(no subject)

[wickedcherub]

Why is everything I read about starting babies on solids contradicting everything else I read about starting babies on solids???

Comments

[starfish11.livejournal.com]

Because there are truly no widely agreed upon rules for solids! Seriously, despite how adamant many people (especially on lj) are that their way is the right way, the guidelines really change so often. I mean, I've had four kids and my oldest is only nine and I think every single time I got the 'feeding solids' info from the health centre the suggested steps were different.
IMO, take what you read as guidelines, and go with what your baby seems ready for. Which basically means that at some point between 4 and 6ish months he'll start showing signs of readiness and you can try giving him some food.
Try and stay relaxed about it though. If he's not showing signs of readiness, then it's fine to wait. There's no rush. If you try food and he doesn't seem interested, it's okay to just drop the issue for a couple of weeks and stick with just milk.

[sueg.livejournal.com]

This is just too sensible for such a HIGHLY CHARGED topic!

But yeah, pretty much this, although when in doubt, err closer to 6 months. Not sure if baby is ready at 5 months? Wait a couple more weeks. Thinking of delaying until 12 months? Why not split the difference at, ah, seven?

If you can stand a recommendation, I loved wholesomebabyfoods.com when I was figuring out what was appropriate at each age.

[wickedcherub.livejournal.com]

I know I'm probably going to start with purees while handing the kid some finger foods to play with.

I think I want to start off just cooking my own rice porridge rather than the packet stuff, but it seems like I have to make it suuuuuuuuuuuper smooth and now I'm not so sure.

Most of the mothers in my mothers group have started on solids already, I think I'm going to wait until 5 months until I actually try.

[sueg.livejournal.com]

You only have to make it really smooth if you start really early. If you wait until closer to 6 months you may not need to. But the nice thing about the packaged stuff is that it has the extra iron in it. I know a lot of people on LJ claim that baby cereal is nutritionally void but that extra iron is advantageous for some babies.

[wickedcherub.livejournal.com]

Do you know whether Liam would get enough iron from my breastmilk especially since I take supplements?

I will google that now.

[sueg.livejournal.com]

He probably will, but I have also known breastfed babies who had low iron levels at a year. You don't really know if your baby will be one of those until they do the test at 12 months, which is a little late for making a decision about fortified cereal. (assuming the iron testing routine is similar in Oz).

On the bright side, iron in breastmilk is very bioavailable, more so than iron in fortified cereal.

One thing I loved about commercial baby cereal is that I could give Finn skinny slices of slippery foods like avocado and banana by tossing them in baby rice cereal first, so they wouldn't slip out of his hands. I didn't actually use a ton of it otherwise, but I used a little.

[wickedcherub.livejournal.com]

I'm a little bit excited about solids but I'm sure I'll get sick of it very quickly because The Boob is so goshdarn convenient.

[notodette.livejournal.com]

LOL

LJ says six months.

Most of them also say baby-led weaning, but I did jars. JUDGE ME!

[silkygecko.livejournal.com]

Eh. We do a lot of jars too. Yes I make some veggies and rice/pasta and puree them when I have time, but I don't set aside 10 hours a week to do it. And it's so hard to find fruit during the winter that is fresh and not from South America (where they spray non-FDA approved pesticides), so we do all jars for fruits. Oh judge me too LJ, judge me hard.

[wickedcherub.livejournal.com]

AH PESTICIDES I DIDN'T EVEN THINK OF THAT.

Haha, I'm a worry wart to begin with, this whole being a mum thing has just made it explode exponentially.

[sueg.livejournal.com]

Unless you're buying organic jarred food it has pesticides too, though. So wash well/peel if you don't buy organic.

[bluedano.livejournal.com]

I'm going let my babies feed themselves and sometimes give them jarred food, I WIN AT LIFE! \o/

Oh no, wait, I guess that really means I FAIL AT MOTHERING!

I should have started one of them on solids at 4 months and start the other at 6 months and perform my own experiment. Alas, I was not thinking.

[wickedcherub.livejournal.com]

How old are your twins? I am going to go with what you're doing. Try and cook as much as I can, have jars for times when I can't, give them food to play with and smush.

[bluedano.livejournal.com]

They'll be 6 months on April 5th.

With my first we tried rice cereal first and he hated it, then I was eating a banana and he was all excited so I let him eat some smooshed pieces off my finger. Then we moved to jars and did those at daycare, but then my mom bought me a food mill to make my own food so I did that instead. :P I hope to do a lot more of letting them play with food and gnaw on it/mush it with the twins, if for no other reason that I can't imagine the cost of jars for two or how I'd manage to spoon food in both their little mouths at the same time without going insane.

[wickedcherub.livejournal.com]

I WILL. ON AN ANON COMMUNITY.

...

Too soon?

[ms-hecubus.livejournal.com]

Even the doctors contradict themselves. The AAP has one committee that recommends only breastmilk or formula until 6 months and another committee that says to start solids from 4 to 6 months.

I started Delia right before she hit 6 months and used jars. She still got most of her calories from breastmilk until she was a year old. She just wasn't that interested in food.

[txvoodoo.livejournal.com]

I find this about so MANY things. I've been carefully researching diabetes since I was diagnosed, and so MUCH of what I find are things diametrically opposed to one another.

[l5cents.livejournal.com]

Because everyone thinks that their way is the best way.

Ask your doctor and do what s/he says. That way, if you eff up, you can say "I did what the doctor told me" which sounds a little better than "I did what the internet told me."