4 month old wants to eat!

[maggie111]

My baby has been showing all the classic signs of weaning for weeks now! Everything he grabs gets put in his mouth and chomped on, he is learning to pass items from hand to hand - and he is even using one hand to guide his other to shove it in his face

It's rare but sometimes in desperation I sit him on my knee whilst I try and eat and he's not really noticed my food - but today I was eating porridge and he looked so wide-eyed and excited and tried to guide my spoon to his mouth!!!!

I will be keeping him from weaning till as close to 6 months as we can get, but today he has noticed food - I'm sure it wont be too long till he snatches some lol!!!

 

[CoffeePuffin]

Try to get as close to 6 months as you can. But if you are confident that he is showing all the signs then start slowly if that's what you want to do. I'd stay away from baby rice though as it can be constipating and has no nutritional value. I'd start with a puree mixed with a bit of their usual milk to start with.

 

[MindUtopia]

I agree, try to get closer to six months and look for other signs as well. Things going in the mouth isn't a sign of being ready for solids. They put everything in their mouth from about 3 months on. It's just a developmental phase where they are finding their hands and starting to develop motor skills. When he can sit up well without too much support and loses his tongue thrust, that will be a better clue he is closer to being able to safely move food around his mouth.

We let our daughter have a lick to taste a few fruit and veg that she showed interest in after about 5 months (but before 6 months). If I was having apple slices and she reached for it, I would let her lick it so she could explore the flavour. But she really couldn't have handled feeding herself safely before 6 months.

 

[Bevziibubble]

I agree that it's better to wait until six months when the digestive system is more developed. Babies put everything in their mouths anyway, and they like to stare when you're eating because they're so interested in everything mummy does and learning all about the world around them.

I tried my LO with solids at five months but she wasn't at all ready and wouldn't eat anything until she was nine months!

 

[maggie111]

Thanks everyone!

I really don't want to be weaning him before 6 months but I was just so excited to see him want food! Honestly, all the signs for feeding have been there for weeks, he can sit up more or less and is ready for a high chair and his hand skills are much more advanced than other babies. (that's not a Mamma brag - he's not really rolling or anything else yet!)

But he's never wanted to eat food - it's just in the last week that he has started to staarrreee at us when we eat, gets wide eyed, wanting to grab the spoon, opening his mouth etc, and just now he was watching his Dadda drink and he got very focused.

I will still wait - and let him watch our mealtimes for a few weeks so he can see us eat, and what we eat. He hasn't snatched any food yet, and for me that is the very last sign that mentally he is ready to eat - although I know physically he isn't ready till 6 months

 

[SarahBear]

I think that 6 months is best, but some babies want it sooner. If I had a 4 month old that was wanting to eat, I probably would give him food. I might push it off a little though.

 

[PGLady]

My lo was like this, so we gave him a stick of pepper to taste at just before 5 months. He pulled a face and didn't like it at all. Did the same at 23 weeks and he put it in his mouth and had a good old chomp. For us that was enough to tell us he was ready. One week later he's on 2 meals a day and is definitely eating. You know your lo best, so no harm in offering food. Imho if they're not ready for it they won't know what to do with it. But I am a biologist and have a lot of faith in mother nature!

 

[Hispirits]

I've started to slowly wean my boy. He's do ready. But agree with avoiding baby rice. My baby dint like it. I've tried him on a carrot purée and apple and he loved it. Opened his mouth for the spoon and sucker the purée from the spoon.
I am doing it very slowly once a day very other day.
All baby's are different. What really made me go for it was he suddenly became uninterested in his milk and over the course of a few weeks dropped about 10oz a day .
Go with your gut x

 

[Fortune Cooki]

I'm far too nervous about LO's gut not being closed yet, so I'm waiting until around 9 months. Babies keep getting fed way too early and then have intestinal obstruction, requiring surgery.

 

[Hangin_On_AGS]

We started a few weeks ago with the mesh teether and now purees. My final straw of not wanting to wait anymore was when we stopped being able to eat infront of her without her throwing a massive fit and throwing down any toys you would give her to keep going for the food..

Someone said it on here sometimes babies just act like they want to eat because your playing with something and they arn't and giving her toys to keep her entertained while she was showing behaviors that looked like she wanted to eat actually kept her happy for quite some time.

now she gets though that there is a difference and it doesn't do the trick anymore. But she still doesn't get very much to eat very often just enough to give her the experience and keep her happy.

 

[maggie111]

I'm far too nervous about LO's gut not being closed yet, so I'm waiting until around 9 months. Babies keep getting fed way too early and then have intestinal obstruction, requiring surgery.

There are problems with starting weaning too late as well. I'm sorry I don't have the research or studies to hand but I would research it a little further. There is evidence to say feeding before 6 months could be better - but on the whole weighing up all the evidence guidelines say to wait till 6 months. If you wait till 9 months I'm not sure whether you're increasing other kinds of problems.

Of course baby led weaning means to do it when they are ready and some kids don't want to eat till 9 months I just wanted to give you a slightly different perspective and encourage you to research even more

 

[Fortune Cooki]

K, thanks! I'll look into it.