I am planning on waiting until 6 months to introduce solids and then doing baby-led solids. But, I'm a bit worried at the moment that DD might be ready and I don't want to make her wait too long if she's hungry!
I told my MCHN about my plans and she was really pleased with what I want to do (i.e. BLS at 6 months). She said that they say 6 months because there's a big growth spurt around then and that shows they're ready. She said to watch out in the next couple of weeks in case it happens sooner and that she will feed more for a few days like she usually does when she has a growth spurt and wake up more at night etc, but it won't stop after a couple of days and that is my cue to start introducing some solids.
Over the last 10 days now DD has been waking HEAPS over night, like every 1-2hrs. Then every time we get her back to sleep and try put her down she's awake screaming again. I keep thinking she can't possibly be hungry but eventually give up and feed her bc I know that will put her to sleep. And then when she feeds she will gulp it down and have a big feed even if she just fed an hr ago!! Sometimes I fall asleep and wake up an hr later and she's still feeding!! WTF!! I'm pretty sure she's lost the tongue thrust reflex already too. She can sit well supported but only for a few seconds at a time on her own and she has 2 teeth. So she's got a few of the signs going on. She is VERY interested when we eat now. She grabs at our food (but she grabs at everything) and watches us intently and does chewing movements (so cute, like she's learning what to do, lol).
During the day I'm still feeding her every 3 hrs though and she's fine with that, she doesn't have really big feeds or anything, only 5 mins and she empties 1 side and then just has a min or 2 on the other side. If she was hungrier I'd think she'd be taking both sides now.
So I'm confused, there's some signs that she's ready, but also some that maybe she's not and she's only 5 months 1 wk. I'm in no rush to start and want to do what's best for her but I don't want to be starving the poor chook! LOL.
Any advice??
ETA- forgot to say I got her weighed yesterday and her weight gains are fine, she's 7.5kgs and has put on 1kg in the last 7wks.
SJ we gave Blue some farex for the first time a week or so ago (haven't given it since) and the scoffed it down....he didn't spit it back out or anything...
I think he's ready but I am just a bit scared to keep going because of the WHO recommendations....
He tries to grab our forks now (we sit him in his high chair at the table when we eat dinner) and laughs everytime we put something in our mouths and chew - then he copies
Maybe try her .... if she doesn't like it or want it I'm sure she'll let you know ....
I would wait.
We did BLS with MJ and although your DD has many of the signs they need that extra bit of development to handle the food.
Increased feeding could well be a growth spurt, but doesnt mean that you should start soilds - the intake at this age should not be giving you DD a huge amount anyway, milk feeds are the most important and should remain so until 12mths - although she will start to drop one or two feeds over the next 6 months, food should not be offered in its place.
When doing BLS, especially to begin with, you should make sure your DD has a FULL milk feed and half an hour later offer solid food.
TBH MJ's intake for the first month was literially zero as most of it went in her crutch and over her face - it was fun and it was all about the learing stage.
before i started BLS i watched a DVD (shown by the council) and attended a talk. they suggested that from about 5 1/2 mths to have your baby sit on your lap and if they activly grab at food from you plate let them... often it wont even go close to the mouth and is just the grabbing stage that they are in. (obvioulsy make sure that the food in reach is 'safe' food for her to try)
MJ started BLS 1 week before she was 6mths and that was purely based on the fact that we want DSS to be part of her first eating experience (he was so excited - 10yrs old)and he would be away for a few weeks... she had sticks of veggies that had been boiled to that she could grasp them, but not mush in her fingers, she spat most of it out and played with the rest. honestly it wsant until about 8 mths that she really consumed much at all... so obvioulsy any growth spurt increased nutritional need will have been met by my BM, not food.
The saying that is thrown around the most, especially if you are practicing BLS is Food is fun until their one This really should be your motto when it comes to the feeding approach and dont be concerned with how much she is or isnt eating - the beauty of BLS is that she KNOWS and she will take only what she NEEDS.
Have you been reading the BLS thread?
Dont know if this has help at all....
Goodluck, what ever you decide
hey hun Ash was the same age when I thought he was ready, I slowly introduced solids but it turns out he was just wanting more booby and wasn't ready for BLS. He ended up not going back onto BLS until he was 7.5 months.
They go through a growth spurt at that age, doesn't mean they are ready for solids. They also go through growth spurts at 6 weeks but we don't shove food down their throats. I don't understand why your MCHN has linked the 6 month growth spurt to needing solids?
I would wait. If she wants more food feed her more. I would leave the solids until AFTER 6 months (and you might find she doesn't need them for a couple more months.
That's exactly what I was thinking guys, thanks! I'm just a bit unsure bc this increased feeding has been going on for 10 days now and growth spurts aren't supposed to last more than 48hrs apparently??
Hi Heaven, it sounds like she is getting the majority of her feeds at night at the moment (poor you) and it may be because it is too interesting in the day to be wasting play time with feeding (lol). So you could try feeding her in a quiet dark room i.e. replicate the night and see how you go. It won't happen overnight, but in a week or so you should see an improvement.
Seriously, a teaspoon or two of carrot just isn't going to cut it if she's hungry! She needs boobie!
Having said that, I started DD on BLS at 5.5 months because she was more than ready...so you could assess again in a couple of weeks and decide.
the ABA actually dont call them growth spurts anymore, rather 'fussy days' which are common around 6 weeks and 3 and 6 months! the thought was they want more milk when in fact babies drink the same whether their 1 month or 6 months! id continue with more feeds!!
It's hard making the decision when to try solids, i wasn't sure with our DD but she was ALWAYS watching us eat, trying to grab at things so the health nurse said we could start her on rice cereal just after 5mths, she started having that an hour after her first bottle every morning, we then slowly introduced a night meal (ie pumpkin, then pumpkin and potato etc).
I found once she started having the rice cereal her morning sleep was a longer as she was more satisfied.
She always slept generally well over night with maybe only 1 feed but as soon as we started solid meals and she got used to it the only time she woke was for her dummy and thats it.
She is now 10mths, having 3 meals a day, an afternoon snack and only 3 bottles and sleeps 7 til 7, with maybe 1 dummy grab at around 5am.
BF babies seem to want a night feed for longer than bottle fed, maybe even a small amount of formula before bed will top her up enough to sleep through?
I hope you have some luck, it's always so hard to decide if they are ready for particular things, every little bit of knowledge helps.
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?
Does she want solids already?
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