How long- exclusively BFing

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Forum -> Parenting our children -> Infants

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chatz

Mon, Dec 07 2009, 7:16 pm

How long can a baby healthily exclusively breast feed?

Raisin

Mon, Dec 07 2009, 7:45 pm

I nursed mine till 6 or 7 months, but I've heard of people nursing exclusively for longer. Mine were big babies and seemed pretty ready for solid food.

iriska_meller

Mon, Dec 07 2009, 7:49 pm

The minimum age for introducing solids is considered 5.5-6 months (for a healthy baby). I've heard of people exclusively BFing as long as 10 months. As long as both you and baby are healthy I guess its ok. But most babies will start being interested in grown-up food by 1 year.

clew

Mon, Dec 07 2009, 7:52 pm

I exclusively breastfed my 'allergic' kids for 12-13 months.
I started solids earlier with others.

Tehilla

Mon, Dec 07 2009, 7:53 pm

one of mine was EBF until 8.5 months and then she wanted food and I happily gave it.

another one I kept trying to introduce food, but between food sensitivities and some chewing issues, he wasn't interested till almost 10 months, and even now is still getting much more nourishment from BF than solids, his choice.

sky

Mon, Dec 07 2009, 8:00 pm

I exclusivly nused until about 8 months a large baby before introducing solids. I started when they showed interest and wanted to eat solids - it was very obvious that they wanted. My dr tells parents not to wait too long to start because then the child may have trouble learning to swallow solids. (He says to start before 9 or 12 months - I don't remember exactly)

Tehilla

Mon, Dec 07 2009, 8:05 pm

sky wrote:

I really disagree from personal experience with your dr. (not a personal attack, I just want to share what happened with me)

with my first, I did everything by the book. tried rice cereal around 5 months, moved up to solids, etc. she had lots of difficulty swallowing and I always had to be on the lookout. not until after 12 months was she really able to handle food.

with the next, it was her time frame as I stated before.

and the one after that, he did show swallowing issues and both our homeopath and pediatrician advised waiting longer until he was really going after the food and swallowing well. as you can see from my other post, he's 13.5 months now, and I'd say still getting 80% from nursing although I make sure things are available to him.

gold21

Mon, Dec 07 2009, 8:07 pm

chatz, you should ask your pediatrician. The recommended age to start solids is as early as 4 months til as late as 7-8 months, I believe. Both my sons started solids at 4 and a half months, cuz they were hungry, waking up a lot at night, always hungry.

nicole81

Mon, Dec 07 2009, 8:15 pm

take your cue from your child.

I EBFed for around 7 months until my dd grabbed some cholent one shabbos and devoured it.

Inspired

Tue, Dec 08 2009, 2:25 am

The latest I personally ever started solids was 11 months. The earliest 8. It depends on your baby, not an arbitrary age.

cinnamon

Tue, Dec 08 2009, 2:40 am

I agrre with everyone that said to let you baby decide when to start with solids.
With my oldest I started solids at six months just as instructed. She was so not intarested and all it did was dfrustrate both of us and give us a bad attitude twards meal time.

My second I started on solids at five months (with finger licks even earlier) because we couldn't eat anything when he was around without him grabing for it and actally starting to cry if he didn't get any.

Seraph

Tue, Dec 08 2009, 3:07 am

You're not supposed to start solids until your kid is able to sit up and has finished the "tongue thrust reflex". If your kid pushes out whatever you put in his mouth with his tongue, he's probably not ready to be eating solids.
I think I started my son here and there at 6 or 7 months, but never with blended food. I did "child led weaning" and waited till my son was able to pick up foods and feed it to himself (I gave him soft food). I think I gave him blended (homemade like the jarred) two times in his life. He was over a year when he learned to use a spoon; he knew how to feed himself long before.

Tue, Dec 08 2009, 7:37 am

I've done it with all my kids (4 b'ah the youngest is 6 mos now) until about a year. I'll let them have a cracker, or a taste of something, but no regular meals till over a year. I don't think it has much impact on sleeping through the night. some of them slept well, some didn't (but thats another discussion) and FYI, I work since the 3rd is 1 and never give formula. I pump.

Tue, Dec 08 2009, 7:38 am

I see something wasnt clear in my previous post. with 4 kids did this, and the 5th is now 6 mos old

Mini Cookie

Tue, Dec 08 2009, 8:33 am

In Dr. Susan Schulman's book "Understanding your child's health" she says it's perfectly fine to EBF until 9-12 months. Of course considering thay the baby is gaining nicely and thriving and happy.

I started DD1 on solids at 9 months and struggled until she was about 15 months to get her to eat normally (chew & swallow). With DD2 I hope to EBF till 12 months, if she'll be OK with it cause she's sort of allergic.

MommytoB

Tue, Dec 08 2009, 9:32 am

With one of mine, I waited until 8 months, the other until 9 months. I was worried with the first that I had waited too long because we had trouble with spoon feeding at 8 months but that turned out to be muscle tone related. My next one that we started at 9 months figured it out right away and is a fantastic eater.

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