Who has waited beyond six months to introduce solids and why?

[Jennifer13]

Hi everyone

I'm a bit unsure about when and why to introduce my bf baby to solids. The whole six month mark seems to be a bit arbitrary to me and I wondered if anyone out there had waited until a certain point beyond this and what that was.

How did you know when you and baby were 'ready' to start introducing solids? What signs did you look for? Did you face any pressure from others to introduce solids at six months when you weren't going to?

I recently heard of a 9 mth old who hadn't yet had any solid food, but his Mum said he was about ready to start as he was almost grabbing things off their plates.

And finally, is there really any need to introduce solids at 6 mths for nutritional purposes? Would I be depriving my baby of something she needs if I was to wait longer than that?

Any advice on this would be appreciated!!

[~Jo~]

I waited til my my middle dd was 7 months old. She was such a little fatty already and seemed so content just on boobie milk. My brother didnt have solids til he was 9 months old for the same reason.

Jo

[Jennifer13]

Hi Jo

What made you start introducing solids then? Did you just feel she was ready and how could you tell? Sorry for so many questions!

[kylie]

I started my second DD at 7 months.. I just waited until I thought she was ready.

I have a friend who doesn't believe in solids before 12 months and has exclusively breastfed her 2 babies for that long before introducing solids.

[Fenella]

I waited an extra 3 weeks, basically because that's what I was comfortable with. She started grabbing things and seeming interested before 6 months, but I think it was more just an interest in what her parents were doing than the food itself. I don't feed my DD a lot of solids now (she's 9 1/2 months old) but I give her enough to taste things - I have noticed the other parents at my parents' group seem to give their kids a lot more solids than I do. But as long as she seems happy and healthy I am pretty much planning to carry on as we are I am more interested in introducing her to a range of different flavours than making solids her main nutrition at this stage, IYKWIM.

[~Jo~]

Jen she actually grabbed something out of my hand and stuffed it into her mouth lol!!!

Jo

[johT]

my understanding is that there is a greater risk of food intolerances and causing allergies if you introduce solids before 6 months. milk should be the main source of nutrition in babies under 1 year, food at this stage is just for 'experience', NOT nutritional value.(especially if bre@stfed, but still if formula fed...)
my dd one had solids at 5.5 months due to mis-information.
dd2 was around 9 months.

[expat]

From what I understand, it is recommended to introduce solids between 4 and 6 months of age.

The guidelines are roughly -

Baby must be able to sit up (propped in a high chair is fine but neck control is a must).

Baby showing interest in your food and wants to copy you, perhaps making chewing motions in mimicry.

Introduce plain and not so sweet vedge or grains first before fruits and sweeter vegetables in order to not give them a sweet tooth from the first mouthful. Meats can come into the picture later as little kidneys can't process that much meat in the beginning anyway.

Introducing solids to early can lead to allergies and food sensitivities and as well as that, little babies don't have the control of their head and neck muscles that they need to sit up and swallow so may end up inhaling more food than is good for them.

It's thought to be important to introduce solids not too late as moving the food around the mouth and coordinating the lips, tongue and all the rest of the mouth is a step towards the control a child will learn for speaking. It's also believed that waiting too long may leave you with a fussy eater as an older baby can be a lot more controling of the situation and aware of whats going on.

Appropriately timed solids also help to develop the mouth and prepare the oral environment for the first teeth (my Mum's a dentist -that bit is her advice to mums of babies).


I feel I should add that although I'm new here at this site and I don't yet have kids(TTC), I worked as a proffesional nanny for 5 years and am educated on the topic.

I've given kids their first solids, seen umbilical stumps drop off, watched first steps and heard first words...I am just yet to try the pregnancy, giving birth and breastfeeding thing!!!

Oh, another thing I read recently is that unless the baby was attatched to the placenta until it stopped pulsating, they start to run low on iron by about 4-7 months. -This low-grade anemia is one thing that can trigger babies to start seeking nourishment from elsewhere.

Babies who are not clamped until the full 'transfusion' occurs almost without exception have enough iron to ensure they will not become anemic in their first 12 months.

[{sarah}]

The recommendation now is actually 6 months.

Jennifer, I know of a little bub that was 10 months before he started on solids. The reason they started then was because he had previously slept through the night, but was waking up 3-4 times overnight because he was hungry.

[Rouge]

We'll be waiting as long as possible and taking it VERY VERY slowly! We've tried Seth on Formula 3 times in instances where I couldn't take him with me and we didn't have any milk in hopes that he might take it for emergencies sake, I even tried again yesterday as I will be out tonight! And it ends the same each time. he gags so much then vomits and continues to vomit until he has only bile in his stomach Very distressing, I thought until yesterday that it might be the distress of the bottle causing the tummy upset but he didn't get distressed with it yesterday and it still ended badly. So looks like I have a little man with a very sensitive gut which means solids could be just as fun (not!). So I definitley won't be rushing into it.

*hugs*
Cailin

[BellyBelly]

Starting Solids - When is My Baby Ready?.

Early solids has been linked to obesity (they dont understand full at this age), gagging, a new study linked it with diabetes among other things like allergies and insensitivities. These things obviously dont always show up right away.

[BellyBelly]

I think thats a common misconception too Jillian, that those fussy developmental milestones are mistaken for 'not getting enough.'

That's why I love the Wonder Weeks book - magnificent!!! Explains and shows all those stages and has a graph you can whack on your fridge to see that it is a developmental milestone or not... and how you can help.

[Jennifer13]

Thanks guys, that article in particular was great, Kelly. (Why didn't I find that before?) I will now definitely wait until she is indicating that she is ready. I like the point on just grabbing foods off the plate and putting them in her mouth is not enough of a sign - already Lucy grabs whatever catches her eye and puts it straight into the mouth and vegemite toast has piqued her interest (probably because of the dark colour)! I don't think she has much of a concept of eating.

Plus, from what some Mums have said introducing solids means a whole lot more mess and fuss too.

So what do you tell people who think you're depriving your child?

[Liz]

Good question Jen.. my mum keeps asking when we're going to give Tallon food. I keep saying 'another month to go' but I don't want to do it unless I feel he's ready. I have a feeling he might be by then tho.. he really does look interested. We could try a couple of spoons of rice cereal with breastmilk and see how we go. But yeah.. not looking forward to the extra work of solids.. he's so portable at the moment! hehe

[Liz]

Kelly - the links at the bottom of that article are dead.

[cathybutterfly]

Wow this is so intersting, glad I came across this thread. I always thought you should start at 6 months (don't know where I got this from really), but now know that if Lucy isn't seeming interested once we hit 6 months that I don't need to push it.

[luscious Laura]

I had started Luxxe on solids, well one small meal a day, but stopped after about a week.

She was eating what I gave her, but I don't think she was that interested. I juststarted because I was getting abit of pressure ans the magical 6 month mark arrived.

We've started going to a really great naturopath too recently and she advised that waiting til the baby can sit up on their own was a good indicator. Shows their core muscles are strong and this means their digestive system will be stronger too. Also - teeth are a good sign.

I get the "feed her - she's starving!" thing quite often from my aunties etc. One aunty started my cousin on solids at 6 WEEKS!!!! I told her i'd probably have been reported to child welfare if I did that now a days.

I've read in a few different books that any kind of meat should be introduced after 12 months and same goes for dairy.


if only babies came with an indicator light that would start flashing when they were ready!

[~Jo~]

Laura I have read too that teeth are also a good indication..makes sense in a way.

Jo