Age for solids when breastfeeding?

[organicmom3]

This will be my 3rd child and I am totally thrilled I can breastfeed this one exclusively since I'm not going back to work and we have completely changed our lifestyle in regards to food, etc.... so I've been doing a lot of reading and bought a couple books on making your own baby food, etc................ this morning though was the first time I ran across something that said exclusively breastfed babies don't actually NEED solids until a year old(the Natural Family Living book by Peggy O'Mara) .....now I've read before about not feeding solids until 6 months....but now I'm wodering how many of you that exclusively breastfeed (no formula at all) begin solids prior to 6 mos, at 6 mos, or AFTER 6 mos? And what your thoughts/reasons are?

[Llyra]

For me, we started when they 1. could sit steadily alone, 2. were at least six months old, and 3. were also displaying an active interest in eating.

For DD1, it was 7 months old. She could sit well before then, but wasn't interested.
For DS, it was 8 months old. He didn't sit steadily until then.
For DD2, it was 6 months old. She was not as steady a sitter as she probably should have been, but she was driving us all crazy because she wanted to EAT.

We didn't use baby food very much. Sometimes, and some things, we served pureed. But for the most part, my kids just ate little bits or mashed pieces of whatever I was eating.

[Bellabaz]

Most of the things I have read were AT LEAST 6 months. BUt it varies from kid to kid. If your baby thrives on your milk alone and is not interested in food until later, go with it. My friend had a babe who stopped gaining weight at 8 months but was refusing solids. So her bm wasn't enough and she had to keeping trying the solids will lo would take them. Butother peoples kids are good until a year or more.

[nameisrio]

I started at 6 mos. b/c I was working and pumping and I hoped she'd take less pumped milk if she was also eating. That wasn't really the case, especially since then we were also mixing pumped milk w/ her cereal. I would maybe start later with the next one. When I was home on the weekends, I would mostly just nurse and she didn't miss the food when it wasn't offered. I made my own baby foods and she would eat almost anything. But at age one when I started giving her pieces and chunks, she became super-picky and now, at age 3 she is still pretty picky about what she eats. She only likes a couple veggies now, where, as a baby she would eat them all!

[pumpkinhead]

I started offering at 6 months with both. My first was probably ready before then but my second really wasn't until much later. Either way, I sort of followed their lead. I always offered with my second but didn't freak out too much when he wasn't interested. He was actually much more interested in feeding himself and sharing what was on my plate .

[Erinz]

My chubster is 9 months old and may eat one little nibble every couple days but he just isn't interested. I waited until nearly 7 months (I think?) to offer anything.

I always go with the saying "food before one is just for fun"

Our bodies produce the ideal nourishment for our babies.

[feminist~mama]

My DD wasn't interested until 10 months or so. She walked at almost 9 months and was a total chunk too! I was so impressed with how well my body kept up with her needs!

[organicmom3]

Thanks everyone! This really encourahes me to until at least 6 months before introducing anything....just hope I hold up to the criticism I know I'll get from family come July...... (a week of camping with the whole family....)

[MaddieMay]

My EBF baby got some nibbles at about 5.5 months and a month later, he totally took off eating. He still nurses the same amount, but he eats like crazy! He just loves food-we do some purees, but give him mashed up food that we eat as well. We just sort of followed his lead, I was shocked he took to it as well as he did.

[staceychev]

My DD started at about 6 months. She's been a crazy good eater from the beginning and showed a very intense desire in food. Interested in a lot of flavors, and though she got her teeth late, still did a really good job with finger food.

I read an interview online with Dr. Greene, who just released his book Feeding Baby Green. He argued that it's important to develop taste in babies as you're introducing solid foods, so he advocates starting solids earlier (like around 4 months) for formula fed babies, because they're only getting one flavor. For breastfed babies, because the flavor of milk changes depending on what mama eats, he advocates waiting until six months or even longer, because he feels that's exposing the breastfed baby to a wide variety of flavors that will serve to develop tastes for lots of healthy food later in life. I thought it was a really interesting theory.

Ah, here's the link.