As a new mom it can be difficult to take advice when it comes to your baby. While you should be able to trust your pediatrician, you may have different opinions and you should always follow your heart and do what you feel is best for your child.
Our first pediatrician with our son recommended we start solids when my son turned four months old. I took the advice and was excited to try it out. I started with rice cereal mixed with breast milk in a very thin consistency. He didn’t do well but I kept at it. It took well over a month for him to even open his mouth. I hindsight, I might have waited to start solids until at least 5 months.
My daughter is three months old and at her recent check up her pediatrician suggested we start solids already. I was shocked! I thought breast milk was best for babies so I don’t understand why doctors are pushing up the recommended start time for solids. Her doctor said it was based on weight and because she was in the 90th percentile, she was ready to go. This time, I am choosing to wait.
When I do decide to start solids I will start with rice cereal mixed with breast milk once a day. Once my daughter gets the hang of it I will slowly start adding homemade fruit and veggie purees. When I feel she is ready, I will increase her “meals” to twice a day and so on. I will let her guide me and I am sure she will be just fine. I don’t see the need to rush solids when she is getting everything she could possibly need from breast milk, not to mention the liquid multi-vitamin that the pediatrician also recommended. Once again, I am not sure the vitamin is necessary but I don’t think it will hurt so I give it to her anyway. From what I understand, the only nutrient not found in high enough quantities in breast milk is vitamin D which is why it was recommended. More info on this topic can be found HERE. Liquid vitamin D isn’t readily available at drug and grocery stores so until I get my hands on some I just give my daughter the liquid multi-vitamin to make sure she gets her dose of vitamin D.
As long as the majority of my children’s nutrition comes from breast milk during the first year, I don’t feel as if introducing solids will negatively effect breastfeeding.
A great article on this topic can be found at Homemade-baby-food-recipes.com.
When do you feel is the best time to introduce solids? Do you feel like introducing solids negatively effects breastfeeding? Do you feel doctors are pushing solids too soon? Let us know by leaving a comment!
thebubbledies says
We started at 5.5 months & our son hates it. He is breastfed & could care less about solids. I had to try several different cereals to even get one he will at least swallow. He is now 7.5 months & still just eating 1 meal a day – mostly on his bib. I figure he'll eat eventually & I'm not concerned about his weight (in the 50th percentile.)Still nothing is more frustrating than a child turning away from you in a high chair for 30 minutes… haha. C'est la vie! – Simone
Danielle Miller says
I think you truly have to go with your intuition. I wanted to start my baby on the rice cereal sooner but the doctor said no. Since he was a preemie, I did what I was told. But little guy hardly ate baby food at all. We practically skipped over stage 2 entirely. He’s 10 months now, eating the same stuff we eat, and usually eats more than I do. LOL. The doctor says we can’t give him any milk until he hits 1 year old. But I think he’s ready now. So I’m going for it. I started today by making his bottle as normal, then just topped it off with whole milk. Over the next two months, I’ll keep changing the ratio.
But really and truly, people have been raising kids forever. And yeah, some information about health issues has improved and should be followed. But I don’t think there’s any reason to be paranoid about anything. You know what’s best for your baby. Consider the doctor’s info, maybe research it a bit, but ultimately follow your intuition.
Maybe doctor’s are pushing solids sooner to get babies transitioned to normal foods to make it easier and less stressful for the mommies. I know since Dawson has been eating what we eat, life is much easier. And a less stressed mommy may be better for baby than starting solids too soon.
Kristin says
Because my husband has ulcerative colitis, my pediatrician recommended that we wait until closer to 6 months before we begin solids. I have several friends in a breast feeding group who waited until 6 months or later. I like your plan to start with rice cereal mixed with breast milk and then gradually add in pureed vegetables and fruits. A friend recommended the website http://www.wholesomebabyfood.com for good recipes.
Anjanette says
There are lots of mommies (me!) who wait much longer than recommended and skip “baby” foods all together. If you are exclusively nursing on demand, baby will get plenty of nutrition. We introduced solids when our son started showing an interest in what we were eating. We let him have things that were soft enough to gum and swallow, but never a full meal worth until he was about 10 months old, and then only sporadically. He is now 13 months and we have *just* started to introduce a meal or two every day. He is still nursing and “grazes” on good for him foods throughout the day. He has always been in the 90th percentile or higher and food is his fave thing in the world. We have no problems getting him to try new foods.
Obviously, I’m a stay-at-home mom and our lifestyle allows us to take this easy approach. Our personalities and the fact that he’s our only child so far factor in as well. Overall, I strongly feel that parents should feel free to gather the information and advice out there from professionals and experienced parents and make a decision that is good for their family. Our pediatrician is thrilled with our son’s strength and social abilities and has basically said, “whatever you are doing is working, so keep doing it.” We very much appreciate his vote of confidence in our parenting and expect the same from all of our care providers.
TammiD says
I’m a stay at home mom and we started rice cereal at about 3.5 months and foods slowly at 4.5 months. He took really well to solids so we would give him a big bowl of cereal with formula and fruit for breakfast and dinner. Then he would get 3 jars of food for lunch. I would nurse in between those meals. He now is 11 months and has started eating table food just fine and I just weaned him off nursing so we’re switching him to whole milk. I have another boy who is 2.5 years old and we seemed to stay on baby food for longer.
Kama @ Today's Housewife says
My son turns 6 months old tomorrow (my, how time flies!) and we just started him on rice cereal mixed with breast milk this weekend. He seems to really love it (although I’m only giving him 1 t of rice and 1 T of milk). He opens his mouth wide every time. I’m following Super Baby Food’s recommendation and feeding before, rice cereal, feeding after. It has worked so far and I plan to introduce oatmeal tomorrow and then veggies next week. It seems kind of stressful, but I guess there isn’t a set rule for each baby–just do what feels best, right? Thanks for the post! I like knowing I’m not the only one who wonders about these issues!
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CherryBlossomMJ says
I’m pregnant with my first, but I will probably follow what my sister did. She is pregnant with her fifth. In her house each child was different, but for the most part it was 4-7 mo that they started, and some of the first was even Cheerio’s. Basically she breast fed until the baby showed interest in something else and then she would slowly allow bites here and there.
With her younger children, they started earlier. Probably with seeing the rest of the kids all eating something colorful and fun.