Baby rice

[Sylvie]

Today Louis has been crying after finishing (almost) each bottle... which makes me think that he may need something more filling... I am probably going to try giving him some baby rice in the next few days but I have a few questions to ask you:

1) Is there a preferable time of the day to introduce the extra-food?
I was thinking lunch-time but honestly I don't know...
Louis is having a bottle at 8 a.m., one at 12 p.m., one at 4 p.m., then one at 7.30 p.m.

2) Do you have to give less milk when you start giving some baby rice or do you still give the same amount?

3) Do you have to buy follow-up/2nd stage formula or do you really have to wait until baby is 6 months to switch to a different milk?

 

[OopsyDaisy]

1) Is there a preferable time of the day to introduce the extra-food?
I was thinking lunch-time but honestly I don't know...
Louis is having a bottle at 8 a.m., one at 12 p.m., one at 4 p.m., then one at 7.30 p.m.
I started giving baby rice at lunchtime. I would avoid giving it first thing in the morning as your LO may be too hungry for milk.

2) Do you have to give less milk when you start giving some baby rice or do you still give the same amount?
When you first start, you still give the same amount of milk, as you'd only be giving 1-2 teaspoons of baby rice. As weaning progresses, and the amount of food intake increases, then your LO would probably naturally start reducing his milk intake. But you should still aim to give at least 500-600ml/15-20oz of milk a day when weaning is established to ensure he still gets all the nutrients like calcium and iron.

3) Do you have to buy follow-up/2nd stage formula or do you really have to wait until baby is 6 months to switch to a different milk?
You do not have to switch to follow-on milk at all, it is OK to continue with infant milk beyond 6 months.
If you are thinking of switching, I don't think you should switch until after 6 months, as the follow-on milks usually contain higher levels of nutrients which may not be suitable for infants and they are usually a heavier formula designed for when weaning is more established.

 

[loz]

I started with baby rice late afternoon as that's when Emms starts to get her hungriest, but I think Annabel Karmel (weaning expert) recommends lunchtime so that if there are adverse tummy problems you can sort them out before bedtime. Emms was fine though - babyrice is quite mild.

Keep up with the milk intake for as long as possible as he is still quite young.

 

[muppetmummy]

If he's not on it already I'd give hungry baby milk a try first before introducing solids. It can sometimes delay weaning for a bit. I'm using this at the moment as Logan already has eczema so I don't want to risk him getting any more allergies or the eczema getting worse by weaning too early.

 

[kalia]

I just wondered what size of bottles you were feeding. By all means wean but it doesn't seem like your baby is getting that much milk unless there are night feeds you didn't mention or he's having really big bottles so maybe he needs more of the milks he gets rather than a different kind.

I'm averaging the hours here as the meals have been changing times these last few days but DD has a bottle about 4am, 8am, 12pm, 4pm, 7pm and 11pm. She has 6oz each time which the health visitor said was not that much for her age (not that she's being starved, just she doesn't need weaned unless we want to so we haven't as I see no point in giving us extra work ) That's 36oz a day which is more than a litre.

DD is on expressed breastmilk only so I may be talking complete rubbish as there may be big differences between breast milk and formula.

 

[Sylvie]

Thank you for your answers
Surprisingly today he hasn't cried after his first two bottles of the day... he finished them but I could see he was struggling to finish the 2nd at 12... maybe he was just having a growth spurt yesterday

I just wondered what size of bottles you were feeding. By all means wean but it doesn't seem like your baby is getting that much milk unless there are night feeds you didn't mention or he's having really big bottles so maybe he needs more of the milks he gets rather than a different kind.

He's having a full 9oz bottle (260ml) at each feed and since he's started sleeping through the night when he was just under 3 months he's having 4 feeds a day. He seems to be having exactly the same amount as your LO but in less feeds
I go to the baby clinic regularly to have him weighed and he's putting on some weight quite steadily...

If he's not on it already I'd give hungry baby milk a try first before introducing solids. It can sometimes delay weaning for a bit.

He is on C&G Comfort milk and I don't think they do a hungry baby version... will look into it

 

[kalia]

He's having a full 9oz bottle (260ml) at each feed and since he's started sleeping through the night when he was just under 3 months he's having 4 feeds a day. He seems to be having exactly the same amount as your LO but in less feeds

I'm very jealous!

 

[Sylvie]

He's having a full 9oz bottle (260ml) at each feed and since he's started sleeping through the night when he was just under 3 months he's having 4 feeds a day. He seems to be having exactly the same amount as your LO but in less feeds

I'm very jealous!

Sorry

And I've just noticed on your ticker that Louis and your little girl were born on the same day