Has anyone given their 4mth old solids?

As the title suggests I'm wanting to find others who have given bubs food early.

My daughter suffers terribly from relfux and has zantac & karicare Ar. Over the past few months she just screams so hard sometimes when having a bottle & refuses to eat. My MCHN told me to start her on farex at 4 months, so we did Xmas night. Unfortunately she hates it, you put it in her mouth & she screws up her face and spits it out. On Friday I was eating a natural icey pole and she pulled at it to eat it, so I know she's interested.

Today, she had her morning bottle without complaint & the next 2 bottles she just screamed for over an hour before she went to sleep pooped. So by 3pm this afternoon she had only really hard her morning bottles & 1/4 of her 2 other feeds. I decided to get some organic baby food for 4 months plus and she loved it, she was so happy I haven't seen her that happy eating.

I'm a little freaked as I know my health nurse said nothing until 6 months but she also told us to start farex because she was refusing her bottles...

I started feeding my first DD at this age, but 9 years ago they weren't worried so much about the allergies, all the older ppl say to feed her.. i'm just torn she's no way near under weight but the screaming is heart wrenching

Hi there,
My Son is nearly 5 months, I have been giving him solids, (farax) for over 3 weeks. He also hated it at the beginning, but I was persistant! and very patient! The first feeds would take over an hour!
He loves it now! I give it to him for breakfast, followed by half a bottle, then same for lunch and dinner. Since then, I have introduced other foods and given him mashed vegies for dinner. But continued on farax for other meals.
I think ignore your health nurse and do whats best for you and your baby.
Some babies are ready before others and if your baby is happy then so are you!
My baby didnt have reflux but he was a big projectile vomiter, no food stayed down, boob or bottle. Now he eats food he never spews! Problem solved!
So my advise is do what feels best and dont worry
Good Luck!
Take care
Ang

I gave DD pureed vegies & farex from 3 months. She's now a happy & healthy 3.5yr old with no allergies.

I have started giving DS pureed pumpkin which he loves (for a week or so now). He wasn't keen on the farex so I'll hang onto it until he's ready to try fruit & I'll mix some pureed fruit in with the farex :)

I say go with what works for you, sounds like you're doing a fantastic job!

I started Ava-Jayde on rice porridge and pureed vegies from 4 months and she absolutely loved it with no hassles what so ever. Now she eats me out of house and home almost hahahaha And I agree with DanielleM .. your her mummy and you know what's best, if it works for you DO it

How interesting that a CHN would recommend farex due to bottle refusal. Formula has nutrients and is needed by babies (unless they are on bm), farex has no nutritional value at all and isn't needed. I would have thought the solution would be to get her to the bottle again.

CJ, to answer your question you will find many people who have started that early. However, there have been a lot of studies which suggest that there is risk of many of the problems your DD is experiencing, as well as allergies and life long bowel/tummy issues when starting that early. There is no proof, and your DD might be fine this early. However, it is probably a safer option to wait a bit before giving more solids. The formula is far more important to your DD right now. Have you tried other types of bottles to see if that helps? Or different brands of formula?

Just another thing too, babies put everything in their mouths at that age. It is a type of tactile sensation for them and doesn't mean they are ready for, or wanting food. GL.

Thanks for the responses, it was good to have both sides.

She woke up this morning and I gave her a serve of Farax and full bottle without any fuss, so I will continue to persue this for the morning and lunch feeds and continue to offer the bottles for the others. I'm still in two frames of mind with the solids, she really enjoyed the pureed vegies & I know the research suggests not... I will have to think this through some more.

I wont be changing her formula, we did that once already after we stopped EBM & that was so painful for her with a few trips to the doctor, we will just continue and hope that one day the reflux will settle and feeding wont be any trouble anymore.

my DD has reflux and i just had a thread about this too !!
I have chosen to wait ...im not risking any more allergies or disrupting the hard work ive done to settle her reflux ..

maybe get a 2nd opinion on the advice you have gotten ... ??