Baby Food

Question: Mommies: solely breastfeeding -vs- infant foods combination......?

(Posted by: life.. on 2009-10-27 07:27:06)

My son is 6 months old. Obviously, I nurse him. I know that at his age he should now be eating rice cereal and stage 1 baby foods. I have given him these but I really love to nurse him: I know that my breastmilk has all the vitamins & nutrients that he needs and that the other foods do not have all that he needs on its own, only in combination. Do you think I need to let up and start giving him the infant foods daily? Or do you think it's perfectly fine to want to nurse him more than anything? I would just like some opinions because I have some people tell me to give him more infant foods and others tell me it's fine for now, ... but until when? Thanks moms! He likes the flavor infants foods & cereal. Matter of fact, he likes everything we let him taste! lol I just like to feed him breastmilk because I know it has everything he needs on its own.

Posted by: Bag on 2009-10-27, 07:30:23

He needs food too. Breast milk is good enough on it's own, but only as a drink. He needs solids now.

Posted by: Ethel on 2009-10-27, 07:33:05

You can nurse exclusively up to 12 months without effecting his health, although I would give him vitamin D too. My youngest was not interested in foods until he was 11 months old, and did not eat that much when he did sample foods - he kept on his growth charts where he had been.

Posted by: Dyot on 2009-10-27, 07:33:15

He shouldn't be eating the junk from the baby food aisle, ideally; that stuff is strictly for convenience, and a lot of it is pretty junky. Some useful links here: answers.yahoo.com/ question/ index?qid= 20080321134522AAJdBps And, ideally, you're not the one making the decision about solids vs nursing. Google "baby-led weaning. " Start here: borstvoeding.com/ voedselintroductie/ blw/ engels.html

Posted by: threenorns on 2009-10-27, 07:37:00

If he's not in a hurry to start solids, no reason you should be, too. at his age, his main source of nutrition is still breast milk and it will be up to one year of age. solids are not a major supply of nutrients - they're just a fun thing to learn about and play with. why even give him the goop? it's nasty stuff - fit only for a career eating wallpaper paste. start him on something yummy, like green beans or sweet peas or sweet potato. after all, after mummy's yummy numminess, what on earth could pureed rice possibly offer?

Posted by: Amanda on 2009-10-27, 07:37:24

At six months it is good to start working more towards food but you can still breast feed it wont hurt to do both

Posted by: Sophies mummy and having a boy! on 2009-10-27, 07:38:48

Breast milk (or an infant formula for those not breast feeding) should still make up the majority of a baby's diet for the first 12 months. There is no reason why you should have to cut back on breast feeds. He does need to be taking solids as well now, but they shouldn't yet be replacing milk in large quantities. By around 8 months it would be a good time to drop a feed and offer solids only (lunchtime is a good one to start with) but for now, when he's only just started on solids, don't worry at all.

Posted by: priscilla on 2009-10-27, 07:47:29

Breastfeed and give him food they need solid foods when they growing up other wise will be a big problem for you later around trying to introduce food do not get me wrong breastfeed is the best but till certain time, you can breastfeed all you want my sister breastfeed her son 4 years

Posted by: jenn6088 on 2009-10-27, 07:53:56

I think it is fine to nurse for nutrient value but he probably should be introduced to solid foods in various tastes and textures so that he can learn to handle it well. Most babies start to learn to chew their food before they have molars. If you wait too long, he may have trouble learning how to chew and swallow well later on (it happened to a friend of mine's daughter who gagged a lot when trying to learn to chew at about 12 to 13 months). At this stage, solids can just be a learning experience for him that will make the transition easier later on. With my son, we started introducing new tastes and textures around 6 months, he self-weaned at about 7 months and he came off formula by choice at about 12 months. He just liked chewing and the variety of solids better. No picky eater for me, yippee!

Posted by: rt now on 2009-10-27, 08:32:30

As long as he's not under weight & still gaining weight as he should, then he should be fine. I'd want to let him try something at least once a day though, just to get his tongue & belly used to other kinds of foods, for future reference. ;