4mos well check and ? about solids

danienross · February 2011

So today DD had her 4mos well check. She weighs 13lbs 11oz now (a pound shy of doubling her birth weight) and is 24.5in long. I was so happy! No shots today though because the power went out so we'll be going back some other day.

But then the pedi came in and of course brought up solids. She told me that I could start rice cereal whenever I wanted. I told her that I didn't plan on started solids until 6mos. I also didn't plan to start with rice cereal. I was hoping to start with some kind of fruit but I didn't tell her that. Her reply, "Well you might miss the window for her to learn how to eat from a spoon." Is that true? All of the research I've done says that its really recommended to wait until 6mos to start solids. Anyone else considering to do something different than what your pedi recommends? And if so, did you tell them your plan or just keep it to yourself?

shotzie · February 2011

You are right. Everything I've read says it's best to wait until at least 6 months for EBF babies. DD didn't have any solids until she was 6 months old and she took to the spoon just fine. Some people wait longer than 6 months to introduce solids. I don't think it's something you need to run by your pedi. You know her opinion on it, but it's your decision. We started with RC, but it made DD constipated. So our pedi recommended oatmeal instead, and that went over much better. Some common alternate first foods are bananas or avocado. It's fine to do those and skip RC. You can also make your own oatmeal or brown rice cereal instead of using the boxed kind.

joolz425 · February 2011

I've never heard of that. She started rice cereal mixed with BM at 4 months once a day at daycare. She loves eating from a spoon. If you're worried, you can just feed her BM from a spoon, but I wouldn't worry about it too much.

jesmckenna · February 2011

Everything I've read says that waiting until 6 months is recommended, but that starting as early as 4 months is fine if your child is ready. I don't know why your pedi would say that. If you want to wait, then I think that's what you should do.

KristinKD · February 2011

Maybe your pedi misunderstood your comment about not starting with rice cereal and thought you intended to skip purees entirely? I don't know. I've never heard anything about missing the spoon window.

I waited to start solids until six months with both girls. Our pedi gave me the option of starting them at four months but I just told her I wanted to continue EBFing until six months. She didn't question me at all.

danienross · February 2011

KristinKD:
Maybe your pedi misunderstood your comment about not starting with rice cereal and thought you intended to skip purees entirely? I don't know. I've never heard anything about missing the spoon window.

I waited to start solids until six months with both girls. Our pedi gave me the option of starting them at four months but I just told her I wanted to continue EBFing until six months. She didn't question me at all.

I didn't even tell her that I planned to skip rice cereal. I just told her that I didn't plan to start solids until 6mos and then she made the spoon comment. I had just never heard anyone talk about the spoon thing before.

madhatter2003 · February 2011

It is true to an extent....the longer you wait to introduce things it can be difficult. Sort of like bottles, if you wait too long they may never take them.

My doc is a family doc and he always said to watch the baby for signs of being ready, not the calendar. Some are ready at 4, some at 5 months, some at 6....but not to wait too much longer than 6 or you will miss the window of them being 'flexible'.

C-Charm · February 2011

madhatter2003:

It is true to an extent....the longer you wait to introduce things it can be difficult. Sort of like bottles, if you wait too long they may never take them.

My doc is a family doc and he always said to watch the baby for signs of being ready, not the calendar. Some are ready at 4, some at 5 months, some at 6....but not to wait too much longer than 6 or you will miss the window of them being 'flexible'.

Am I the only person who thinks this sounds completely wack-adoodle? That's like saying that my DD will never learn the mechanics of how to play with or stack blocks if give her other toys first and don't have any blocks in our home. Is this supposed to be true for learning how to eat from a fork or use a knife? I'm confused about what actual the concern is.

Dochas · February 2011

danienross:
So today DD had her 4mos well check. She weighs 13lbs 11oz now (a pound shy of doubling her birth weight) and is 24.5in long. I was so happy! No shots today though because the power went out so we'll be going back some other day.
But then the pedi came in and of course brought up solids. She told me that I could start rice cereal whenever I wanted. I told her that I didn't plan on started solids until 6mos. I also didn't plan to start with rice cereal. I was hoping to start with some kind of fruit but I didn't tell her that. Her reply, "Well you might miss the window for her to learn how to eat from a spoon." Is that true? All of the research I've done says that its really recommended to wait until 6mos to start solids. Anyone else considering to do something different than what your pedi recommends? And if so, did you tell them your plan or just keep it to yourself?

That is completely untrue and you don't have to start with rice cereal. My son hated it. Now I give him Earth's Best barley/oat/spelt Cereal. Oatmeal is also good. My ped said start when you're comfortable. But she did suggest that I not wait longer than 6 months to at least introduce them. We started about 2 weeks shy of 6 months and he was REALLY ready. I'm glad we waited until he could swallow because it would be useless and silly to rush it.

madhatter2003 · March 2011

C-Charm:
madhatter2003:

It is true to an extent....the longer you wait to introduce things it can be difficult. Sort of like bottles, if you wait too long they may never take them.

My doc is a family doc and he always said to watch the baby for signs of being ready, not the calendar. Some are ready at 4, some at 5 months, some at 6....but not to wait too much longer than 6 or you will miss the window of them being 'flexible'.

Am I the only person who thinks this sounds completely wack-adoodle? That's like saying that my DD will never learn the mechanics of how to play with or stack blocks if give her other toys first and don't have any blocks in our home. Is this supposed to be true for learning how to eat from a fork or use a knife? I'm confused about what actual the concern is.

It's not that they 'never' will, but the flexibility of them wanting to eat a new way will be gone once they gets past the certain stage.

In all honestly, I see the point in other things so it makes sense to me. Plus I think it is better to watch your kid than the calendar. My kids were ready before 6 months so we started cereal 'early' There are different recommendations out there, even within the AAP there isn't agreement on when is 'best' to start.

ncbelle · March 2011

I think that's pretty untrue. Heck, I never even spoon fed my kid (we did baby led weaning and went straight to finger foods) and he was a pro at using one on his own way before most of his peers.

The AAP committee on breastfeeding recommends nothing but breastmilk for the first 6 months as do pretty much every other breastfeeding expert out there.

C-Charm · March 2011

madhatter2003:
C-Charm:
madhatter2003:

It is true to an extent....the longer you wait to introduce things it can be difficult. Sort of like bottles, if you wait too long they may never take them.

My doc is a family doc and he always said to watch the baby for signs of being ready, not the calendar. Some are ready at 4, some at 5 months, some at 6....but not to wait too much longer than 6 or you will miss the window of them being 'flexible'.

Am I the only person who thinks this sounds completely wack-adoodle? That's like saying that my DD will never learn the mechanics of how to play with or stack blocks if give her other toys first and don't have any blocks in our home. Is this supposed to be true for learning how to eat from a fork or use a knife? I'm confused about what actual the concern is.
It's not that they 'never' will, but the flexibility of them wanting to eat a new way will be gone once they gets past the certain stage.
In all honestly, I see the point in other things so it makes sense to me. Plus I think it is better to watch your kid than the calendar. My kids were ready before 6 months so we started cereal 'early' There are different recommendations out there, even within the AAP there isn't agreement on when is 'best' to start.

Her question didn't seem about whether there's a best time to start feeding solids. The question seemed to be about whether waiting to feed solids would mean that her child wouldn't learn how to use a spoon.

I know this is strictly anecdotal (not scientific data), so take it with a grain of salt: My experience was the same as ncebelle's (below) we did BLW a bit after 6 months and never fed DD with a spoon. However, when I started giving her a Gerber spoon/fork/knife set with her finger foods she figured them at an age where most other babies her age were still being spoon fed by their parents.

4mos well check and ? about solids

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