rice cereal, because rice is constipating and therefore somewhat of a shock to the system for a baby who is only on breastmilk/formula. On one rice feeding, my son went from 4 bowel movement a day to 1 bowel moment every two days.

As far as waking earlier, is she getting a good feed before night or during the night. It is common to have the biggest feeding the first thing in the morning.

Answer 7

munching on her hands may be a sign of teething...4 months is ok to go onto solids. My four month has just begun solids, not much just a little to see how he goes and he is enjoying so far. He still munches his hands and when he does it it is not a sign of hunger

Answer 8

I think its time to start weaning her on baby rice. Its suitable for babies from 4 months. I weaned my first daughter at 4 months exactly but my youngest daughter was weaned at 12 weeks as she was always crying as her bottles didnt fill her up. You dont need to go by an exact days on weaning. She may also be teething as she is munching on her hands. My eldest daughter cut her back teeth at 4 months. My second was 11 months before she cut her teeth. Its all guess work with kids but she sounds as though shes ready to eat solids. Have fun!

Answer 9

i am a first time mom and i weaned my son at 3 and half months because he was doing the same thing and doctor said it was ok to do so . so i think it does not really go on how old they are it goes on when they show you the signs but i would not do it if they are young then 3 months .

Answer 10

Hi there, i weaned my little grl at four months as she was the ame as your little one and it certly helped the amount of bottles she was taking and also helped her sleep through the night.Many would say not to give her solids and she is too young but i believe every child is different and their needs too are also. You know you baby better than anyone, so trust your instincts and give your little one a few spoonfuls of baby rice or mashed up rusk she will love it. Good luck xxx

Answer 11

"constantly muching on her hands"

She is in the 'oral exploration' phase of development. That is normal and not a sign of hunger.

"Signs that indicate baby is developmentally ready for solids include:
Baby can sit up well without support.
Baby has lost the tongue-thrust reflex and does not automatically push solids out of his mouth with his tongue.
Baby is ready and willing to chew.
Baby is developing a “pincer” grasp, where he picks up food or other objects between thumb and forefinger. Using the fingers and scraping the food into the palm of the hand (palmar grasp) does not substitute for pincer grasp development.
Baby is eager to participate in mealtime and may try to grab food and put it in his mouth."

http://www.kellymom.com/nutrition/solids/solids-when.html

"The following organizations recommend that all babies be exclusively breastfed (no cereal, juice or any other foods) for the first 6 months of life (not the first 4-6 months):

World Health Organization
UNICEF
US Department of Health & Human Services
American Academy of Pediatrics
American Academy of Family Physicians
American Dietetic Association
Australian National Health and Medical Research Council
Royal Australian College of General Practitioners
Health Canada"

http://www.kellymom.com/nutrition/solids/delay-solids.html