Introducing Solids

[MrsK]

Ped says that we can introduce solids "if we want to." BabyK is 4 months and not sitting up yet. His cousins have nut, soy, gluten allergies. Ped says the jury is out on whether introducing solids early or late is better for allergies. He's been exclusively breast fed up till now. Lately, he's waking up at night to nurse and his caregivers at day care say that he still acts hungry after taking a 5oz bottle of breastmilk. Also, he's sucking his hands and drooling all the time. Ped thinks he's teething. Any thoughts? Advise? Discussion?

[SuzySunshine]

We started A on rice and oatmeal cereal at 5 months and she took to it right away and had some sort of solids every meal after that. We did the usual introduce one new thing every 3 days to be aware of allergies and never had any issues.

R has been completely the opposite. We've tried about a half dozen times, he's not interested. He is now 5 1/2 months. He can sit up for about 30 seconds on his own. I try about every other day and figure eventually he'll take to it. At this point its just for practice, not nutrition anyway.

[Deebs]

I started my first two at six months, and plan to do the same with DD (I guess she'll be six months in a week, now that I think about it ). I just didn't see the point before then. To me, nursing was very convenient, and my babies gained weight very well. DD is just showing signs of readiness (grabbing for my spoon/fork when eating, etc). Does he seem hungry after you feed him? When DD was in daycare, she would take a six ounce bottle just before I picked her up. Then, about 30-45 minutes later, she would nurse from me, often for 20 minutes. She was basically happy to be back with Mama and not nearly as satisfied drinking from the bottle. If he's not gaining weight or falling of of the growth curve that he's been on, I'd start solids. Just my opinion, though.

[Michele]

Daegan didn't eat solids til about a year old, Kai was feeding himself at about 6 months.

IMO you should wait until he is able to sit on his own, has lost the tongue-thrust reflex and has a good pincher grasp before introducing solids. I'm in the "when they can feed themselves" camp. I started with small chunks of ripe banana and avocado - stuff that could be picked up but would mush easily once in their mouths. Once I was pretty sure he could feed himself, I spoon fed to "finish" Kai because he would get frustrated that he couldn't eat fast enough. I almost always nursed first and offered food second.

4 mo is a big developmental time though, so fussiness and drooling and all that sounds more like teeth and such, than true hunger.

[Pollyanna]

I agree with Michele, regardless of allergies I would avoid introducing solids until he is sitting better on his own. A few things to note, starting solids will not help them sleep any better. If he is still hungry after his caregivers give him a 5oz bottle then they need to give him an 8 oz bottle. When you start solids it is very slow, rice cereal at dinner time for a while before you even move onto adding in other meals. Like Cheri said, each child is different. Some of our kiddos were more than ready to eat at 4 months and others not until closer to 6 months. If you are not in a hurry to start the solids then don't worry about it, the breastmilk is completely sufficient for now.

[Auspicious]

With both kids our ped said we could start anytime between 4 and 6 months at our discretion. I started Cora at 5 months in a slightly desperate attempt to improve her sleep. She took to solids just fine, but her sleep didn't change.

Hazel turned four months on the 5th--she's also not sitting up, also drooling up an ocean. I'm planning to wait till 6 months with her, or possibly just wait until after we move, when she'll be 6.5 months. We'll see.

I agree with all of Pollyanna's post. It's my understanding that breast milk and formula are more calorie-dense than any of the first foods, so the 8 oz bottle makes more sense than starting solids if he seems to need more than he's getting.<--Please ignore this part.

[MrsK]

With regard to 8 oz bottles. . . I read that the breast milk is supposed to change with the baby's nutritional needs and becomes more calorie dense so there is not any need to give more. Honestly, I'm struggling to pump the 15-20 oz for the 3 or 4 bottles that he's taking at day care now. I don't think I could do 24-32 oz for three or four 8 oz bottles. Do we start giving forumula? I really hate formula because my hyper-allergic nephews had problems with exema and such when they were using formula.

Also, any ideas about early introduction of solids and childhood obesity? The kid is a peanut now but DrK and I both have some very heavy people in our families and DrK struggles with his weight.

I'd think that introducing solids would be related to developmental milestones -- such as sitting, grasping, and some other things you've all mentioned. I don't think that anything should be based on an arbitrary age when there are so many differences between children.

[Michele]

Darn kids....erase my post.

When Daegan was in daycare, they told me everyday that he was still hungry and I wasn't feeding him enough. They were comparing him to the formula fed baby (4mo) who got 8oz every 3 hours. Ummm yeah...she was a CHUNK! IME daycare workers are more used to formula fed babies than breastfed babies. At least here the general theme is to shove another bottle in because he's hungry....instead of thinking that maybe he's looking for more stimulation not necessarily more food. As long as you are still getting plenty of wet diapers and regular poopy ones, and he is still growing (even slowly) and developing, he's getting enough.

Sounds more like a growth spurt to me...especially with the increase in night nursing. If you can hang in there I bet things will reveal themselves in a week or two...either he'll have a new skill, have grown, or you'll see swollen gums. Does he take a pacifier? Daegan used to teethe on his....so I would tell them to give him that. Daegan was more looking for me to nurse than he was for more food. BabyK may be the same way. Daegan was small (10-25%) for his age because of the preemie thing, but he caught up and is now 75% for height and 50% for weight at his 3.5y check up. I was always on the low end of the growth curve (10%) but now you'd never know! I caught up in middle and high school and am now taller than my mom and as tall as my dad. Every kid is different.

You are doing great! It's so hard to hear others question what you are doing....for me it's worse when it comes from people who I assume have more experience with children than me - like a daycare worker. But really you as his mom will always have more experience with your son than any caregiver could. Maybe I'm just projecting my own insecurities now. It's getting easier each day to believe that I know best for my boys.

[Auspicious]

Sorry, I was posting on the fly and had to cut it off short and the end of my post came out wrong and I take it back. I should have just left it with the anecdote of what I've done with mine. I don't even have time to explain what I actually meant now. (Darn parenting cuts into the time I would like to spend on the internet talking about parenting.) Hopefully I can explain myself later. I agree you are doing a good job and will make the right decisions for BabyK.

[MrsK]

I think that BabyK is the only breastfed baby in his daycare. The primary caretaker in his room breastfed her baby so she's been very understanding. She's even asked me whether or not to feed him near the end of the day if I may be coming to pick him up soon. I've nursed in his classroom. Also, I know one mom who enrolled her children there when she was a resident (it's a hospital day care). She was nursing and they used to page her when her baby was hungry. Then they'd wait with the fussy baby until she came to nurse. So, I think the day care "gets it." There are two other boys his age in his classroom. One is 13 days older and one is 13 days younger than BabyK. The older one is about 2x BabyK's size and was a 10lb newborn. The younger one is much smaller than BabyK and looks like a skinny little chicken.

As for introducing solids, I think we are going to wait a little and see how he does. If he suddenly starts sitting up and demanding cheerios, we'll start solids but right now my instinct and the things I've read have got me thinking that it's just too soon for him right now.

[Deebs]

When you do start, I really relied on this chart http://www.wholesomebabyfood.com/solids2.htm. It gave me good ideas for when to start each food, but also helped me make sure my kids were getting a variety (and as I pulled it up this morning, I realized that I should go back to it, as we're falling into a bit of a food rut). I also posted a food chart on our fridge and highlighted foods as my babes started to eat them. MIL always wanted to give them peanut butter when they were about a year old (we still don't do that in our house), and ice cream when they were about three months old. It just saved some of the arguing if I could tell her that she could look on the fridge to see what baby was eating these days.

[SuzySunshine]

Thanks for posting that Deb!

FWIW - yes, the breastmilk changes as they age to become more age appropriate, but they also develop more of an appetite as they grow, so the same quantity of milk won't satiate (especially during a growth spurt) them just because it's got more calories. I'd expect that an 8 oz bottle is probably in order.

I totally agree with what Tara / several others have said about the solids. I never did a lot of spoon feeding with my babies.

[alison]

My only advice would be to watch out for constipation when you start solids. We were so gung ho about solids, because they were our beacon of hope when she refused to bottle feed.

Dd's pediatrician said fruits and veggies that start with the letter "p" are a good way to start (after the cereals). Pears, peaches, peas. They're also good at keeping the babies regular.

[HouseofWool]

For me, the decision to start cereal was that the kiddos were hungry non-stop and needed something that would stay in the bellies a bit longer than breast milk. I started both on rice cereal at 4 months. They were literally nursing every hour when awake at that point and I was exhausted.