Fussy little guy

Hi Ladies, Need a bit on advice regarding my little man. DS2 is 5 months and I started him on solids at 4 mths and 1 week, so far I haven't had any luck. He screws his face up at everything I offer him, rice cereal was a big no and then sweet potatoe, I'm onto pumpkin and although I don't think he has swallowed any of it he doesn't seem to screw his face up quite as bad so I'm sticking to pumpkin at this point.

DS1 was a great eater (still is) so I never had this problem. How long should I expect the spitting it all out to last? It's been almost 4 weeks now and nothing has gone down. The reason I started him at 4 mths was because he's very little and not gaining much weight (15th%ile). He is breast feed, should I be getting worried? Should I just stop and try again at 6mths?

Thanks
Jaf

Hi, there,
At 4 months babies are usually too young to eat - that's why it's recommeded by all reputable authorities that babies start solids at 6mnths. Unfortunately there is a lot of conflicting advice around this and it is very confusing for mums. If he's just not enhoying it, give yourselves both a rest for a month and try again later when he's a little more able to cope with solids. In regards to solids we know that when solids are introduced under 6 mnths they tend to displace breastmilk from the diet. Most of the first solids we give babies are very low in calories (the sort of foods we'd eat if we were on a diet) So they are not usually going to help a baby grow - at that age they need milk. Tell us some more about his weightgains. Some mums, and some health profesionals don't realise that the charts we use are charts of normal baby growth - if your baby appears on the chart it is in the "normal' range. 1/2 of babies will be below the 50th percentile and 1/2 will be below - it's all normal. There are several factors that affect baby's growth, including genetics - so tell us a little more of what is happening with you.

Thanks Barb, I am holding off on the solids until he is 6 mth hopefully I will have more luck when I re-introduce them then. The MCHN advised me that the current recommendations are to start from 4mths and that bub need to be on solids by 6 mths because of his iron supplies, when I had DS1 I was told not to introduce until 6mths at the earliest.

I regards to his weight he was 3.615kg at birth then at 2 weeks 3.995kg, 8 weeks 5.250kg, 4mths 6.145kg, he is due for another weigh in at 6mths, looking at it all on screen it doesn't look that bad, but the gain between 2 mth and 4mths isn't even 1kg?? He's around 1.5kg lighter than DS1 was at 4mths so maybe that is why I see him as being so small.

What do you think of the gain between 2mths and 4 mths?

Thanks Jaf

Hi,

It's pretty normal for babies to double their birthweight between 4-6 months - your baby seems to be pretty much on course for that. You normally expect a weightgain of over 150g per week up until 12 weeks, and around 100g from pw from 12 weeks - 6mnths - but they are all different.