Does this mean I should be starting solids
DD refuses the bottle and I mean refuses. She keeps popping off the breast to look around and gets mad the longer I keep her in the nursing position. She wants to be free. She pushes away, scratches, etc. I have tried the dark room, blanket over us, different positions etc.
She is VERY interested in eating solid food. She watches the food go from the plate to your mouth and grabs for utensils. She mimics chewing. For the last 2 nights she has woken up in the middle of the night. She has never woken up at night wanting to eat (she always slept at night unless we woke her up, even from birth).
We have not started rice cereal yet. I wanted to BF as long as possible. I know I still BF when she starts cereal, food etc but I wanted to go all through flu season EBF.
Any tips?
Re: Does this mean I should be starting solids
I must say you confused me with saying "refuses the bottle" and "popping off the breast" right in a row!
I'd say, yes, go ahead and introduce solids. Most do anyway by 6 months since the major organizations only recommend exclusively BFing for the 1st 6 months.
And just b/c you're introducing solids doesn't mean she's going to slow-down on the BFing any time soon necessarily. She just might be a Lot more efficient lately and doesn't need so much time on the breast. She'll still be getting immunity help from you either way -- they still keep drinking just as much for a while, even with the introduction of solids.
As a side note, you don't need to start with rice cereal either. you can start with avocado or orange & yellow veggies or whatever. And at the beginning it is really just giving them tastes - unless she really does throw down right away which I've heard of but not seen with my girls.
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I'm no more experienced than you are, but Logan started acting that way over a month ago, actually just after 4 months old. He's been eating cereal since then, and has been introduced to a couple different fruits and veggies since about 3-4 weeks ago. He still consumes the exact same amount of breastmilk, since I use bm to mix his cereal and some of the fruits (bananas, avacado) and veggies (sweet potato, squash).
I really really agonized over starting solids so early for him, but I have to tell you, it has made a world of difference. He is so happy all the time now and I can see that when he would get fussy beforel, it was because he was always hungry (even though he would drink 18oz of bm a day at daycare, and another 6-12 at home with me). The cereal in the mornings make his tummy feel fuller, longer, IMO.
I would say Inara is definitely ready, and I wouldn't worry about not ebf-ing during flu season. As pp said, she won't get any less bm at this point than she is already getting since you won't be replacing any feeding sessions, just adding to... Besides, she is really close to 6 months old.
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That's what prompted us to start DS on solids. He began taking a huge interest in what we were eating, and began mimicking chewing. He's only "experimenting" with foods right now--tasting different veggies and some fruits, and learning how to eat rather than drink (if that makes sense).
If you feel comfortable with it, try giving her some rice cereal and see how she does with it.
:-)
welcome to life at casa little dude.
he started that way around 6 months. he'd get angry when we ate and he didn't get anything. We tried the rice cereal. yeah not so much.
We had a lot of good luck with acorn squash and butternut squash. You can add some cereal to that at some point too. We stayed away from fruits for a few months so he wouldn't get a 'sweet tooth'.
He still nurses like a champ. Though as he get's a new skill he has a week or so where it takes forever to nurse b/c he wants to play or do something else.
good luck! and just b/c she's tasting (i called it dessert) solids doesn't mean you will stop nursing.
You may have already read this or know this, so I'll summarize.
Breastmilk is the best possible source of nutrition (duh). Cereal is almost completely devoid of nutrients, tastes nasty and for the most part might as well be paper filling in their tummy. It is an excellent starter in terms of texture and can be used to thicken more nutritional offerings such as Avocado. There's nothing wrong with starting with cereal, we did because DH just insisted for some silly reason - but it's not exactly a nutritional value add to a baby's diet.
Moms and pediatricians alike will always say to offer cereal to avoid night wakens. It rarely if ever actually helps. If she's waking to eat, it's probably a growth spurt and means she needs your breastmilk now, more than ever, to grow. Filling in that hunger with cereal is not the answer.
All that being said, definitely at 6 months, you can start offering some solids. Believe me when I tell you that it will be months before they even begin to fill her up
We only did cereal about three times. He hated it. We moved on to fruits and veggies and that was much better. So start with whatever you feel like starting with, solid-wise.
It does sound like she's ready.
I wanted to add that it was really hard for me to start solids too. Hubby wanted to start the cereal at 4 months and I let him try it a few times, but since Little Dude hated it I got my way. But at the 6 month appt there was no denying he wanted solids. I was afraid as soon as he ate he'd be anti bf. I guess that can happen but it didn't for us. We surely have good/bad days with it but that's just b/c he's getting older and developing new skills and wants to see everything.
Just wanted to let you know you aren't the only one that had a hard time with it.