Showing interest at 5 months...

Just wondering......

I know its recommended to start babies on solids at 6 months (earlier if advised of course) and DD is a chunky munchkin and exclusively BF atm. My question is that she is showing extreme interest if anyone is eating or drinking near by. She will watch like a hawk the food, cutlery and you eating........it is really only 5 weeks approx til she offically hits 6 months and she is currently 7.6kg & 64cm long so not wasting away.

Do you think she's ready anyways or seeing as she is so chubbily happy :p I should still hold of as long as she's bf fine.....?

Ta! xx

I'd hold off as long as possible.

What does she do when you're holding her and you are eating? Does she try to grab the food? Maybe try her with a cooked carrot stick or a chunk of apple - if she eats it then she's ready, a baby not ready for solids will put it in the mouth but spit it out again.

I have bf all my babies past 12 months, but they so far have all started solids just before 6 months!! Start with just a couple little teaspoons of rice cereal and see what she thinks. You can mix it with your bm so she has nothing else foreign. Barb would prob have some good advice for you, this is just my opinion!!!

if it were me (and it was) i would be offering her little tastes of fruits and basic foods from a spoon just to give her a taste and gauge her reaction, then build from there.... i think its ridiculous that 6 months is pushed as the magical golden age that is correct for ALL babies to start eating, they develop at different rates and you should go by your babies cues, not a hard and fast golden rule that is applied to all, no matter what the circumstances.... just like some will be ready earlier, some will not be ready at 6 months, it doesn't make sense and its not logical to have someone else stipulate what your baby is ready for. just my opinion.

Hi,
She is watching and learning - up to exactly the right stage for her age. But she doesn't want or need solids! You have identified that she is happy, chubby and healthy. You will spend enough hours of your life spooning food into children - get a book, kick bak on the couch and enjoy breastfeeding her while you still can. Emma, I tend to agree with you, but I believe that, in the long run evidence will demonstrate that breastfed babies do not need to take solids until later in the first year. When formula fed babies need solids is another story altogether, and it may well be advisable to start them on solids earlier to help overcome the inadequacies of formula.
Barb

Hi Charlyfrog,

One of my gf exclusively bf's her ds, but he showed more than just an interest in food. She put a spoon to his mouth and he knew exactly what to do and he was approx 5 mths old. I tried the same with my DD but she has no idea, just looks at the spoon and if you try to push it in a bit she pushes it out with her tounge - no idea! Mind you she watches us likes hawks if we eat or drink something and tries to swipe at my DH beer bottle - cheeky monkey.
Whilst it is recommended that you don't introduce solids until 6 months, I would speak to your MCHN about it and see what they recommend and tell them what she is doing is you offer her a spoon and/or food.

Totally agree Barb, great advice.

yep agree again with barb!!!

sophie wasnt really interested until aroung 7.5 months in solids and i miss those days of just whipping put the boob!!

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You will spend enough hours of your life spooning food into children

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Oh Barb..........so true!

With Olivia I was as keen as mustard and started her on her "6 month" birthday to the dot.

With Charlie I had recent enough memories of the mess, so held off till he was 6.5 months.......

With Lexie I just kept wishing she would stay about 4 months forever.....her 6 month birthday loomed with dread in relation to mush!

That said, all of them appear to be thriving and despite holding off as long as I could with Lexie (7 months) she cheerfully chomps on a chop at 13 months..........

Charlyfrog, in answer to your question, honestly, science aside, I would hold off as long as you can............

Not if you do baby-led weaning - I only spoon-feed DS his breakfast and his pudding at dinner, he self-feeds the rest of the time.

I did want to hold off with DS until he was 7 months or more, but he didn't. He screamed when I ate and he wasn't eating. He grabbed my food and ate it - yes, ate it, not put it in his mouth and spat it out. He ate it and came back for more. Which is why I suggest not spoon-feeding but self-feeding to see if baby is ready. When I did a spoon he grabbed it and licked it clean the first time I introduced it.

Some babies are ready for solids earlier and tbh a blanket 6 months is more harmful than not. I agonised for ages and starved DS because he was only 5m old. That said, ith the next I'll be holding off for as longas possible too.

Good point Caryn! I had my first 14 years ago where we were instructed to feed at 4 mnths. Interestingly, even then ABA and the World health Org said 6mnths. So it was spoon feeding. My 3rd daughter didn't start solids for somewhere beyond 7mnths, and always fed herself. The great thing is after 6mnths you don't have to do all that mushing and squashing. They can eat "proper" food
Barb

Honestly, I don't really understand the "magic" 6 month mark either Emma.

If you think your bub is ready try her on a bit of rice cereal or something, if she gobbles it up then she's ready, if she doesn't get it then leave it for another week or so.

Our DS seemed very keen to get started with food, grabbing at spoons etc when he was 5 months but he didn't seem to know what to do with the food and he just pushed it out of his little mouth, so we waited a week and tried again, and he's not looked back.

We decided to take our cues from our bub not what the "right" age is meant to be.

Everyone is going to have differing opinions about when is the best time to move baby onto solid foods, but even having done it before with three babies, this time I am going to do it differently. Why? Because the most important thing to me now in regards to introducing solids is if I start my child too early I could be putting my child at risk of a life threatening allergy - it is just not worth rushing them if I have to spend the rest of their childhood, possibly even their life getting them to avoid certain foods.

Serious food allergies/intollerances is on the rise and no one knows exactly why that it. So I want to hold off for as long as I can to be sure that I have given him the best chance of avoiding an allergy - he already looks like he has excema and there are strong links between allergies and excema already. If he does develop an allergy, then I will know that it's not because I gave him solids before his gut was ready to handle them.

At the end of the day though, you will do with your child what you think is best. Good luck.

DD has eczema - her older sister had it as a baby and seems to have grown out of it however has now developed an allergy - to what we have no idea, she has simply broken out in a red welt like rash twice, we've treated it, racked our brains over what she has consumed and been exposed to and have not discovered the source. With an anti hystimene (sp?) the rash goes within the day. So if I can somehow avoid this with DD#2 that would be the best.

Its so great reading everyone's thoughts on this - never thought deeper than "6 months = solids" with DD#1 as I never had more info, but am feeling great that I have so much more to think about meaning I feel like I am making a far better and informed decision with DD's well being really being considered. (and in turn not feeling like a neglectful bad mummy as have now learnt that starting solids at the 6 month mark is no longer gospel)

Imo, after reading all your suggestions/thoughts/advice/guidance DD#2 isn't really ready apart from looking on in interest. So am going to sit back now and relax with that book Barb (lol! - will probably be a children's one though as I still have an almost 3yr old to entertain.....haha!)

I am so glad I have BB to mull over things with! xx Thanks so much!!

Mwa!!

Hi,
Caro, I don't think that is actually factually correct. Less than 10% of Australian babies now make it to 6mnths without solids or artificial milks. This is probably as high a rate of "other" feeding ast here has ever been. And it has only been in the last couple of years that Australian Health authorities have recommended solids begin at 6mnths. Even the last big study (that's on the belly belly pages - prob under news and current affairs) demonstrated that exclusive breastfeeding for 6 mnths reduced the rate of eczema. The hypthesis that breastfeeding reduces asthma came in for mixed results - showing that children who were exclusively breastfed for 6mnths or more (and in their study "esclusive" didn't actually mean "exclusive") had a lower incidence of asthma up until the age of 7, but between the ages of 7 and the early forties there was no difference, or maybe slightly higher correlation between breastfeeding and asthma. But it's not at all clear....
Regards
Barb

I was just reading all your comments and i have choosen to not to open my mouth as my baby hasz been eating for quiet some time now and he is just over 5 months! ok he is bottle feed so may be different but i say just go with the flow do what you think is right within certain limits of course! if you want to try a little just give it ago! Only your baby knows what it wants!

Katie, my children were fully FF by 4mths and with my first baby the thinking at the time was that solids were started at 4mths, which I dutifully did. My girls were started a fair bit later (5mths and nearly 7mths), but they never had eczema either. Maybe I have just been lucky that my older children haven't had allergies or intolerances, but if I knew then what I know now I would have held off for longer the first time around.

I still think that even FF babies don't need to be started on solids any earlier than their BF counterparts.

My baby has intolerance & food allergies and I can say that had I introduced solids earlier we would have been in serious strife. Her system wouldn't have been able to cope with it. Not just the digestive tract problems associated with early introduction of solids, but the types of solids that we can introduce which are high in salicylates can exacerbate intolerances & allergies. Avocado & banana are often first foods but they are both super high in salicylates. So introducing them early to babies with intolerances CAN and WILL make it worse. This isn't an opinion either, this is factual. All you need to do is read books like Friendly Food from the Royal Alfred Hospital Allergy Unit & you can see how this can happen with babies.

My MCHN told me that yes 6 mths is a recommendation, but that we may start at 5 1/2 mths or 6 1/2 mths depending on the baby.(Again that magical 6 mths - you adjust prem babies age in some things, I wonder about babies like Izzy who was 11 days late, is a big baby and showed interest reaching grabbing opening mouth etc from 5 mths - OT sorry)
I decided just before 5 1/2 mths to try some rice cereal once a day with Izzy - she ate the whole teaspoon on day one. Since then I have increased the amount slightly - but still only once a day (shes a week off 6mths) At times she just shuts her mouth and just doesnt want it so I just stop, at other times she eats it all. She has eczema so I made the decision to not start any other foods until she is over 6 mths, and that if she showed a reaction to the rice cereal then I would stop. I realise this isnt the "done" thing and there are alot of studies etc out there but I did what I felt was right for us - at the end of the day we all want the best for our kids.
Good luck it is tricky when you have a million different people's POV.

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i say just go with the flow do what you think is right within certain limits of course!

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I don't disagree with that, but I think that people often make the mistake of thinking that showing an interest in food is the same as being ready for food. In actual fact, don't they just grab at anything at that age and try to put it in their mouths? It's not just food. Sure, it is one sign that they are ready, but on it's own it is not enough.

Charlyfrog, FWIW I think you have made the right decision. And I totally agree with Barb - why bring on the mess and inconvenience of solids before you have to!!

"Serious food allergies/intollerances is on the rise and no one knows exactly why that it."

There's been research which suggests that allergies/asthma/hayfever, etc may be related to eradication of intestinal parasites, esp. in first world countries. The research looked at the very low incidence of allergies in third world countries, compared to the high rate in first world countries. An increase in development of allergies was found when treatments for intestinal parasites were routinely administered in areas that had previously had very low allergy rates. Trial programs treating crohn's disease and irritable bowel syndrome using 'beneficial' parasitic organisms have had success in cases where conventional treatments do not.

The theory is that because the gut is designed to deal with parasitic organisms (some with more success than others), but basically doesn't get enough work in hygienic first world environments, then it 'finds' work to do by attacking things in our food and environment that we would otherwise not react to. Possibly in a few generations we will see a decline in the rate of allergies as we adapt to the change in environment.

This is not to suggest that exposing babies (with immature immune and digestive systems) to such environments is any solution to allergies - the flip side is that infant mortality rates are much higher in areas with uncontrolled bacterial/parasitic populations.

Sorry to jump off topic (it's not exactly related to introducing solids!!), but it's an interesting area of research. Anyone else come across it?

Caro - I tend to agree with what you are saying regarding the studies etc.... When the recommendation was 4 mths, all the mums would be like us thinking, well what if I wait a bit longer/shorter? My MIL was telling me that she gave my DH orange juice from 6 mths(OMG) with every meal because thats what the recommendation was! (He is fine BTW!) At mothers group yesterday we were saying how we will be like our mums now telling our kids to "delay solids til 6 mths" "start with rice cereal" "don't let them .....etc and you can almost hear them saying "MUM! - thats soooo old-fashioned, what an old wives tale, we now microchip them so they will sleep and feed when we want them to ROFL!!!" JK but I think you get my point that things change and strict rules can sometimes be bent(just slightly - give or take a few weeks ;) , and we as new mums do what we have to do to get through and make the million little decisions every day for the well-being of our bubs, without needing to feel guilty about it.

I'm sick to death of studies and if my baby seems ready before six months that's good enough for me. We'll have a little try, if not we'll wait.

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Tan you're a crack up!! :cryinglaugh: Microchipping.......if only it was that easy!!! :cryinglaugh:

Woah......so many thoughts hey!! Potential brain hurt!! LOL!!! But really am thankful for a wide variety of thoughts regarding feeding to feel almost completely informed! :)

I do agree thought about one study eventually being over ruled by another................one pill cures, then it causes illnesses, then you add this and it cures, then that causes illnesses........not exactly the same as whether to introduce solids and yet there are similarities..............


Just had a thought whilst sterilising DD's dummies................the rise in allergies etc and the emphasis on solids not being introduced until 6 months.........................some times it makes me wonder whether these are inter-related as well as our kiddies growing up in a far more sterilised environment, again contributing to the rise in allergies etc as we are not allowing our little ones to build their own immune systems like children of precious generations did, iykwim......like I said, just a had a moment to think, dangerous I know! :lol:

I introduced solids to Charlie at 5 and a half months and now I know that Charlie is asthmatic (which often goes hand in hand with allergies) I think I should have waited. At the time, I was sure it was best for him, but in hindsight, he was curious but in no way ready to have solids, and didn't really eat with gusto until he was almost 7 months. It wouldn't have hurt him one bit to wait for few more weeks to start. I probably was in a bigger rush than he was, and was over-eager to meet what I perceived were his needs.

For most, including Charlie thank goodness, early introduction of solids cause no problems. But it is often the mothers whose child/ren have developed food allergies who are the most vocal about advising for the delay of solids. And that's because, as mothers, they don't want anyone to have to go through what they go through everyday. One hundred mums will say 'but I did it and it didn't hurt my child' or 'studies change all the time' but it's the mum with the child with food allergies that I want to listen to. If someone said to you that your child will have food allergies, and delaying solids would assist in limiting the severity, what mother wouldn't hold off? The problem is though, that most children will not show symptoms of allergies until after that time where mum has to make the decision as to whether or not to introduce solids. By then it's a little late already to change what been done, don't you think?

Charlie's was not diagnosed with asthma until he was 12 months old, with his first major attack happening when he was 8 months old, looong after he had started solids. If I'd had a crystal ball I would have held off on solids until he was 6 months at least. But barring a crystal ball, all I could hope for is to be more careful if I ever have another child.

No, caro, I don't think Charlie's asthma was caused by early introduction of solids. :) I'm pretty sure family history took care of that. But now knowing he may have be pre-disposed to food allergies (and let me make clear that he has turned out to have NO food allergies, thank goodness), I would have been more cautious about introducing solids. Esp when, in retrospect, he wouldn't have missed those early weeks of solids at all.

Food allergies are often already there, and more often than not, not caused by early introduction of solids. But if delaying introduction of solids can help minimise the impact of food allergies, then surely it's not too big an ask to then wait a few extra weeks JIC? That's my opinion on it anyway.

Really? Not supposed to sterilise? I have never heard that before...

Hmmm, seriously, its becoming a bit tricky to keep up with all the changes in "How to/What not to...."! :rolleyes: Being a mummy is complicated business sometimes :p hehehe

Exactly my point. If it's recommended that not introducing solids early could potentially lessen the impact of food allergies, then why wouldn't you wait those few extra weeks? Because you're right, once you're made the decision to introduce early, and if your baby does develop allergies, won't you be wondering why you didn't wait, and whether waiting might have helped?

And I am a mum who introduced solids early. I do not think it was the right decision in hindsight, though. Whatever you, Charlyfrog, decide, of course is up to you, as no one will question your love for your baby. Informed decisions are a good thing.

My MIL has been saying to me to start Kenzie on solids from 6 weeks because she did with her 2 boys.. I waited till 5 months and then started with 1 teaspoon of rice cereal, she has tried a little bit of apple and some pumpkin Tomorrow I am introdicing some more veges and will start fruit next week. I think my little one needs more food. Her sleeps and rountine are in chaos atm.

Is her routine chaotic because of her arm Jen?? How is she now? Does she still have to wear the sling? Thinking of you.......

Her arm is 100% healed and good she has full use of it .. her sleep routine is chaotic atm she is deciding that her day is my night iykwim! Going slowly insane but hope that inceasing the solids to 2 meals a day will help her sleep properly!

Well, I too was told with my other children to start solids at 4 months. My eldest had projectile reflux with every feed,,,, was medicated, and as he was also 12 weeks early,,,, doctors were desperate to get some weight on him . So at 16 weeks old (yep, you got it,, 4 weeks corrected age!!) I was ordered to start farex. I shudder now to remember back at how hard it was to feed him that at such a tiny age.
My next 2 were also recommended at 4 months,,,,but I started them at 5 and 6 months old, when they were hollering down the house for it.
With Griffen however, I tired to wait till the magic 6 months,,, but he was so underweight,and losing weight that I was advised by the health nurse to start one meal a day at 5.5 months. He was however displaying an eczema rash on his face before then, and still has it.
If I had not been advised to feed him at 5.5 months though,,, looking back though,,, he needed it. I did not have anywhere enough milk, and he was starving,, screaming all the time.

I agree,,,, Johnsons may as well be cattle dip on my kids skin,, I am forced to use either QV bathoil,, or Hamiltons bath oil for them, no soaps or washes of any kind or we are in for trouble.
i also have to use only half the laundry detergent and go for amolin sensitive,, strictly no softeners either
I also have them on Effalex fishoil which has been great for it.