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  1. #11
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    zanacal's Avatar
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    I did Baby Led Weaning with all 3 of my boys (where you wait until they're able to pick up and eat their own food - no purees) and wouldn't consider doing anything else with #4. It's such a fantastic (and easy, no work involved!) experience and it means they take things at their own pace at the time that's right for them - my 3 were all complete dustbins but it just worked out that way!

    I do wonder if it's more realistic to wait until around 6 months if you're breastfeeding as the composition of the breastmilk changes as the baby gets older and formula stays the same iykwim? DS2 and DS3 were always heavy for their ages but still completely satisfied by bfing until 5.5/6 months - although perhaps I fed them more without realising because I was thinking less about whether it was 'time' for the next feed and they would often have a comfort feed if upset or whatever. Just a thought!
    2005 2007 2009 2012

  2. #12
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    Just in case anybody's interested in Baby Led Weaning:

    Baby Led Weaning - The Mush Stops Here!
    2005 2007 2009 2012

  3. #13
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    I did baby led weaning too, Z Love it! So easy! No purees and less stress. Wouldn't do it any other way
    Crunchy Mama to 3 rambunctious boys~ '06 :bike: '08 '10

    Our beautiful is here!!

    Felina Lilyanne was born at home ~ 4/12!

  4. #14
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    my boys were breastfed and they didnt like solids, I mean wouldnt eat any of it, a couple had sensitive gag reflex and gaged even on stage 1 foods, my peditrician said it was fine to live on formula or breastmilk for their 1st yr because they get all the nurtrients they need, so I did keep trying to give solids, about 10 to 11mos they started to actually show some kind of interest in solids, but my boys were big solid boys they survived just fine strictly on breastmilk, my 1yr olds are like 31 to 32inches tall and weighs a good 30+lbs so I never worried about them not getting their quota of solids, its kind of strange seeing articles now telling you to wait because I got bashed and shame on you that my boys werent eating solids at 4 or 6mos and OMG!! at 9mos and still not eating solids very well, I think its all goofy really, its your baby, your the mother and if they are healthy weight then who cares what or how your feeding them imo
    Married for 20yrs, SAHM to 7 healthy boys and one surprise daughter(2021)

    Sometimes God's plan is different than what you had in mind, but His plan is always better and He might surprise you later

  5. #15
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    I thought that article was silly.

    Breastfed babies have a "virgin gut" that is still developing certain things to help them cope with the digestions of certain proteins, etcetera, and the reason the 6 month guideline is there is so it gets to a certain level to more adequately handle with the digestion process. Formula fed babies lose this virgin gut right away. By 9 months their gut is even more developed and ready for the processing of solid foods. Delaying solids give a baby's digestive system time to mature.

    From kellymom.com...

    "If solids are started before a baby's system is ready to handle them, they are poorly digested and may cause unpleasant reactions (digestive upset, gas, constipation, etc.). Protein digestion is incomplete in infancy. Gastric acid and pepsin are secreted at birth and increase toward adult values over the following 3 to 4 months. The pancreatic enzyme amylase does not reach adequate levels for digestion of starches until around 6 months, and carbohydrate enzymes such as maltase, isomaltase, and sucrase do not reach adult levels until around 7 months. Young infants also have low levels of lipase and bile salts, so fat digestion does not reach adult levels until 6-9 months."

    Breastmilk is the most perfect, most easily digested, gentle, whole food and nutrition for a baby under 1 year old.

    I introduced solids to my son around 7 months, I skipped rice cereal because it's empty calories. He didn't have solids every day, and most of the time it was in the form of baby led weaning and I let him lead me.

    He didn't actually get into solids until just after a year. Most of the time he would taste it, feel the textures, etcetera. I never felt the pressure to introduce him and push it on him... I wanted him to get to know food in a way comfortable to him, as I knew he was very healthy even at 9 months old if he'd go weeks without any solids because he was breastfeeding on demand. And then, all of a sudden, it was his favorite thing ever after his first birthday!

    He is still nursing (almost 2) and he loves to eat... three meals a day, and nursing in the evening/night/mornings. He's never lost weight. I've always sort of moved with him on his own terms...

    Everyone comments on how he ALWAYS goes for the vegetables first. Hahaha, I just tell them he decided that he liked them! I never forced anything on him at all.
    Last edited by suregena; January 1st, 2012 at 07:41 PM.

  6. #16
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    Quote Originally Posted by zanacal View Post
    I did Baby Led Weaning with all 3 of my boys (where you wait until they're able to pick up and eat their own food - no purees) and wouldn't consider doing anything else with #4. It's such a fantastic (and easy, no work involved!) experience and it means they take things at their own pace at the time that's right for them - my 3 were all complete dustbins but it just worked out that way!

    I do wonder if it's more realistic to wait until around 6 months if you're breastfeeding as the composition of the breastmilk changes as the baby gets older and formula stays the same iykwim? DS2 and DS3 were always heavy for their ages but still completely satisfied by bfing until 5.5/6 months - although perhaps I fed them more without realising because I was thinking less about whether it was 'time' for the next feed and they would often have a comfort feed if upset or whatever. Just a thought!

    Oh, yes indeed!

    Feeding on demand, and also using it as a response to any sort of discomfort/upsets, outside of just the hunger, they will thrive and thrive... it's not because it isn't satisfying them enough... it is definitely satisfying enough, more so, than anything in the world at that point in their lives. It's food, joy, comfort, warmth, love... it's everything.

    Not to mention, it is what keeps a mom's milk supply going, it helps with the natural spacing of children due to the birth control-like affects that nursing has (my cycle didn't return until just September 2011 and my son was born January 2010...)

    I have had some new momma friends who stress about the frequency of feedings, etcetera, and even at 4 months worry if their baby is just hungry and needing solids. I always have to jump in (normally this is on facebook, go figure!) with all the talk of 'maybe he/she needs to start rice cereal'... and I have to reiterate many times with, "Just keep breastfeeding him/her!!!"

    Why anyone would think rice cereal is a better nutritional choice over breastmilk is beyond me!

    They feed frequently for a huge variety of reasons. As long as we understand and expect these things, the frequency is not a big deal and it is what it is. They go through growth spurts, developmental spurts, illness, just wanting momma, mental leaps, feeling overwhelmed, wanting warmth, wanting comfort, hunger, and on top of that, since it's so very gentle and easily digested, it flies through their system, perfectly absorbed, and out their other end! Haha!

    Being "fuller longer" is not all it's cracked up to be... usually, in a child under 1, trying to get them to feel fuller "longer" is like trying to fill up their little underdeveloped digestive systems with cement as it slowly tries to process all the 'stuff.'
    Last edited by suregena; January 1st, 2012 at 07:57 PM.

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