Anyone introduced new tastes at 4 months?

[ecarroll2]

Hey ladies,

Just wondering, has any of you introduced new tastes (not meals as such) at around 4 months? I was surprised our 3 mo 1 wk old lady reached for some food as we were eating out (seafood), and was curious as to whether any of you out there started introducing different foods earlier than the 6 month mark?
P.S. Daughter is in the 98th percentile for length and 70th percentile for weight (used to be in the 91st percentile for weight and whatever I do she just wouldn't go back to the previous weight range.. so have started wondering if my milk is enough for her. I do produce loads of milk and have frozen a huge amount, and she is fed as often as she wants.. so not sure why her weight range dropped like that. Could be that she is quite active early on, she keeps on trying to sit up, and is generally very very active, and hates lying down.

Thanks x

 

[Rachel_C]

Introducing food wouldn't do anything for her weight; if anything it would risk her losing weight as food is more filling but most solids have fewer calories than breastmilk and take longer to digest.

Are you and your OH both tall and heavy? If not, I would expect LO to drop down to average (or whatever you are) at some point. In fact, I was warned about this when my oldest was born - she was very long and heavy but OH and I are only average height and weight so her genes probably say she'll be average too. It has to happen at some point - whether it's at 3 months or 3 years you don't know!

I wouldn't worry about the weight at all and I certainly wouldn't consider introducing solids early because of it.

 

[MindUtopia]

Like the PP said, weaning especially at that age is more likely to lead to weight loss than gain as solids are less calorie dense than milk. If you wean before 6 months (which isn't recommended but if you do), the guidelines are to feed only fruits and veg and these are exactly the foods we adults eat when we go on a diet! It's more likely to put her off her milk than anything.

Changes in weight are normal around that time. My HV said it's when babies settle into where they are likely to be long term. My daughter was born 25th centile, dropped to 2nd centile for a bit, and by 4 months was up to 65th centile where she's stayed for nearly a year. It's just them growing into themselves and their weight stablizing, which makes sense because 3-4 months is about when most babies settle into a more regular feeding pattern and after some of the early growth spurts. Was she a bigger baby at birth? I think big babies tend to lose weight around then, whereas little ones (my daughter was 6lbs 9 oz) gain it.

So just keep doing what you're doing. If you don't plan to wean until 6 months, there's no need to offer tastes. She's not interested in eating, she's just interested in touching things and exploring them, which is why she grabs your food. She should be doing this with all sorts of objects at this stage in her development, but it doesn't mean she's hungry, just that she's curious what you're doing. But you can sit her at meals with you and give her a toy to play with and let her watch what you do. Eventually she will be ready to eat and she'll already be used to having family meal time with you.