[Rainbow Brite]

How long did you exclusively breastfeed for? Before introducing any solids. I'd like to go 8-9 months. Of course we had our 4 month appt and the dr wants us to start solids now!!! I never mentioned our plans, and won't. But she went on and on about how dd needs more iron. I even asked about breastmilk being more efficient w/the iron and solids interfering w/absorption and she agreed but still said it was necessary, and to buy not make cereal to get the iron! And then she said that she's seen babies who were breastfed only for 9 months and are fat and pale (I have no clue how she read my mind about the 9 month thing :LOL ). Anyways, I have read kelly.com, dr. sears and dr. jay gordon, but the appointment did *ruffle my feathers* a bit, and was just wondering what everyone else has done. Also, what did you say (if anything to your dr). We just nodded and smiled, and then she's like "at the 6 month appt you can tell me all about it!" <img alt="" class="inlineimg" src="http://www.mothering.com/discussions/images/smilies/irked.gif" style="border:0px solid;" title="irked">:

 

[Ruthla]

We introduced solids to ds at about 5.5 months- a few spoonfuls a few times a week. By 9m, he was eating 1 or 2 "meals" each day plus nursing on cue.<br><br>
With my oldest, I gave her "tastes" of table food from about 6mo and no regular meals until she could eat with the family (9-10m). I did pretty much the same for my 2nd except that she helped herself to a handful of apple cobbler from my plate at 5.5mo. It was actually quite funny- I was at another NFL house so everything was organic and whole foods, I turned to my friend and said "well, I guess she's ready for solids!!"

 

[Selissa]

well my son is not qutie 2..and still eats very littel solid food. I can tell you that at 14 months he was pretty much exclusivly breastfed..like he would maybe eat 3 bites of solid food a day (and this was jsut whatever i was eating, no cereal). because we were on wic his iron had to be tested and he always passed with flying colors. now i'm betting that if my exclusivly breastfed 14 month old was fine your baby will more than likely be too. I woudl say that if you are worried aobut it to increase your own iron intake via iron rich foods. but i think regardless you two will more than likely be fine....maybe those nine month old babies were just supposed to be fat you know? my ds was pretty chubby for a long time..and when he had a ped...they wre always trying to get me to give him solids because he was obviously malnourished. (even though no tests ever showed that he was...the could jsut tell apparently cause he was so fat and he ate so much...no experience with breastfeeding perhaps.... :LOL<br><br>
I think any baby that doesn't fit in there middle ground of normal, doctors start to get worried.<br><br>
oh what is the point of all this?<br><br>
don't worry mama your baby will be fine <img alt="" class="inlineimg" src="http://www.mothering.com/discussions/images/smilies/orngbiggrin.gif" style="border:0px solid;" title="orange big grin">

 

[Calidris]

well I only made it to 6 months and a day because my dd was mad for food (and I only made it to 6 months by letting her have sips of water from my cup for about 2 weeks before that - figured it didn't count because she'd been drinking bathwater for ages :LOL ).<br>
I was planning on annoying everyone by being one of those wait til 8 or 9 month types, but Fern had other ideas.<br>
But she didn't get solids everyday til recently, and I didn't start with cereal (we mostly use that when dp is alone with her for a few hours and we want to fill her up so she doesn't use too much pumped milk)<br>
So be warned that you plans and Satine's may not coincide <img alt="" class="inlineimg" src="http://www.mothering.com/discussions/images/smilies/smile.gif" style="border:0px solid;" title="smile"> but really you'd think doctors would know better in this day and age than to give you that crap about iron. (If you <i>are</i> worried you can always get her iron tested later)

 

[Rainbow Brite]

nak<br>
thanks, I'm not worried about iron at all, but just like to feel that I'm not alone in wanting to delay solids! <img alt="" class="inlineimg" src="http://www.mothering.com/discussions/images/smilies/innocent.gif" style="border:0px solid;" title="shy">

 

[guerrillamama]

i started introducing solids at 6 mo, but he wasn't very interested until 8 or 9 mo. even now at 12 mo he eats very little solids. in fact some days i literally forget to feed him any solids at all. <img alt="" class="inlineimg" src="/img/vbsmilies/smilies/bag.gif" style="border:0px solid;" title="Bag">: he doesn't mind, obviously. but when he's with the sitter he goes 7 or 8 hrs on just solids and is perfectly happy w/ that too.<br><br>
my dr is pretty laid back. he wanted me to start w/ rice cereal at 4 mo, but not for nutritional reasons, only to "teach" him to eat. i basically told him i would try, but that i would follow ds' lead, and he was ok w/ that. the rest of the world was not ok w/ that, and w/ them, i mainly smiled and nodded.<br><br>
i did worry about it a lot to be honest, but these MDC mamas set me straight. <img alt="" class="inlineimg" src="http://www.mothering.com/discussions/images/smilies/orngbiggrin.gif" style="border:0px solid;" title="orange big grin">

 

[mountain mom]

We started solids at 10months. Dd didn't really eat much til she was about 18 months.<br><br>
Still bfing and dd is 37 months.

 

[kavamamakava]

I didn't wait til 9 months, but I NEVER bought that junk cereal. My kids started solids when they could feed themselves. They never wanted me to feed them. I gave them avocado slices and small dishes of yogurt with a spoon for practice eating and little balls of soft steamed veggies and rice...<br>
My son has never had low iron. My daughter was borderline.

 

[MamaMonica]

My doctor advocated waiting until 12 months to introduce solids and exbf until then. That worked well with dd who started solids at 12 months, but ds grabbed some food before that. I waited until they were past the "baby food" stage and could feed themsleves- much easier to do it that way.

 

[girlndocs]

Ugh, that cereal is like wallpaper paste <img alt="" class="inlineimg" src="http://www.mothering.com/discussions/images/smilies/grossedout.gif" style="border:0px solid;" title="gross"> I bet it's got about the same nutrition too ...<br><br>
I started offering solid foods to dd oh, about 2 months ago? because she seemed very interested in what was going on at the table, grabby, etc. But it turned out she wasn't really interested in putting the food in her mouth, in fact, she gags a lot on the few occasions she takes something mushy from my fingertip. So she sits in her highchair and plays with pieces of fruit or vegetables, and when she's *hungry* she comes and nurses :LOL (She's 9.5 mos).

 

[irinam]

6mo almost exactly <img alt="" class="inlineimg" src="http://www.mothering.com/discussions/images/smilies/orngbiggrin.gif" style="border:0px solid;" title="orange big grin"><br><br>
DD wanted to try what it is we are having :LOL<br><br>
Her first solids were mashed bananas (have iron in them) and home made farina hot cereal (farina is made out of wheat, hence has iron in it as well)<br><br>
I would use my bm to thin them out.

 

[loving-my-babies]

Well, I'm not sure. I gave him some solids at 6 months to see if he was interested. He was for a couple days and then didn't want anything to do with them. Then I tried again at 7 months, and again, interest for a couple days, then nothing. So then I stopped trying, now he's only on breastmilk (at almost 10 months) and an ocassional steamed and mashed organic apple.