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Infant feeding

Get advice and support with infant feeding from other users here.

Original poster

Really want to hold off solids till 6 months

70 replies

dinny · 14/01/2005 21:21

if I can. but ds (4 months) is VERY interested in food/grabbing our food. want to excl bf him and start solids at 6 months. how do I make sure he's getting enough to eat? he's 18 weeks, 19 lbs and feeds every 2-3 hours day and night (we're all v happy thus far too). thanks for any advice.

OP posts:
moondog · 14/01/2005 21:27

Well, I wanted to do the same with my ds and I knew he was doing fine on b/milk as he was thriving and growing.However, he started sleeping very badly and was staring at our food,so I tried a bit reluctantly at 51/2 months and he loved it.

He's now 61/2 months and is by no means reliant on food. Still just has a bit of yoghurt and fruit purees and nibbles on a breadstick or crust.

I feel I went with what he wanted and am confident that it was the right decision, although being my second, I am more confident with everything.

Try him with a litte and see what happens. if he's not ready he will spit it out.
(Such a bore though dealing with food. Messy and time consuming compared to the ease of whipping a boob out!)

moondog · 14/01/2005 21:27

Well, I wanted to do the same with my ds and I knew he was doing fine on b/milk as he was thriving and growing.However, he started sleeping very badly and was staring at our food,so I tried a bit reluctantly at 51/2 months and he loved it.

He's now 61/2 months and is by no means reliant on food. Still just has a bit of yoghurt and fruit purees and nibbles on a breadstick or crust.

I feel I went with what he wanted and am confident that it was the right decision, although being my second, I am more confident with everything.

Try him with a litte and see what happens. if he's not ready he will spit it out.
(Such a bore though dealing with food. Messy and time consuming compared to the ease of whipping a boob out!)

mears · 14/01/2005 21:28

Just feed him whenever he wants basically. Keep your goal in mind. I did that with last baby. She started night feeds about 5 months again after going through the night at 4 months, but I just fed her and after about a week she settled again once she had increased the supply.
Remember he is grabbing food not because he wants to eat it but because he wants to feel it. Babies feel things with their mouths hence why everything goes in it. It is a sign often mistaken for hunger.

Original poster
dinny · 14/01/2005 21:31

Thanks, Mears. Was thinking it was a bit coincidental that suddenly at 4 months he started wanting food. ds has never slept through anyway, so not really affected by him feeding at night.
can you just give a baby his age a rusk to play with or not really?

OP posts:
mears · 14/01/2005 21:33

I wouldn't because he might eat it then he wouldn't be excusively breastfed and that is your aim.

lockets · 14/01/2005 21:35

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn

CarrieG · 14/01/2005 21:39

I had the same ambition - but at 4 months he wasn't sleeping thro' (after doing so from 10 weeks), was grabbing at our food - I gave in & started him on veg purees.

It's worked for us - ds seems much more content. But then he IS an exceptionally big baby, & I didn't want weaning to coincide with my return to work (which will be in a fortnight when he's 6 months).

I suppose he might well have settled down again if I'd persevered with milk only, but it really didn't seem that way at the time!

acnebride · 14/01/2005 21:44

stick to your plan. i have a big ds who has always been large and seemed interested in food, so got a lot of comments about 4 months to start him on solids. started him at about 5 months and he was so uninterested for 3 weeks or so, and it made no apparent difference to sleep. wish i hadn't bothered really.

there's a nice thread called 'so who really made it to six months' or something like that, it's a while ago so you could try the archived threads. lots of experiences.

chocolatecath · 14/01/2005 21:49

dinny, imho, if he's putting on weight then he's getting enough to eat! My dd got to 4 months (exclusively breastfed) and then I started to doubt myself and feel pressured into giving solids people would say "that baby's hungry" if she so much as looked at our food - but I held out till 6 months and it was fine. Sometimes she fed more often during the day and sometimes we were up twice in the night instead of once, but on the whole she was more settled and I, to my surprise, got more confident, not less, that she was getting enough, as the weeks went by.
Don't let people tell you he's hungry because he's grabbing food. Babies grab everything and try to put whatever it is in their mouths - that's curiosity, not hunger. When your baby can sit up by himself and when he has teeth, which will be sometime around 6 months, later maybe, then he is ready for solids and you will look back and wonder why you ever thought of giving them now! Hang in there, you are doing the right thing imo. I read "Bestfeeding" and it really helped me. HTH

Original poster
dinny · 15/01/2005 09:04

Thanks everyone, really want to get to six months if can. Just start doubting when people keep saying he's hungry. Re. rusk - doh, agree
Mears. Being a bit thick! Thanks again.

OP posts:
hercules · 15/01/2005 09:24

aforementioned thread /link{http://www.mumsnet.com/Talk?topicid=1364&threadid=25591\here}

hercules · 15/01/2005 09:24

heresorry

ja9 · 15/01/2005 10:30

Been reading this thread with interest. I am in exactly the same situation as Dinny, and feeling pressure from all around to start ds on solids. Was about to give in, but uv all given me a bit of confidence to carry on as i am doing with the 6 mth goal back in place. Thanks.

Twiglett · 15/01/2005 10:59

interest in food / grabbing is a developmental stage and IMHO its your brain that's saying he 'needs' solids

he gets plenty from bf .. so really all you need to do is re-educate yourself and ignore well-meaning advice from older people

I weaned at 25 weeks BTW (cos i just couldn't hold off that extra week)

dinosaur · 15/01/2005 11:41

DS3 is nearly 23 weeks. Health visitor has advised we should get on with weaning as his weight gain has slowed a lot - he's down to 75th centile now (from 91st).

moondog · 15/01/2005 14:07

Been digesting Mears' words of wisdom and now wish I'd held out for that last fortnight! (oh God, something else to feel bad about )

Now, correct me if I'm wrong but isn't the idea of feeding to up calorie intake a load of bollocks, because (in the early stages at least) there is no way that they can get as many calories from bits of pureed fruit and veggies and baby rice as they can from b/milk ?

morningpaper · 15/01/2005 14:11

Moondog: sounds right to me, I've never understood that.

When people say 'oh he's hungry' it is SO RUDE! Like 'he can't be happy with just your milk, dear' - how do they think he GOT that big?!

moondog · 15/01/2005 14:20

Yes,at the risk of sounding paranoid, it's yet another way that b/feeding is sabotaged in what is actually quite a sinister way.
Complete aside, but the book that really made me see b/feeding in a whole new light is 'The Politics of Breastfeeding' by Gabrielle Palmer (I think.) Fascinating. I can honestly say that it is one of the books that has made the greatest impact on my life. That and 'No Logo' by Naomi Klein. (Oh-and 'Little House in the Big Woods'by Laura Ingalls Wilder!)

Flossam · 15/01/2005 14:34

Can I just ask, would you all say that it was yours, as a mother to make that decision? Strange question I know but I have an over keen DP who seems to think he knows best when DS will be ready and is gagging to be involved with the feeding (won't last long I know). I've tried to say that I will know and it will be my decision. He thinks he will be ready at 4 months, I'd rather wait till 6, but then there is so much conficting info. WHO says 6 months, my child development says I am risking iron defiency aneamia by not starting at 4.

Sorry, complete thread hijack (especially as DS is only 10 weeks!).

zebra · 15/01/2005 14:49

Dinosaur -- all of mine dropped thru percentiles (40th to 7th, 75th to about 35th, etc.) between 3 & 6 months and none of them went back to their previous percentiles, even though they were all keen eaters of 'solids'... I honestly think it's a rubbish single reason to start solids.

What do you mean "my child development" Flossam -- is that a person or a course you went on?
anyway, the most recent research strongly demonstrates that babies do not suffer or need iron supplements (or food with extra iron) until at least 6 months, and there are quite a few pieces of research that point out the very early solids (before 4 months) are damaging... even in a country with safe water supplies like here, offering solids increases the risk of gastro-intestinal illness.

I feel very confused about this issue, too, really, and (for right or wrong I don't know) I start solids before 6 months with all of mine, but not because of the iron thing.

moondog · 15/01/2005 14:50

Think it should be mother's decision in conjunction with the support of people she trusts and who know their stuff. If you can't be in sole charge of these sorts of decisions after doing all the bloody hard work of making and producing the baby, then there's no hope!
My dh is a great father, but defers to me completely with all baby decisions.
In my case, that means ignoring advice from mil,neighbours,various acquaintances, and going along with the advice of my m/w who is also a b/f counsellor. I hang onto her every word. If she started a cult I would be first in line to join

Flossam · 15/01/2005 14:56

Zedbra, sorry, I didn't preview. I meant to say my child development book. The normally red book (in my case blue) that has all your charts in etc. I was slightly shocked to see it in there which is what is making me question the 6 month idea.

dinosaur · 15/01/2005 15:01

That's interesting, zebra.

Anyway, have tried him with some solids and he doesn't seem very keen!

I think I will start a new thread, sorry to hijack yours dinny!

mears · 15/01/2005 15:05

Charts have not been udated Flossam - old ones will no doubt need used up first.

Guidance is issued from our hospital in a leaflet - exclusive feeding to 6 months is the ideal (individual choice though)

Baby's weight gain does tail off as they get older. My DD was static for a month prior to starting solids. Did not immediately gain by starting them.

moondog · 15/01/2005 15:08

Am I right in thinking this,Mears? (2:07 pm post)