Will you please help me with weaning?

Question

I've just started weaning my 4 month old baby. I discussed it with my Health Visitor and she said to go ahead so I tried her with baby rice for a few days and she just spat it out so i kept scraping it back on the spoon and putting it back in her mouth. So today I thought maybe she'd like something with a little more flavour and tried carrot and she also spat that out. So i did the same and scraped it back on the spoon. In the end i managed to get her to have a little bit (about 1/2 an ice cube) but then she went on to have 2-3oz less of her milk. Should I take this as a sign that she is now yet ready to be weaned? How long does it take for babies to get used to the purees and spoons? I have a 4 year old and have done all of this before but I really can't remember.

Answer 1

It is fairly common for doctors and other health care providers to give the go-ahead to begin solids around 4 months.  Some babies take to it at this age with gusto and others just aren't ready yet.  All babies are born with a tongue-thrust reflex that is designed to aid in sucking either from breast or bottle.  This reflex will remain strong until the baby's brain development reaches a point where it signals it's time to subside.  This happens at all different ages for every baby.  Typically sometime by 6 months a baby can begin to eat off a spoon and not continually spit it back out.  Spitting the food out is not a sign your baby doesn't care for the taste, but is a sign her tongue-thrust reflex is still going strong.  I am mom to 4 children.  My older 3 began eating solids sometime between 4-5 months, but my youngest did not begin consuming anything other than breast milk until just before she turned 7 months.  I suggest that you may want to go back to just breast milk/formula for 2-3 weeks and then try the solids again.  

Answer 2

It sounds like she's not ready yet. I'd try again in 2 months.  

Answer 3

At this age they still need to be taking in the normal amount of formula/breast milk that they have been. So if she's taking in less then it's not time for solids just yet.

Usually the age is around 6 months but a lot of doctors will say to go ahead and try cereal and things like that at 4-6 months. However, if your baby is continually spitting it out then she's not ready. Sounds like she still has the tongue thrust reflex(as someone else mentioned) and she needs to get over that before having solids in her diet. Wait another month or so and try again.

Answer 4

At 4 mos, the main food your baby should eat is formula as it has all of the nutrients needed for a developing baby.  See the link below:

http://www.babycenter.com/0_age-by-age-g...

if your baby spits it out - keep trying.  make sure it's not too thick or too runny and mix in formula and/or rice cereal to change consistency.  babies need practice moving food from the front of their mouths to the back and spit out food as it is a new sensation for them and they are used to a bottle...

good luck!

Answer 5

4 months is very young for solids.  6 months is the usual time to begin.

While a few babies CAN eat solids at 4 months, if your baby is spitting it out/pushing it out with her tongue, it means that she still has the tongue thrust reflex and so definitely  ISN'T ready yet.  And if she's taking less milk, she's clearly not hungry enough to be eating solids.

So I would just stop for a while. Wait until she's 6 months old and try again. There's no rush.