Starting solids early

[sangie]

Kris if she is pushing the food out with her tongue then she is probably not ready and I would probably stop and try again in a few weeks. My DD had 'mashed' food for only a few weeks and then we moved onto chunkier finger foods and never looked back. We started a few days before she was 6 months and never looked back but like others have said every baby is different. Good luck!

[Barb Glare]

Hi,

This is a serious issue.

Recently, many Maternal and Child Health nurses (about 500 in Victoria I believe!) Attended a conference run by a formula company, Wyeth. At this conference "an expert" gave this information that "it might" where allergies are concerned help to introduce solids earlier. That was her expert opinion - not a change in policy.
The Australian Breastfeeding Association has had many queries via our helpline about this. On Monday I spoke to the Department of Education, Early Years program (in every state other than Victoria Breastfeeding is a health issue - but that's another story!)
The person I spoke to confirmed that the policy of the department as stated on their website is to start solids at 6 months. This has not changed. It is a well researched position.
The person I spoke to also said that "The department had no control over health nurses attending formula company seminars"
Not good enough, I say - really not good enough.
The Victorian Government needs to effectively resource and educate it's Maternal and Child Health Nurses so that they don't need to rely on formula companies for education.
I think that concerned mothers should write to the Minister - Maxine Morand - I will post details of her e-mail address later - or maybe some-one else will - I'm a bit e-mail challenged at the moment

Warm Regards
Barb

[june78]

Krisp if your baby keeps pushing food back out of her mouth then she may not be ready for solids yet. Don't make it too stressful! However eating is something that is learnt so they won't always get it the first few times. I totally agree with fionas on this, that you should go with your instinct. Baby led-everything is probably a good way to go.

Also, I have seen some research lately that is contradicting the current stance of waiting until the 6 month mark to introduce solids. I know not everyone will agree with this and it is important to follow expert guidelines. But again its really up to the individual on what you want to do for you and your child. I started DS on solids before 6 months and he has loved every minute of it. It has worked for us, but you have to make that decision.

[titti]

My DD started solids at 3 1/2 months. She was ready for it, reaching for food and wanting to try our own meal. So we started with mashes (pear and apple at first, then the usual slow introduction of different mashed vegies). I kept breastfeeding all the time though. I think that we should follow our own child pace... mine was early, but she shown all the signs of interest, so we started.
Who knows what will be with the next one... they are all unique.
She is a healthy 18 months old child now and eating everything (loves fruit and vegies and crazy for cheese).
Just trust your instinct and your baby, she will let you know when ready for solids.
xxx

[MantaRay]

Barb, thank you so much for clarifying that. I agree with you that it is wrong for a food/formula company to be "educating" health workers. I have posted before that as State Government employees, I cannot understand why MCHNs are allowed to give out information on a regular basis which is contradictory to the policies of the State Government. It's not even as though they are telling the odd mum that their child might be ready early, in many cases they recommend all babies start at 4 months. Wrong, wrong, wrong.

[MantaRay]

Titti, I agree with you that they are all different and there are signs that they are ready.

But reaching for food is not a sign that they are ready, not on it's own anyway. Paediatric dieticians say the signs are all three of getting teeth, losing the tongue-thrust reflex and showing an interest in food. They stress that the third sign on its own is not enough. If you think about it, they reach for everything at that age - and put everything in their mouths. They don't know it's food, and they are not telling you they are ready for food, they are just following their instincts to touch, smell and taste everything they can. My boys reach for lots of things I wouldn't give them yet - knives, alcohol etc. Reaching for something is not a sign of being ready to have it.

[[M]umma[M]ia]

every baby is different. Just do what u think is right for ur baby. My nefew loved vegemite at about 2 months. but as i said everyone is different

[MantaRay]

Hollye, TBH that scares me a lot. Vegemite is very high in salt and there is no way that a 2 month old's kidneys could process that salt properly.