Help!! DS won't nurse OR take bottle after meals

[DebbieJ]

A lot of food, really? Hmmmm...he is just over 17 lbs, and from what I've seen that's in like the 10th percentile, so TBH I didn't think he was getting enough food in general. He takes about 2 TBS of cereal and 2oz fruit for breakfast, 3oz food for lunch, 3-4TBS cereal and 2-3oz veg at dinner. It seemed like the pediatrician wanted me to be all gung ho with the food, but I introduced it veeerrrrrryyyy slllllloooowwwwllllyyyy. It took me over 2 months to get him up to 3 squares a day.

My DS2 is almost 7 mths, 17#13oz and he is getting one taste of solids a day if we're lucky. It's usually some banana in the baby safe feeder to keep him occupied while we deal with other household things. We've had other more important things going on with DS1's health so we've been distracted and haven't made a concerted effort on the solids. He is growing just fine on breastmilk.

As another poster said, breastmilk or formula is complete nutrition and all your child needs for the first year of life. Solid foods are just practice and generally shouldn't be started until babies show all the signs of readiness, which is generally around 6 mths.

[Katigre]

Many peds push solids early and too much, which leads some babies to drop nursing too early. I would not rely on them for appropriate guidance for solid foods - especially if they're seriously saying that nursing just 3 times a day is sufficient for a 7 month old!

[DrSally]

Many peds push solids early and too much, which leads some babies to drop nursing too early. I would not rely on them for appropriate guidance for solid foods - especially if they're seriously saying that nursing just 3 times a day is sufficient for a 7 month old!

Don't feel bad, many peds push too many solids too early.

[KrisM]

A lot of food, really? Hmmmm...he is just over 17 lbs, and from what I've seen that's in like the 10th percentile, so TBH I didn't think he was getting enough food in general. He takes about 2 TBS of cereal and 2oz fruit for breakfast, 3oz food for lunch, 3-4TBS cereal and 2-3oz veg at dinner. It seemed like the pediatrician wanted me to be all gung ho with the food, but I introduced it veeerrrrrryyyy slllllloooowwwwllllyyyy. It took me over 2 months to get him up to 3 squares a day.

Part of it is that most people here wait until 6 months for solids and don't get to 3 meals a day until around 9-10 months.

Also, being in the 10th percentile is not a bad thing, unless he's always previously been in the 80th or something. The percentiles don't measure how healthy he is or anything, they are just where he falls compared to others. Someone has to be 10th .

[DrSally]

Also, being in the 10th percentile is not a bad thing, unless he's always previously been in the 80th or something. The percentiles don't measure how healthy he is or anything, they are just where he falls compared to others. Someone has to be 10th .

Yes, this.

[alirebco]

I agree with all the others - always nurse first before giving food - that is where their calories are coming from, the food is just for practice, especially at his age.

Feeding a ton of solids this young and waiting until after a meal to offer milk is the fastest way to get your child to wean before they're ready. Be very careful that his calories are still coming from mostly breastmilk.

[Katigre]

Feeding a ton of solids this young and waiting until after a meal to offer milk is the fastest way to get your child to wean before they're ready. Be very careful that his calories are still coming from mostly breastmilk.

I want to echo this because it is very true and I have seen it happen many times. Since I wanted to be sure that breastmilk remained the major part of my child's diet through toddlerhood, I structured the way we introduced and emphasized solids accordingly.

[bunnyslippers]

Part of it is that most people here wait until 6 months for solids and don't get to 3 meals a day until around 9-10 months.

Thanks. I started at four months because DS was READY!! Not to mention, I was I was getting very discouraged with nursing. He was cluster feeding every hour parts of the day and well into the middle of the night for a while. Nursing is not an exact science and the ambiguity of it all was really taking it's toll on me. I couldn't relax about it. I think starting solids helped him form a somewhat more predictable feeding pattern, which helped me relax. A stressed out mom is a stressed out baby!! Actually, it surprises me that I'm still nursing. At this point, some BM is better than none. If he were to switch to formula during the day, I would be ok with it at this point. However, I want to continue nursing AM, bedtime and any surprise middle of the night feedings. I enjoy snuggling with him then.

[llama8]

My daughter is one week shy of 5 months and is up to 3 meals a day. She was doing 3 meals at 4.2 months.

I don't think that is too much. She loves her food an eats like a champ. She was never satisified with the bottles and always screaming in hunger. Now she is full and much happier.

As long as you introduce each new food for 3 days with no reaction, you should be fine. Each kid is different, mine loves her meals on a spoon with large bottles throughout the day.

[SnuggleBuggles]

My daughter is one week shy of 5 months and is up to 3 meals a day. She was doing 3 meals at 4.2 months.

I don't think that is too much. She loves her food an eats like a champ. She was never satisified with the bottles and always screaming in hunger. Now she is full and much happier.

As long as you introduce each new food for 3 days with no reaction, you should be fine. Each kid is different, mine loves her meals on a spoon with large bottles throughout the day.

Did you try more bottles? I think that is one of the nice things about nursing is that you can't really worry about how many ounces they are eating or details like that- they're hungry, you nurse them. Same works for bottles too but I seem to hear more bottle feeding moms complain/ are concerned about giving too many ounces or bottles. Is it a cost thing? A time thing? I figure that a bottle can fill them up just as well or better than solids if given as much as desired. I never bottle fed though so maybe there is something I am missing. I still hate to see solids replace great nutrition in little ones.

Beth