Introducing solids before vacation?

[PGTB]

I originally planned to introduce solids to our EBF DS at 6 months. But then I realized we had a vacation scheduled when he will be 6.5 months. So, I am wondering if it is a good idea to start him on solids just 2 weeks before the vacation. What would you do in my situation? Would you wait to introduce solids till we come back from vacation? It's only 1 week, so DS will wait to start solids till 6 months and 3 weeks.

I am not sure how easy the solid food introduction will go with DS, that is why I am worried... I am also not looking forward to have to cook his food while at a resort hotel, which I am sure doesn't have the fridge or a kitchen of any kind. BF will be so much easier for us at that point, but then, I don't want to withhold the necessary nutrition from DS if he is ready for our selfish convenience reasons...

[♥ms.pacman♥]

well we went thru something similar and for us it actually wasn't a big problem at all. we went on a weeklong trip to Toronto when DS was exactly 6 months, and we had started solids when he was a little over 5 months or so. it wasn't too much trouble to feed him solid foods there since he wasn't eating that much..only 2x a day or so and very little each time. at that point i recall he was just eating rice cereal + expressed breastmilk (2x a day) and then a very small container (2.5 oz) veggies once a day. I just fed him cereal/BM and jarred baby foods for this trip since we were staying at a hotel (to me it wasn't a big deal to feed him jarred foods vs home-cooked foods).

what we did that made things easier to feed him solids while traveling was we brought along Baby Bjorn soft bib (http://www.amazon.com/BabyBj%C3%B6rn-046062US-BABYBJ%C3%96RN-Soft-Bib/dp/B000BFP0HC/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=baby-products&qid=1287089371&sr=1-1). this was soo useful, especially for travel use, because we could just wipe it or wash it off after each feeding. SO EASY. a thousand times easier than bringing a dozen cloth bibs and then having them get dirty or having to go to the laundry to wash bibs mid-trip. We ate out a lot at this trip, so it was especially convenient at restaurants..just wipe it off after feeding and put it back in diaper bag...no messy/dirty bibs to deal with later.

another thing that helped us at thist stage was the Boon squirt spoon (http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B002K99IUM/ref=pd_lpo_k2_dp_sr_2?pf_rd_p=486539851&pf_rd_s=lpo-top-stripe-1&pf_rd_t=201&pf_rd_i=B001IJYNMI&pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_r=1RZ61S8683NHH16YJ5XR). this was great for feeding him cereal on the go. we just put 1tbs rice cereal in the main compartment, added the pumped milk and stirred it, then put the spoon part on and that's it. no need to bring along bulky bowls or anything like that.

oh and another thing that helped was having extra pump parts, so i didn't have to be constantly washing parts, only had to wash once a day. our hotel didnt' have a fridge to store breastmilk but i managed without, i just pumped 1oz or so for each of his cereal feedings.

[o_mom]

I would skip it. He doesn't need the nutrition from solids at this point and you risk a reaction that could spoil your vacation. One week certainly isn't going make any difference. If you had already been feeding them, then you could probably make it work, but why bother with all the extra stuff when you don't have to?

[Rainbows&Roses]

I agree with PP, skip it. No reason to make life more difficult.

[elephantmeg]

the only reason I would do it is if grandparents are going along. Dad was so excited to feed his grandson oatmeal in the mornings (he eats oatmeal every.single.day and has since a small, small child). MIL always enjoyed being able to feed them too, esp since I EBF.