All my questions fit under different sub headings so i am hoping its ok to post it under the main heading....
A bit of background:
DD is 6 months next week. I haven’t started her on solids yet, apart from the occasional finger food for her to suck on and feel in her mouth. She is desperate to join in at meal times, but i figure 1 more week won’t hurt. She has appeared to started teething (runny nose, constant biting on things, white gum, drooling, whingey etc. etc.). She has also learnt to roll very very well. Like she moves to where she wants by rolling, and she looks like she is starting to get into the motions of crawling. She generally sleeps all the way through the night (8 hours), but this can sometimes be broken by a slight grizzle and a quick rock.
So here are my questions for all you veteran mummies!!!! (and even the not-as-veteran mums )
1. The last few nights DD has started to not want to complete her big feed before bed time. Normally she would fall asleep on the breast, but now she will start talking and turn away from the breast. I have tried to keep persevering because i know she won’t sleep properly if she doesn’t have her big feed. First night i gave up, she woke early and i fed her. Last night i just kept trying and swapped sides. She drank a bit more but not as much as usual, she wanted to keep chatting away. She slept through, but then this morning, she wasn’t that interested in feeding again and wanted to chat, and got upset when i kept offering. Normally she gorges herself in the first feed??? I don’t know what is up with her! Is it normal?? Then before she went down for the morning sleep she had a bigger feed. It’s just not usual for her. She seems to just want to chat all the time and not feed??
2. I know i am supposed to start her solids now (as all the well-meaning family tell me....) but i am not sure how to go about it. She loves playing with a spoon herself and with finger food, she seems to love to taste things all the time, but do i only start on baby porridge? Or do i start with mashed vegies? How often do i feed her solids? I want to keep breastfeeding as long as possible so i really want to strike the balance between the two.
But I don't think you *need* to start solids at 6 months, babies can be exclusively breastfed (or bottlefed) until 12 months. So if you don't feel ready for solids, you won't be doing any harm.
Your ilttle Miss sounds perfect! She will tell you when she wants milk, and if she is content and wants to chat, then she must be full. She might be teething, she might have just gotten faster at emptying your breasts, or she just might not want as much as she usually does. Things chnage so easily at this age.
As for starting solids, I found baby led solids really easy and a great way to introduce foods. As they say, food is fun until they're one. There is a thread here if you're interested. It eliminates any need to be mashing of pureeing foods. I would just keep on giving her a spoon and family foods. She sounds like she's teaching herself to eat perfectly well!
im a novice mum too - my DS is nearly 11 months but we did BLW at six months and also a little bit of spoon feeding whilst at daycare.
we just gave him bits of anything we had in the house. We started with breaky just becuase its when i have the most time in the day! we had cereal, yogurt, fruit, toast. He doesnt always eat alot (we have dogs - it is more fun feeding them then himself apparenlty!) and i sometimes spoon feed him the yogurt. He has very strong opinions about eating. Some days he sits there with his mouth opening waiting for me to spoon food in, other days wont let me spoon feed at all it has to be him! now he eats everything pretty much! meatballs, steak, pear muffins, pasta, curry, lasagne, LOVES his watermelon, rockmelon, kiwi fruit, pear... the list goes on and on!
He is a big boy and now eats at least two meals a day (breaky and lunch) and we are just starting to bring in afternoon tea/dinner but he is still on five breastfeeds a day (day hours, no feeds overnight). so you can definately introduce foods and keep up with the breastfeeds! (We are encouraging the extra meal now cuz i am wanting to wean soon to TTC - and i am not cycling whilst breastfeeding) but you def dont HAVE to add meals if they seem satisfied on milk!
As to the dinner feed, my DS has started doing that in the last month or so as well. he use to pretty much fall asleep or being very dozy at the end of his big night bed feed (about 45mins) but now he is awake and playing and having a good old chat to me. and he does seem to be getting all his milk a lot quicker and if i try and make him drink more or longer he gets very upset and angry! lol
i tend to just go with it. i figure if he doesnt get as much as he needs for during the night (which has happened a handful of times) he normally wakes at about 9pm for a quick feed and then asleep till morning so it isnt too bad.
sorry for the lengthy post. Just wanted to let you know what we have done and to show that we have done it and still have a lot of breastfeeds during the day.
Thanks for the responses. Sounds like I am already doing bls without realizing!!
Just as another question though, if she eats our food does it matter about the whole avoid salt, eggs, dairy, nuts etc thing? We have no food allergies in either family.....
Yep, I'd avoid those foods. I think you can introduce egg before 12 months, but i can't remember exactly when. Re: dairy - it's recommended not to give cow's milk til 12 months (so b/f or ff), but I give a little bit of yoghurt (DD is 7 months old). I steam finger length/chip size vegies and she puts it into her mouth. The rest remains mashed up, in her tight little fist, so she needs a bit of help to get more into her mouth. Avocado on toast soldiers etc
I always tried to avoid salt (I still do now for them!), dairy and nuts until they were over one. Though I wasn't too worried with the nuts thing, we don't ahve a history of nut allergies in our families. We do have a history of dairy allergies, and my children have been dairy sensitive until after two, so no dairy until their tummies could handle it, and then only small amounts. The rest, I just give family foods. I generally make things myself, so it was all home made stuff and I knew what was in it. If it was unsuitable, I always had something else that I could give them.
The allergy advice now is to not avoid anything unless there's a strong family history or recognised reaction (obviously!). It is good to avoid salt, sugar, chemicals as much as possible. Also avoid choking hazards like whole nuts, whole grapes, marshmallows, etc.
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