Starting to feed cereal at 4mos vs. waiting until 6 months for baby-led-weaning?

[wifey2013]

I have a hungry little 3 month old and I am considering starting to feed him cereal and purees at 4 months. I really would prefer to wait until 6 months to BLW. What did you ladies do and why?

 

[misspriss]

Wait until 5.5 or 6 months and do BLW. The digestive tract is usually not developed enough to digest grains before then. If you would prefer to wait, wait! Why question it?

Your baby is probably hungry because he is growing, as 3-4 months is usually a growth spurt.

 

[sue_88]

More calories in milk. Wait till 6m. Anything before that could cause damage to the gut.

 

[CaptainMummy]

I would wait! (I am!)
My dd is almost 6 months and i bought her highchair today. She hasnt had any food at all yet, apart from a strawberry that dd2 gave her, and I plan on starting BLW in the next few days. It is so much fun!

 

[mel28nicole]

I started around 4 months, just once a day til 5 months and slowly worked into Two meals. I enjoy doing purees and its what I felt most comfortable doing

 

[wifey2013]

Thanks ladies. I really want to BLW. I think I will wait until 6m.

 

[noon_child]

Hungry babies need milk, as it is a balanced meal of everything they need all in one. All the things recommended for 4mnth weaning are fairly low in protein, fat and calories.

 

[MindUtopia]

I would wait. There's no nutritional value really to baby cereals, certainly much less so than breastmilk or formula and it's much less rich in vitamins and minerals. I'd feed your LO as much milk as she wants and wait to do baby-led weaning.

 

[Pearls18]

I chose to traditionally wean with purees, however , I still waited 6 months for both boys. A hungry baby needs more milk not empty calories in food they can't digest properly yet, it's such a misconception (though I understand it) that hungry babies need food. My eldest was a whopping 20lb before he had food, milk did the job

 

[bdb84]

I did purees with my first and BLW with my second. I am apparently in the minority in that I much preferred purees and will choose that route this time around. DD1 had little interest in feeding herself and is a much pickier eater than her brother who will scarf down whatever is placed in front of him.

 

[Pearls18]

I did purees with my first and BLW with my second. I am apparently in the minority in that I much preferred purees and will choose that route this time around. DD1 had little interest in feeding herself and is a much pickier eater than her brother who will scarf down whatever is placed in front of him.

I prefer purées too, but doesn't mean you have to wean any earlier, I waited 6 months and did purées.

 

[sue_88]

I TW too, same as my two closest friends and between us our children eat anything and have never had a picky phase approaching 2 years old. I waited till 6m, along with one friend, and our other friend started at 4m (tried to tell her otherwise!).

I had no desire to BLW

 

[HaveANiceDay]

We did BLW at six months but you can also use purées from 6 months too if you wish. Being 'hungry' at 3 months old is normal. It just means he's growing and needs more milk. If you're concerned that he's having too much milk the best thing to do would be to see a medical professional to rule out any underlying medical issues. Weaning too soon carries a whole host of potential risks. Not worth it imo.

 

[Monzter79]

Just wanted to provide a link that I found very useful. In the interest of adding some balance to a sometimes heavy leaning discussion on whether or not it's okay to feed younger babies cereal and such, I decided to share. Hope it's helpful to anyone weighing their options, like OP.

 

[bdb84]

Just wanted to provide a link that I found very useful. In the interest of adding some balance to a sometimes heavy leaning discussion on whether or not it's okay to feed younger babies cereal and such, I decided to share. Hope it's helpful to anyone weighing their options, like OP.

Loved this article! I'm one who enjoys feeding my baby cereal. With DS, his breakfast was a little bit of oatmeal or cereal mixed with a bit of fruit baby food. He always thoroughly enjoyed it.

I refrained from using cereals at all with DD1, in favor of BLW, but it was not something I enjoyed. I also fell for the anti-cereal hype for infants.

This time around I look forward to reverting back to the basics with DD@ once she is old enough for solids.

 

[noon_child]

Just wanted to provide a link that I found very useful. In the interest of adding some balance to a sometimes heavy leaning discussion on whether or not it's okay to feed younger babies cereal and such, I decided to share. Hope it's helpful to anyone weighing their options, like OP.

Loved this article! I'm one who enjoys feeding my baby cereal. With DS, his breakfast was a little bit of oatmeal or cereal mixed with a bit of fruit baby food. He always thoroughly enjoyed it.

I refrained from using cereals at all with DD1, in favor of BLW, but it was not something I enjoyed. I also fell for the anti-cereal hype for infants.

This time around I look forward to reverting back to the basics with DD@ once she is old enough for solids.

But this article says very little about food before 6months (except that some of the experiments used young babies), it just cautions against being grain phobic when introducing food, and to embrace carbs. The last line even says when baby is "ready" and links to the WHO recommendation of 6months. I agree with it - carbs are great as part of a balanced diet and I gave them to my daughter as soon as we started food at 6months (nearly).

 

[Pearls18]

I have nothing against cereals, I believe that all solid food should be introduced after 6 months including cereal, for me it’s not about WHAT is offered but WHEN and I don’t believe there is any need for cereals, vegetables, fruits, anything before 6 months no matter what form offered, just because a baby can spoonfeed before 6 months doesn’t mean you have to. That article hasn’t said anything to disagree with that.

 

[bdb84]

I do not start solids at 4 months, and that goes for cereal as well. I guess I should have clarified that point.