Starting Solids... need advice

[sarahfran]

Ok... so Dylan's 5 months old and soon we'll start with solids. I'm happy about it since I have felt like it's been tough to keep my milk supply up with his appetite. But I'm a little confused and hope you can help me understand how this will work. I've read a lot on the topic and still don't totally know what I'm going to be doing.

So at first, i will mix up a little cereal with breast milk, right? Do I just feed him a little bit of that once a day? When do I give him a little carrot / sweet potato / squash puree? Do I continue to breast feed him throughout, and gradually increase the food / decrease the breast?

He's in daycare 2 days/wk, so I want to continue breast feeding as long as possible to give him extra immunity. What is breast feeding like at 10months / 1 yr? Are you only giving the breast a couple of times per day? Does your milk production drop off a lot?

Sorry, I just don't really get how this works...

[stillplayswithbarbies]

Baby's nutrition should be mostly from breastmilk through 12 months, according to the AAP, so starting solids should not affect your milk supply. If you choose to start early at 5 months, and your baby is ready, you would only be giving a few bites a day so he can practice eating.

It's only after 12 months that they should be getting actual meals. I am just now starting to work up to it, at 10 months. She has been eating fruits or veggies at dinnertime, and I just now added cereal at breakfast.

She nurses just as much now as she has been for the last 6 months or so. On the days she goes to daycare, she nurses in the morning, drinks 18-22 oz of breastmilk during the day, nurses at 6:30 PM, once again sometime in the evening and once before bed after dinner. Sometimes she wakes up in the night to eat, but not often.

Here are some articles about solids:

http://www.kellymom.com/nutrition/solids/solids-when.html

http://www.kellymom.com/nutrition/solids/index.html

http://www.kellymom.com/nutrition/solids/delay-solids.html

...Karen
Jacob Nathaniel Feb 91
Logan Elizabeth Mar 03

[peanut4us]

I can't address your last questions, but I'll help where I can.

1) Yes, you can mix the cereal with EBM... you can also use formula or water. Some women find it difficult to get enough ebm for daycare and cereal, kwim? You need to do what's right for you. Technically you can start a new food every 3-5 days. Most peds recommend waiting 5-7 days between foods, just to make sure their is no adverse reaction. Also, I have a read a couple of books that recommend just feeding baby cereal for the first month.

When we started Sara, we used ebm and cereal once a day. We started with Rice but ditched it in favor of oatmeal and barley because she was getting constipated on the rice. After about a month we started mixing her "new" food in with the cereal. Her favorite ended up being cereal and pears. You gradually get thicker with the cereal to liquid ratio. Sara wasn't on 3 solid meals a day until 9 months. She wasn't on 2 solid meals a day until almost 8 months. I think the key to remember at your son's age is that this is really all about new taste and texture; not about nutrition! breast milk is still his staple and will be for quite a while. You should absolutely still feed your son like you always have from the breast. Don't worry about decreasing the breast... Sara drinks more now than she did when she was 5 monhts old.

I gave her BM exclusively until she was 7.5 months old. My supply tanked, so she had to have formula supplements. It's not what I wanted for her, but it was what I could do and it really worked out. We just finished weaning her entirely to formula this last week and she is almost 10 months old.

Good luck HTH.

[sarahfran]

Thanks so much for the advice. I appreciate it! Your insights have definitely helped shape my understanding of how this will go!