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August 2011 Moms
homediva
member
Waiting to introduce solids?
homediva
member
I know since max was born August 30 he is a little younger than lots of the babes on here, but I'm curious about if others are planning to wait a while longer before introducing solids? I plan to wait until he shows some more cues or around 6 months...it seems like a lot of people are starting solids closer to 4 months? I don't think Max is anywhere near ready yet (I ebf). For those of you who started early, was your baby showing lots of signs of being ready for more? I am excited to start but I don't want to start too early, and have also read that some studies have shown allergic reactions to increase when solids are begun before baby is ready (no judging for mamas who started early, I'm sure your baby was showing signs of being ready!! Just curious!!)
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Re: Waiting to introduce solids?
I desperately wanted to wait until 6 months but DD was telling me she was ready. After talking with the pedi she is seeing right now ( hers is on maternity leave) we decided to wait until she was 4 months ( 4 days ago) and start some foods.
At the end of November we noticed that she was eating what felt like all the time. DW and I thought it could be another growth spurt so we let it ride. 3 weeks later and no signs of letting up we decided she needed something more. Since starting her on the food once a day we have seen an improvement
What DD wanted/needed outweighed my want/need to start her out later on food.
My DS was definitely showing signs of being ready, every time I eat with him on my lap he opens his mouth when I bring the fork to mine. He's more than doubled his birth weight, has great head/neck control and can sit in his high chair unassisted. I was planning on waiting to start solids, but he just doesn't seem to be satisfied as much as he used to be. I've upped the amount of BM he gets from bottles, and when I'm home with him he will eat every 1.5-2.5 hours. He has been STTN, but recently that's gone out the window (not why I started solids though).
He also doesn't have regular bowel movements, so I'm hoping that some veggies will help move things along better, he doesn't get constipated that I can tell, he just doesn't go often.
I weighed the options and decided to start last night, I'm not going to make it a daily thing right now, just here and there to start practicing, but he took to the spoon very well.
Our original plan was to wait until 6 months(ish), but DH was getting way too excited to try. I gave in at 5 months. I was mostly hoping to prove to DH that DS wasn't ready (by pushing most of the food out with his tongue, not knowing when he was full enough to refuse more).
He's done great so far! He's only had avocado mixed with BM, though. We'll introduce sweet potato this weekend.
FWIW, DS had been showing signs that he was interested in food since 4 months (watching us eat, opening his mouth, sitting unassisted, doubled birth weight), but I wasn't ready (I still don't think I am- I don't want him to be that old already!
).
I'm not sure if it's the food that's helping or not, but he has started sleeping better since we started
At 16 weeks, DD is 15.5 pounds. She BFs every 1.5-2 hours.
We started cereal at 3 months, 3 weeks on Christmas Eve. We mix a very small portion, maybe enough for 10 spoonfuls. Minus what ends up on her bib, and clothes.. she does not get a whole lot.
She started showing signs really early. Snatching food, opening her mouth when she saw us eating, (we called her a little birdie), and just never really being satisfied at the boob.
She has only had it about three times, but I have already noticed a difference in her spitting up. It has decreased a ton! Her tongue reflex is not a problem either, she eats really well. She is still learning that she needs to swallow when she gets it in her mouth. She takes a bite, looks at me.. smiles, and most drools out.
I ditto a lot of the same reasons, not sleeping long at night anymore, hungry during the day, meeting milestones, etc.
We started at 4.5 months, but I don't think it will become an everyday experience for us. She had a bit of avocado on Christmas (Sunday) and a bit more last night (Wednesday). We may try some rice this weekend.
Great responses you got! Informative for me. Thank you.
I thought I heard that the culture was switching back from 6 mos to 4 mos, but my pedi said to wait until 6 mos, maybe some cereal late in the 5th mo. Although my LO is relatively big, she's not showing signs of wanting solids that I can tell. In the meantime, I sit her in the high chair and she plays with spoons and looks at her bowls, and she drinks < ? oz of water from a small glass on occasion.
TTC#1 2003, 5 angels above, IVF-PGS-FET, DD b. Aug-2011
TTC#2 2012/13? FET
We plan to wait to introduce cereal and puree's until 6months. I don?t see a need to rush unless it?s for a health reason.
Same with us. I was planning to wait until at least six months, but I had to change my plan. LO was eating all the time and the pedi was a little concerned that his weight gain had slowed so he advised that we start on rice cereal. I was planning to skip cereals altogether, but LO absolutely loves it. I use an organic brown rice cereal and I mix it with lots of breastmilk until it's pretty runny, so if nothing else I'm getting some more breastmilk into him.
Anyway, LO was obviously ready because he's taken to it like a champ. He gets so excited when I bring out his spoon and bowl, he just starts squealing and opening his mouth really wide. He loves it. And since we started his poops have gotten so much better (we've been struggling with that for a long time) and his feedings during the day have improved. His weight gain picked up again too. So long story short, I'm SO glad we started when we did, even though my original plan was to wait 6+ months, bypass the cereals and start on avocado.