4month old starting stage one foods?

Conundrum

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I talked to Shy's pediatrician about her slowing down on her feedings. She has halved her bottles the last couple of days. Due to this and her size she suggested starting to mix stage one fruits in her bottles. We also see a nutritionist who was very adamant about not starting anything until 6months. She is my first and I am unsure what to do. What would you all suggest?
 
Mia actually lost weight her last check up and her ped said because she is still height and weight proportionate it's ok. and also is pretty set on not introducing solids until at least 6 months. Her ped said because mia is very active and curious she's probably burning about the same that she is in taking and suggested feeding her in a quiet space so she might feed longer. She also said that the infants she sees that are losing weight that are put on solids early it doesn't seem to make a real difference in weight gain. she said this is because babies have to work harder to get the nutrients out of solids and there isn't as many as in formula or breastmilk.

So my suggestion would be feed her in a quiet space with no distractions. And offer the bottle as often as you see any signs of hunger.
 
Personally I'd be inclined to listen to your paediatrician rather than a nutritionist as the former is far more qualified. Weaning from 6 months is recommended as no one can tell at which point a baby's digestive system undergoes the changes it needs to cope with solids. This can happen anytime from 4-6 months so to be on the safe side, 6 months is recommended to all unless advised otherwise by a qualified professional.

If you're uncomfortable with the advice, could you get a second opinion from another paediatrician?
 
Hi there,

I waited until 26 weeks with Pheebs. I am glad I waited until she was older.

Is she showing the signs of being ready?

•Stay in a sitting position and are able to hold their head steady
•Co-ordinate their eyes, hands and mouth, can look at food, grab it, and put it in their mouths all by themselves
•Swallow their food. Babies who are not ready will often push their food back out, so get more around their faces than they do in their mouths.

Ultimately as her mother it is YOUR decision.

Hope it all goes well whatever you decide to do xx
 
I had a big, chubby baby too and her doctor told us to start solids at 4 months too. I paid no attention to him because she was still EBF, unable to sit unaided, showing zero interest in food etc. We started at 6 months as per the recommendations where I'm from.

I'd get a second opinion, it's important that you're confident in yourself and the advice you're given. Our doctor just had no clue tbh, and wasn't up to date with guidelines, which is very slack but I'm sure it's probably more common that people think.
 
Personally, I would wait until 6 months. There are lots of good reasons for not starting solids until then and there's been quite a bit of research on it (which is why the WHO and the American College of Pediatrics recommend waiting). It's possible maybe your LO is getting ready to teethe or have a growth spurt, which is the reason for the decrease in milk intake. It's quite common for them to do this and it doesn't mean they need solid food (my daughter hardly ate anything the week before she cut her first tooth). Actually, solids have fewer calories and are less nutritionally dense than breast milk or formula, so she'd be getting less rather than more by starting on solids. And if you start her on solids, she'll likely decrease her milk even more, which is the exact opposite of what you want to happen. I'd just keep feeding her milk on demand. She'll likely pick up again soon. She knows what she needs and as long as she's otherwise healthy, I'd just keep doing what you're doing.

Here's a great article on this (it's specifically BF-related, but it's a great read even if you aren't BF as it cites the current research on why it makes sense to delay solids): https://kellymom.com/nutrition/starting-solids/delay-solids/

Whatever you do, do NOT mix anything into her bottles. Babies can easily choke this way and your ped should know better than to recommend doing this (just goes to show you, doctors are too often pretty clueless about this stuff).
 
^^WSS

I recommend waiting until 6 months as well. Lots of paediatritions are outdated in their guidelines. You might go to a different one who tells you completely different information. That kellymom article MindUtopia posted has a really good explanation.
 
I would question the credibility in the KellyMom article because she claims that breastfeeding prevents pregnancy. This is widely known to NOT be true (if you don't believe me, just ask my two friends who are currently pregnant who got pregnant while breastfeeding exclusively)... Trust your pediatrician. If you don't trust her than get another opinion until you can make a decision you are comfortable with. The best parenting advice I can give you is to find out what is best for your child and your family based on a few limited credible sources that you trust. I was adamant about no solids until 6 months until discussing thoroughly my concerns with our pediatrician as well. Now I am testing out small amounts of rice cereal with my 4 month old and it is going really well, actually REDUCING the amount of gas he has...The fact is there is a study that will support or refute ANY argument you want to make about child rearing, seriously, just Google it, it will confuse the heck out of anyone :).
 
She doesn't just say "breastfeeding prevents pregnancy", if you click the external link you'll see that she elaborates and specifies that there's a bit involved in ensuring it's effective.

Kellymom is a fabulous resource, I wouldn't discredit all of her evidence because you know people who've gotten pregnant while breastfeeding (and yes of course it happens, but even things like occasional pumping or skipped feeds can interfere with its effectiveness as BC).

And yes, you can find studies that suggest weaning before six months is okay; some even claim it's beneficial. However, until those are recognized and accepted by health organizations (the WHO in particular), they don't hold much merit.

Health organizations are responsible for sifting through all of these conflicting studies and deciding which have the most convincing results. These people, I am sure, are much more equip to make those calls than those of us sitting on Google.

There is certainly something to be said for a doctor's input since they know your child as an individual. But, it's been pretty widely accepted for a while now that putting any solids in a bottle is a choking hazard, so based on that advice alone, I'd seek a second opinion.
 
Thank you all very much. I was really concerned about the subject. Shylah sees a specialist, a nutritionist as well as her pediatrician. We do not have another appointment with her specialist until next month and after talking with the nutritionist about the subject last week it kind of through me for a loop being told to do the exact opposite. Shy has been holding her head up, has started sitting up unassisted for small spurts and is interested in food (we have started giving her bottles at meal times.) So she is starting to show signs but I do not feel she is personally ready due to the risks.

I do appreciate the comments and will look up the research provided. Thank you all very much.
 
Sometimes you just gotta do what you feel is right for your baby in your gut. It's right more than you'd expect even for us ftm's. Good luck with Shylah!
 
The trouble with weaning when milk intake slows down is you run the risk of the solids filling up baby so they take less milk and OZ for OZ milk has more calories than food.

If your peed had just recommended weaning I would say you could give it a try but the fact they have told you to put it into baby's bottles would make me not trust their advice. Nothing but milk should be given from a bottle. With feeding from a spoon you can get a clear idea wether baby is ready, opening mouth for spoon, not pushing any food out with their tounge, feeding it from a bottle over rides this.

Can you ring your nutritionalist and ask for a phone appointment and explain what the peed has said? Waiting as long as you can is really the best thing.
 
We started weaning our daughter at 4.5 months. We caught her eating a biscuit which she took/was given to her by a one year old boy ( we think she took it off him as started crying). A few days later she tried to eat a cheese & ham baguette that I was having for lunch

All depends when they are ready.

ETA - she still has her 35-40oz of milk so the food hasn't replaced her milk intake. Before weaning she was taking 45-50oz a day (over 2 weeks) which was a one of the reasons we started early
 

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