Exclusively breastfeeding question

[organicpapayamama]

Im EBF my 5 month old DD. This is the first time I have successfully been able to breastfeed any of my children so I am beyond thrilled and want to keep it up for as long as possible. Having said that I dont know what the rules/suggestions are in regards to when to introduce solids. Since she turned 5 months old, I have been getting pressure to already be feeding her cereals and such. At 6 months my WIC office told me I should be starting baby food. I dont know if I should delay them past 6 months. Are there cons to doing this? Im not really sure what other EBF moms are doing and working for their babys. Any tips or info would be much appreciated.

BTW ideally I would like to continue nursing on some level until she is 2 or as long as she wants to.

[Heba]

Sorry can't type properly from phone, but google "baby led weaning" for up to date info. Hth!

[Juvysen]

Around 6 months we start feeding table foods that are squishy... like a little squash on my finger, or some avocado squished and fed via my finger or a net feeder. He is still more than 99% breastfed... we don't do "meals" as such, it's more like playing with food to figure out what it's about.

[is it puppies?]

I have read that EBF babies don't need other food for nutrients until after 1 year.
http://www.kellymom.com/nutrition/solids/index.html

[jecombs]

Hi OPM! I was on your birth board and I'm so thrilled that you're still nursing!

Congrats on that success!

As for your question, I personally do not start solids until LO is at least 6 mo. old. The recommendation from the WHO is exclusive BFing for 6 mo. and this is what I follow. A lot of peds go with a 4-6 mo. recommendation. If my DS was showing major signs of developmental readiness for solids prior to six months old, I would probably try some solids. When I started solids with my DD, it was only a tsp. or two, once a day. We gradually built-up as she wanted more and more. We did one "solid meal" per day until she was 8 mo. old and added a 3rd meal at 10mo. old. I just followed her cues about how much she ate at each "meal" and always BF before she had the solids. It worked well for us! DD was still nursing 10x a day when she turned 1 y.o. We went on to BF until she was 26 mo. old (then I got preggo with my May baby).

Here are a bunch of links from kellymom on starting solids.

[organicpapayamama]

Originally Posted by jecombs

Hi OPM! I was on your birth board and I'm so thrilled that you're still nursing!

Congrats on that success!

Hey!! Good to hear from you again!! And nursing started a little rough but we finally got the hang of it by week 3

So would it be a bad thing to not introduce solids till 12 months? I just don't really see the need to start so early. I mean of course if she shows interest I'll go with her cues but so far nursing has gone fantastic and I'm doing d&s vax and want her to be protected by breast milk. Or can I have the best of both worlds?

[ElliesMomma]

idk, you'll run into some people on these boards who advocate for exclusive bf for a year or so. but if you read more, you will also see some people posting about their baby refusing to try any solids at that point.

ime, babies are at a window of opportunity for introducing solids somewhere around 5-6 months. or 7 months. somewhere in that vacinity.

i exclusively breastfed my son for about 6 months exactly, then started letting him experiment with solids via baby led weaning.

best parenting choice i could have made!

baby led weaning is so easy, and my son is such a good eater.

of course, i still nurse him; he's now 13 months old.

to keep him nursing, just keep all of your usual nursings, don't drop them because you are giving solids. nurse before you offer whole foods (solids). (pediatricians will generally tell you the opposite... but that actively encourages weaning.)

it is quite possible to continue nursing after you start solids. just ask my 4 year old. she still nurses too every chance she gets (which isn't too often as i've had to limit her quite a bit. but she's had a very good run.)

relax and enjoy!

[Juvysen]

re: vax I think you can have the best of both worlds, so to speak. Don't push hard on the food... let your babe eat sometimes, but not all the time. I think there's a tendency to push babies over directly to all food when food is introduced (not you necessarily, but by a lot of people in the country). Both my older kids started eating little bits around 6 months, but were still 90% breastfed or so by a year, I'd say. My second child has only had two vaccines. It's a lot of breastmilk, still, you know? My kids continued to nurse to two years (Dd went to 2 1/2)... I'm expecting the same from Ds2. They're all very healthy kids... we do get the occasional cold or bug, but not often...

[organicpapayamama]

Thanks for the info. I'm not so sure about the window thing though. I think each kid is different. With ds I did the 6 month solids thing and he is the worst eater on the face of the earth I swear. He is 2 1/2 and only eats maybe 4 types of foods. No veggies. No fruit. It's really difficult.

[Juvysen]

Supposedly breastfed babies are more likely to take to more kinds of foods because they can taste some of the flavors (like garlic, spices, etc) in your milk, whereas a formula fed baby pretty much gets the same thing every day until they start solids. I don't know if it's true or not, but there's the theory... so maybe it'll be easier this time?

[katelove]

Hi OPM, we were in the same DDC too

J is 5 months on Tuesday and is EBF as well. Isn't it great

We're planning to do baby-led weaning with her when she shows signs of readiness but not before 6 months. I personally feel that's it's pretty important to wait until then to give their little guts a chance to mature. It helps that she is not showing signs of readiness, maybe I would feel differently if she seemed ready and was getting desperate.

From my reading on the subject, I am pretty relaxed about her not eating much until she's one year old, "food before one is just for fun" is my mantra. That said, I will probably try to encourage experimentation with iron rich foods to make sure she continues to maintain her iron stores.

I also plan to let her BF for as long as she wants to.

[jdg]

I'm not going to try to offer "advice" since I'm no expert. But the OP wondered what other moms were doing, so...

Francesca will be 5 months old next week. I had intended to start BLW no earlier than 6 months. She always sits at the table with us (usually on a lap) while we eat. A couple weeks ago she started strrrreeeetching towards our food and making chewing motions. Quite adorable, though it does make eating harder! In the last week, I've "given in" to her interest and offered her a couple grains of rice. She swallowed 1-2 and spit out 1-2. I was eating fajitas one night and ripped off a long strip of a whole wheat tortilla which she played with like a toy - and like all toys, it ended up in her mouth and she sucked and chewed on it. Part of it basically dissolved in her mouth eventually, the rest went in the trash after she lost interest.

I'm still not setting her up in a high chair and choosing foods intentionally to offer her. There's no "Cesca's mealtime". But she showed so much interest in our food that if we're eating something that can be easily handled by her, I'm not opposed to giving it to her, either to taste or to play with.

[Asiago]

Congraulations on your BF'g success! You are giving your baby a wonderful gift.

Personally I waited to introduce food until I had no doubt. Despite pressure, I knew my research and I knew my son, so I waited until my instinct kicked after observing him so much. I had no doubt what so ever about the timing. Knowing that the expert's reccomendation of timing has changed so much over the last 100 years (a huge range, from a few weeks of age up to one year) I therefore knew I had to follow my son's lead and no one elses.

It's paid off very well so far so I think if there is any question in your mind as to when to intro, then wait. I really and truly think a mother knows 'when' if she follows her baby's lead. In my case, as with some of the other decisions, that doubt absolutely went away one day. I trusted this instinct. Just my own experience and opinion.