I was planning on BFing exclusively until my baby’s 6 month birthday, but I went to the doctor and she told me to start her on Cereal. I don’t want to, and the doctor is no reason for me to start, but I’ve been having a hard time with my little girl. She is 16lbs and 4 1/2 months old. I have never had a problem breastfeeding her, but about 2 weeks ago she went from sleeping through the night to waking every 3 hours or more for feeding. We also have her diaper free, and she wants to be taken potty at night, which is no problem, but she’s HUNGRY every time she wakes, and won’t go back to sleep without nursing. (I am so tired! Hubby doesn’t help at night, he thinks his 40 hours a week working is more important.)
Do you think I should start cereal now and wait to give her veggies and fruit until 6 months, or sould I stick it out and go with my gut and just keep breastfeeding? She’s gaining weight, she’s healthy, I just don’t know what to do!
Also…is there an alternative to the box of cereal from the store? Like any homemade equivalent? I am planning on making all her food, organic.
Thanks everyone!
First of all, I would find a new doctor! Babies should not be fed solids until they are 6 months old. That is the recommendation by many doctors and organizations. It has been found that babies who start solids too early can become obese and have diabetes and other heath problems later. Babies little bellies are not ready to digest solids that young. If your doctor is telling you to decrease breastfeeding and start solids, then you need a new one. You don’t have to give her any explanation; just find a new one who supports you and who knows what she’s talking about!
Breastfeeding is the absolute best thing to give a baby, especially a 4 month old. I would stick with it and start some solids in a couple of months. When you start solids, it shouldn’t be every meal, but instead, once or twice a day. And you only start with very small amounts. Babies don’t really need solids at 6 months. It is more of getting them used to eating solids and tasting different types of foods.
Your baby sounds like she is thriving. There is no reason at all to give her solids. Most 4 month olds who are breastfeed still wake a few times a night to feed. That is completely normal. That will gradually decrease over the next few months. Please stick with your gut, and don’t listen to a doctor who doesn’t know what she’s talking about.
And, yes, there is a site, http://www.wholesomebabyfood.com/ that has a lot of great recipes for cereal and baby foods.
Thank you so much for the reply, I just needed some reassurance. I feel better now!
I hate that everyone is contradicting everyone else when it comes to raising a baby! Sometimes I don’t know who to believe or who’s advice to take, but like you said, she’s doing great, so I guess I’m doing something right! Thanks again!
(I have been to that site, thanks for reminding me about it!)
Good for you to have confidence in your gut, and what you think that your baby needs. Noone knows your baby like you. If your baby is happy, and you’re happy, then there’s really no issue!
I only have one thought – since you are doing Elimination COmmunication, I gather that you are someone that believe that you can read your babies cues, and that they CAN and DO tell you what they need. I guess I just hear people talking about six months as if it’s some kind of magic number (you said that you were going to wait until the six month birthday mark). Babies do all mature and develop at different rates. What one baby is ready for at 6 months might be 5 for another baby and 7 or 8 for a different baby. It’s actually a guideline, NOT a magic number. The longer you exclusively breastfeed, the more likely your baby is to breastfeed long term, which of course, is great! But not mutually exclusive, to be sure.
As you listen to your baby and watch for clues in everything, you can also continue to watch your baby for clues that he or she is ready for this as well. They do show signs of readiness for eating. If she is five months and grabbing at your plate, spoon, fork, food, staring at your food, and trying to get it hersefl, etc, then she’s trying to tell you something. On the other hand, if at 6 months she’s not showing any interest at all, perfectly happy and content nursing exclusively, and that’s working for you, then read the signs – she’s also telling you something. There’s nothing special that suddenly happens to their bowels at six months that was not there the day before, you know what I mean?
We also did EC as well, and are starting with my second son too. We watched our first son cues for wanting to eliminate, wanting to nurse, wanting to sleep, etc. My first son showed NO interest in eating at six months. He spit everything out for months (makes me wonder why I bothered!). It wasn’t until he was over a year that he really had any interest in eating. He was an avid nurser and would nurse for an hour every session! My second son is completely different. Right from birth he’s been more interested in watching his brother. He’ll nurse really fast, like it has only ever taken him 10 minutes. At four and a half months he was reaching for our spoons, trying to get the food into his mouth, trying to grab it out of our hands, off our plates, out of our mouthes. I tried a little bit of cereal at about five months and he sucked it back like a vacuum cleaner. He was just ready. That being said, if I ever DO feel like I want him to nurse more, I CAN do that. It’s not like i have to give up nursing to give him solids. The nursing is the primary nourishment. I monitor how much I give him and when (only after nursing) to make sure that my milk is still his primary food…
My eldest son nursed for 19 months. My second son is 8 months and i’m planning to nurse him into his twos.
If you start to feel that your child is showing signs of being ready in the coming weeks or months, you CAN try it without doing any damage to her. If you change your mind and decide you want to carry on exclusively breastfeeding, the you CAN stop solids, and go back to exclusive nursing. This is not all or nothing. When you do start with solids, breastfeeding advocates recommend to always breastfeed first, so that the baby is filled up on your milk, and then try a little solids after that. If you start feeding solids first, the baby will fill up on that, and will miss out on your milk.
And really, if a baby starts trying purred peas at 5 months, I REALLY doubt that it will cause her to be obese OR diabetic for trying, as long as the parents model healthy eating habits for her throughout her life. If all they eat is fast food, no amount of pureed peas from six months to a year is going to make a difference, they see what they see and they learn from what they see you doing. I seriously did once see a woman feeding her six month old (he was six months, after all!) fat off the side of a steak, because it was moist and soft and dissolved in the baby’s mouth. I don’t really know that it’s the specific DATE that makes the difference. I don’t think that baby #2 stands much of a chance against diabetes OR obesity, but I think that baby #1 will probably be just fine.
Anyway, that’s just my opinion. Props for doing what you think your baby needs. Mother knows best! 
Especially mother of a happy, healthy, thriving baby like yours!
Great article! As it says, watch your baby, not the calendar!
and i’m sorry my response is so darn long! Ugh! Like i’m writing a whole novel! Sorry - I’ll watch that from now on and try to be concise!
Thanks for the novel, Isabeau! I have another question. Does anyone know if wild rice is an appropriate food for a baby? If I grind it and cook it like the recipe on wholesome baby foods says to do. Thanks!
I would echo some of the other posts to say trust your instincts. You might consider finding another doctor who is more willing to listen to your mama instincts than hand you one-fits-all recommendations. Your baby sounds a bit like my son. He was sleeping pretty well around 3 months, then around 4 months it started getting worse again and he seemed to be hungry all the time (I was exclusively breastfeeding). It was not only at night – he would sometimes want to nurse every hour during the day. I was getting so frustrated because all we ever did was nurse, and I was also so tired. I started him on rice cereal (Earth’s Best Organic - I was not quite as ambitious as you are with making all his own food) just once a day and then twice a day and it seemed to help fill him up. He didn’t slow down on nursing much, but it let me get more rest which I really needed at that point. By the way, he is 25 months old now, still nursing 3-5 times a day and showing no signs of losing interest!
My hubby was the same way - not much help as he thought he needed sleep more for work than I needed to stay home with DS. By the way, give hubby some time on this – my hubby now regularly tells me to sleep in on the weekends and gets up with DS.
It is great if you can hold off on solids to give their little digestive tracts more time to develop – but your sanity is also important. If starting solids lets you get much-needed rest, and you decide that is what’s right for you and your baby, you should not feel guilty about it.