Great post!

I waited until 6 months with my first. With my second, he showed no interest until almost 10 months(he’d already more than tripled his birth weight, so there was no concern there), and with my last, I waited until 6 months.

Or else I hear things like “Well my baby was eating all the time, and the formula/breastmilk just wasn’t keeping him full.”

What I *think* they are referring to is growth spurts. Having breastfed 3 babies, I can smell a growth spurt coming on because it feels like they’re attached to me 24/7. Then it ends and I feel like I’m begging her to nurse more often because I’m so engorged!! lol

That being said, Willem was started on rice cereal at 4 months. He had NO tongue thrust reflex and ate every single drop, no spit outs.
This was a desperate act of trying to figure out what would help a child, who screamed all night, sleep better. From what I found, it helped slightly… but only because he was fuller. He still woke up several times at night to nurse. But he didn’t scream as much. I still have no idea what was causing it.

You look at places like Circle of Mom’s on FB (it’s like watching a train wreck)… and they are starting their 2 WEEK OLDS on rice cereal IN THE BOTTLE. I swear I nearly dropped dead on the floor when I first read a thread about that.

I MUST share this post by my friend Sara over at Custom-Made Milk…

http://custommademilk.wordpress.com/2010/05/09/studies-change-best-practices/
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Personally, I think it has less to do with what we feed and when than lifestyle these days. If we look at past generations, they fed their babies early and fed them foods they ate. As my father said, his generation ate everything, including growing up with raw eggs plopped into a glass of homemade wine at 5 years old. They had no health problems growing up and even into their 50′s. Why? Several reasons. First off the food was fresh. Notice, homemade wine. They grew, even in Brooklyn, a lot of their produce, and they stopped on the way home from work at the butcher or at the farms (yes in Brooklyn) and got fresh meat. In fact, often the chicken would be chosen by the buyer and slaughtered right then and there. You can’t get any more fresh than that. Hence, my dad talking about kids watching chickens run without their heads back in the day! There was no preservatives, no salt. Secondly, excercise. Everyone walked, kids were free to run the neighborhood with friends from very young ages. They went out at daybreak and didn’t stop moving until they fell into bed late at night. They ate fresh foods and they excercised. Today, kids are trapped in the house playing video games and eating processed foods. Yes, Gerber is processed foods, so if that’s starting your baby on solids, well… I know they “leave out the salt and the sugar.” Not the same thing. My grandmother fed her babies everything she fed the family, seasonings included. They were thin, healthy and had no issues. Back then very few children had allergies, it was almost unheard of.

I fed my kids young, because IMO, simply giving liquid is not sufficient. I know I wouldn’t want a glass of milk for dinner.

I think it has way more to do with culture and lifestyle today than when you start feeding your children.

In other countries, such as Portugal, they feed their children very early. Then again, my brother-in-law’s family would grow their own food, raised their own pigs and chickens and ate everything fresh with no pesticides or preservatives.

My sister visited Portugal many times. All the hogwash here in the US about not eating after a certain hour, don’t eat carbs, cut out red meat, and on and on. Well, she ate more there, at dinners at 9 p.m., ate huge lunches and huge dinners and came home 10lbs lighter. Why? They were active and ate fresh.

Over there, there was no paranoia about letting children out to play. They opened the door and out they went, all day. At 5 years old, off my nephew went, with his cousins, age 6 and 8.

I am the lazy mom. I breastfeed because I’m too lazy to deal with formula. I wait to give solid foods until the baby reaches off my plate and shoves it in to her mouth. My kids have started solids from 5-10 months. But I put my kids on mushed up versions of what we eat. I’ve only had two of six kids have any interest in mushed baby food in a jar. And those two have actually been my pickiest eaters! If you wait til baby is older and self feeding, it’s just easier and cleaner. And really…I advise all moms to be lazy and breastfeed and delay solids.
micki´s last [type] ..Menu Plan Monday-July 19

I’m happy to see that I am not alone in waiting beyond the recommended time to start my little ones on solids. My doctor advised us to wait as long as a year. Both babies were great nursers. Their plumpness proved they were eating just fine. Our doc said babies are designed to live on nothing but breastmilk for the first year. So we waited to introduce them to any foods until 10 months. When we started foods, they ate what we ate. It was often pureed, mushed or cubed, but otherwise they ate the same foods we did.

I was surprised to read the berry recommendation. When we decided to start our babies on solids, our doctor said we could feed them anything except honey since we have absolutely no family history of food allergies. Both kids had nuts and berries young. So far, so good. Oh, and I’m happy to report that their baby plumpness melted off once the nursing stopped and solids began. They are two healthy, happy kiddos.

Great topic, just wanted to add my two pence . Although, I am not a mum yet but have cared for, studied and worked with young children since I was a child and have found that it is generally best to delay solids for as long as possible (which could be until their first birthday) provided that the child is exclusively breastfed.

As stated above breast milk is by design everything a baby needs for their first year of life, you can NOT buy a more organic, healthy, raw or nutrient packed food! I really think that in this case (of an exclusively breastfed child that is) that mums should save their money on packaged baby foods and put it towards buying more organic and unprocessed food for themselves!! After all I agree with advocates for baby led weaning that the introduction of solid food should be for the baby’s sensory exploration, the learning experience of eating (which includes gagging) and good old messy play time rather than a time where we NEED to actively feed a child for nutritional gain.

@ Micki – Hi, just wanted to say I do not think that you are lazy at all!! Both breastfeeding and preparing a healthy meal the WHOLE family ‘can’ eat daily takes considerable effort and is rarely honored or rewarded In our consumer society we have been convinced that we need all this baby stuff to save us time whilst we are caring for infants. This is so untrue!! But that it is a sad cycle we sometimes fall into – to send our time working, so that we can buy time-saving things for infants that make up for the very time that we are unable to spend physically taking care of said infant. When in reality with eduction and above all SUPPORT (government/financial/family etc) I believe that almost ALL women would be able to breastfeed their babies until baby naturally started to wean themselves onto homemade, fresh and organic meals that do not need to be prepared separately to the rest of the family’s meals.

Well I hope this comment/ mini rant makes some sense :s! I guess that what I am trying to articulate is that, everyday I am learning in so many ways, that especially where pregnancy, birth and all aspects of baby care are concerned going “back to basics” really is best for everyone!

it’s nice to see that I’m not the only one that feels this way. If more mothers were responsible in taking good care of their children and being mothers instead of “best friends”, we wouldn’t have the problems that we have with these kids.

Giving your children food before 6 months because you think that it’s cool, is not cool! Great post with great information. Keep up the good work!
Kenneth L. White´s last [type] ..Cures For Baby Constipation updated Mon Jan 3 2011 12-23 pm CST