Some recent articles were claiming that it may not be a good idea to wait for 6 months to introduce solids - here is an excellent piece refuting that claim.
http://www.analyticalarmadillo.co.uk...nd-todays.html
Some recent articles were claiming that it may not be a good idea to wait for 6 months to introduce solids - here is an excellent piece refuting that claim.
http://www.analyticalarmadillo.co.uk...nd-todays.html
I exclusively BF DD3. At about 4 months, breast milk was just not enough for her, she was sitting up (with little assistance), reaching for food, all of the usual signs of a baby being ready. I wanted to wait until 6 months or longer to introduce solids, but I followed her lead and I don't regret it. She seemed much happier and satisfied afterwards and continued to nurse very, very well. I never had any supply issues, but I also pumped to ensure my supply stayed up.
ETA: She never received formula during her first year, even after the introduction of solids.
That was actually my experience too - DS 1 didn't want solids until later and is still quite a picky eater, but my other three were grabbing food off our plates at 4-5 months old and they nursed just as much as ever along with the solids.
I think the issue is, some people are actually worried that they HAVE to give their kids solids, but you don't have to if you don't want. If you want to wait until 6 months, it's ok, and if you don't want to wait, that's ok too!!
Exactly! I've always followed my baby's lead and it seems to work quite well. I plan on doing the same with this one also. However, I will be coming back to work after this one is born, so I will have difficulties ensuring my mom and grandmother stay on track with my wishes. My grandmother comes from a generation that began giving their babies cereal in their milk at 6 weeks, sometimes younger, so she's a hard one to convince.Quote:
Originally Posted by atomic sagebrush
It's the opposite over here. I waited until 6 months and to be honest didn't get into a regular habit of solid foods until closer to 8-9 months. Now, he'll eat anything if I "prepare" it right. (Green beans aren't a big hit plain... they need a bit of garlic or maybe basil. That kind of thing.)Quote:
Originally Posted by atomic sagebrush
With my first son he was grabbing food from my plate at 3mths so we just let him. He ended up weaning himself around 9mths and I couldn't get my supply up. Now he is a very picky eater and a little under weight. With my second I wanted to let him decide and he refused food until he was 10mths. He still nurses about 6 times a day. He loves to eat veggies and fruits. No matter what you give him he eats it.
I think waiting is better for breastfeeding moms because the milk supply stays up. Formula moms can add food but even then formula has a lot in it.
I saw once that back before "Gerber" started babies were 90% breastfed until 12-18mths. When jarred food and forumla started they started to see a slight increase in over weight kids, now they have baby/toddler snacks and in the last 10 years 70-90% are over weight kids.
I believe fruits and veggies should be served natural and at every meal to teach healthy eating. As they get older I would like them to be used to butter/salt free foods so far it is working.
Thanks for this link. I exclusively bf both boys til 6 months and it was just when ds2 turned 6months the new research came out and I immediately thought I'd done it wrong! Really glad I kept up the bf now though especially after reading that article. Thanks K.
Thank you, this link is so helpful! My pediatrician recently talked to me about this and basically said, forget everything we told you with DS1. He still recommends waiting until 6 months to start solids but no longer gives guidelines as far as waiting on potential allergens.
I pretty much do my own thing anyway so what my pediatrician tells me doesn't necessarily have much bearing on what we practice at home, but I am always curious to read and research his ideas. Had just started looking into this one and was totally confused.
It's all a load of rubbish. Each baby is different with different appetites. DS1 was 21lb at 4 months, way heavier than the average 6 month old and was having a 9oz bottle and a breast feed at some feeds and still feeding every couple of hours. I introduced baby rice only at 17 weeks and gradually built on it, taking weaning very slowly until he was 6 months. He was a much happier baby for it.
DS2 was having six 9oz bottles a day at 4 months (I couldn't breast feed him) and my HV said it was too much fluid for his little kidneys to manage and suggested I started baby rice.
DS3 was my biggest baby, but I managed a little longer on milk alone with him, until about 4 and a half months, then he started taking way too much fluid too.
My boys are all big strapping lads, very tall and DS1 and DS3 were heavy too. Each baby is a different build with different appetites. I truly believe you have to follow you baby's lead, and as my HV said, too much milk is too large a strain on their kidneys.
With DD#1 I tried to do the "right" thing and wait 6 months before introducing solids but she was well and truly ready by 5 months, ahead with her milestones and getting annoyed at watching us eat...I resisted for a little bit but finally just realised it was time. She was exclusively breast fed and getting plenty. I tried the purees etc for a while but she really just wanted some food to hold in her hand and chomp on.
DD#2 was ready for solids maybe a week after DD#1 had been...she was also exculsively breast fed and this I didn't even bother with purees. Just steamed vegies (both my girls loved chasing peas around the table...great for fine motor skills too), soft fruits and some pre-chewed (gross I know) meat or a solid bone for her to chomp on. Never had any fussiness from either and funnily enough no choking incidents (did do the odd gag though which they always sorted out themselves).
Guidelines are fantastic and necessary...we have lost touch with our instinctual parenting skills and I think these guidelines are there to give us an idea of things when we aren't trusting our own internal dialogue. I honestly think in western cultures that we put too much faith in other people's knowledge when it somes to raising our own children...trust yourself...trust that you know your baby and will do what is right for them. Our babies tell us far more than we realise and the sooner we all learn to read their cues, the better attached/happier families we will be. Kids are a big learning curve hey.
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!
Just in case anybody's interested in Baby Led Weaning:
Baby Led Weaning - The Mush Stops Here!
I did baby led weaning too, Z:) Love it! So easy! No purees and less stress. Wouldn't do it any other way:)
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 :)
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.
Quote:
Originally Posted by zanacal
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.'