Who has breastfed exclusively for 6 months?

[Spod]

I was wondering, with the current advice being that breastfed babies should not start solids till 6 months....yet plenty of people tell me that they start weaning at 4 months. My HV told me yesterday that very few people manage to exclusively breastfeed. I am constantly being told that I should start my dd on solids now (reasons to include 'shes such a big baby' and 'she'll sleep longer at night' but i really want to wait till 6 months. What experiences have you all had... if you started at 6 months or earlier, what were you reasons, how did it go and what did you feed for the first few weeks?

Samizmommy -- I don't know where you are, but most cities in the UK don't have fluoride added to the water. The main exception that I know of is Birmingham and the West Midlands and possibly somewhere in the north East(?). Some areas also have naturally higher levels of fluoride in the water.

In these areas you need to be v. careful about not overdosing your child on fluoride, eg. by using non-fluoridated toothpaste.

Samizmommy, why on earth were you prescribed fluoride drops? out of interest?

I wouldn't give them to my kids! I have also switched over to organic toothpaste that doesn't contain fluoride. It is toxic/a poison like the others say. Theres no proof it is the best thing for teeth, and kids swallow too much toothpaste for my liking.

Thank you for all of the responses. I appreciate the imput. I knew there must be a reason I was so hesitant to give her the fluoride drops. I live in the US (California) They dont have fluoride in our city water supply but our water here tastes gross so we buy bottled water instead which also does not contain fluoride. At her regular well baby check-up her doctor just said now that she is 6 months old, she needs to start taking fluoride drops. That sounded weird to me. Im sure that I didnt have fluoride drops when I was a baby and my teeth are just fine. I have a baby tooth brush with organic baby toothpaste but of course she fusses at me when I brush her teeth. Am making it a game and singing to her when I do it which helps. I'm glad I havent given her the drops, I didnt know it was a poison. Thanks again.

Obiously I was concerned about giving her the drops because it has been 2 months..hahhaaa of course then I started to think who am I to question her doctor's advise. But it just seemed to un-necessary and I dont like giving her any kind of medicine or such that she does not need. It just made sense to ask around first and get some other mother's opinions. This is a great forum for that. I havent found any others like this. This is our first baby (I am 31 and hubby 34) We waited so long so we would be prepared but I guess you are never really prepared for the next stage of a baby until your there.

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