Does she want solids already?

[rufalina]

Can you try and offer her more feeds during the day, say when she wakes up and before sleeps, and try to get her more satisfied so you get longer sleeps at night?

[Nai]

I think you should do what you feel is right for you and your baby. I was really trying to wait until 6 months but Miss J was grabbing food from us and getting it in her mouth and I really didn't want her first food to be DP's Chilli chips!!

Miss J was waking lots during the night and feeding 3-4 times a night as well as every 3 hours during the day. She now has milk every 3 hours plus 3 lots of solids. She recognises the spoon, opens her mouth and launches her body at it - so she is enjoying it Also she has slept 10 and 11 hours straight in the last 2 nights and she is much happier during the day.

I'm comfortable that she was ready and I was following her lead. You need to feel happy with your choice and be comfortable with what you are doing.

[Heaven]

Thanks for the suggestions guys!! I've tried offering her more in the day but she won't have it. But I think it might be the distraction thing like anna said. So today only 2 hrs after her last feed I gave her another one lying in bed in our dark room and she had a bigger feed than she usually does in the day. So I'll do this for a few days and see if it makes a difference!

Thanks Nai, DD sounds like Juliette, doing all the same things. When she's making it so clear she wants to try our food and is feeding so much it makes me doubt myself with making her wait a bit longer.

With BLS, if I try in a couple of weeks and she's not ready will she just not eat it? If I leave it up to her to feed herself will she not eat it until she's ready?

[Visitor8]

One suggestion for you hun, stop counting the night feeds.

Because until the last week Ash was still waking for BB every 2 hours, and it wasn't a growth spurt, he is on solids and still does it with formula. He just likes that feeding at night. Some babies just do

[Sammiejane]

With BLS, if I try in a couple of weeks and she's not ready will she just not eat it? If I leave it up to her to feed herself will she not eat it until she's ready?

yep thats right.
as i said earlier she probably wont eat much at all anyway, dont take this necessairly as a sign thats he doesnt want it (unless she is not interested) she is just learning what to do. Make sure you have a good read of the BLS thread - particularly the first pages as it talk alot about the early days and gagging etc etc - this can be a bit full on to start with, but it is her learning. FWIW MJ is now fully independednt with a bowl, spoon and a fork and has been for several months. She is also not very fussy at all and this is apparently one of the benefits of BLS.

Stick with the feeds in a darkened room (great tip) especially as they are working and i agree with Missymoo - DONT count the feeds at night - or the times that you have to get up... its just part of life and the more distresed you are the harder it is.
Go with the flow and your DD will too
GL

[Heaven]

Mel- The thing is that this is not normal for her though. She will usually feed only once or twice a night. This is such a dramatic difference that it is making me question whether she wants solids too.

Sammie- Thanks for all your help, I have been checking out the BLS thread!

Well after good more frequent feeds yesterday there was no change overnight, she fed every 2 hrs for 30mins or more. I am very tired now! I was just looking at the signs of readiness for solids-

Signs that indicate baby is developmentally ready for solids include:

• Baby can sit up well without support. Nope, can't do this yet but won't be long. Can sit very well with support and yesterday when I sat her up she was sitting for 5-10 seconds on her own so she's getting there.
• Baby has lost the tongue-thrust reflex and does not automatically push solids out of his mouth with his tongue. Yes, has lost this reflex already.
• Baby is ready and willing to chew. LOL, very willing!
• Baby is developing a ?pincer? grasp, where he picks up food or other objects between thumb and forefinger. Using the fingers and scraping the food into the palm of the hand (palmar grasp) does not substitute for pincer grasp development. Yes, she is developing this, she likes to play with the tags on things and is always practicing grabbing them with thumb and forefinger.
• Baby is eager to participate in mealtime and may try to grab food and put it in his mouth. Very eager, will try to snatch food and glasses out of our hands.

We often state that a sign of solids readiness is when baby exhibits a long-term increased demand to nurse (sometime around 6 months or later) that is unrelated to illness, teething pain, a change in routine or a growth spurt. However, it can be hard to judge whether baby?s increased nursing is related to readiness for solids. Many (if not most) 6-month-old babies are teething, growth spurting and experiencing many developmental changes that can lead to increased nursing ? sometimes all at once! Make sure you look at all the signs of solids readiness as a whole, because increased nursing alone is not likely to be an accurate guide to baby?s readiness. This is the biggest one that is causing me to wonder about it because this frequent feeding has now been going for 11 days. That's a long time. She is also teething though. Her 2 bottom teeth came through almost 2 wks ago but she no longer seems grizzly and in pain anymore like she did??

I am confused, this is so hard! Even harder when you have ppl constantly asking 'when are you going to give her solids?' 'poor kid is probably starving!' And I usually just ignore them but now that I'm feeling a bit unsure about it their comments just add to it iykwim?

[Nai]

I felt a bit uncomfortable introducing solids before 6 months but then I had to remember that babies develop at different rates and there isn't something that magically happens at 6 months and 1 day where they suddenly become ready for food. Some babies won't be ready until 7 months or later and others are ready earlier. Only you know your baby the best and you will recognise her signs so go with your gut instinct.

[Heaven]

Thankyou Nai! I was thinking the same, is 6 months an average and some are ready earlier and some later? And I'm not very confident I know best lol. I don't want to do the wrong thing either way iykwim.