To Feed or Not To Feed (Solids)
Yesterday was Lucia’s four-month checkup. She’s 12 pounds 8 ounces, 24 inches long, and doing great in general. The doctor, however, told us something surprising: that we can start introducing solids whenever we want. Lucia is eighteen weeks old today, four and a half months, and I’d always assumed we’d breastfeed exclusively until six months. But now I’m debating.
I never thought I’d devote this much mental energy going over the merits and drawbacks of feeding my baby something as bland and boring-sounding as rice cereal, but I can’t stop thinking about it—and I can’t make up my mind what to do. I’ve heard a lot of different advice from different friends, and have read a lot of different things online, and each person and site seems to offer good arguments—for both sides. One might suggest that I should follow the recommendation of our doctor, who we like very much and who has been seeing babies for twenty-seven years. But he gave a suggestion, not an order, and so it’s up to us to decide what’s right for us.
On the one hand, I’ve been eagerly anticipating the six-month mark for this very reason, ready to take a little of the pressure off of breastfeeding exclusively. If Lucia were a better nurser, this wouldn’t be an issue; but her breast-rejection episodes are frequent and consistently stressful for me (more pumping, trying to heat bottles with a crying baby, feeling rejected, etc. etc.). We always manage in the end, of course, but it would certainly be nice to have a little relief, even if it starts off just a little at a time. And the feeding-obsessive in me would love to have yet another way to make sure she’s filling her little belly.
On the other hand, she’s so tiny. She’s not yet sitting up on her own, and she just seems too babylike for solids. Besides this, I’m afraid that introducing solids will tax the breastfeeding further, making her even more unpredictable than she already is. I certainly am not ready to wean her or anything like that, and I worry that introducing solids will put us on that path prematurely when my goal was to breastfeed for a year. And an irrational part of me feels like starting solids before six months is a cop-out somehow, a kind of failure. Ridiculous, I know, but who said mothering-emotions always make perfect sense?
Maybe we’ll wait until she’s five months—two more weeks—and start up then. Maybe we’ll push on to six months. I really don’t know what to do.
I never thought I’d devote this much mental energy going over the merits and drawbacks of feeding my baby something as bland and boring-sounding as rice cereal, but I can’t stop thinking about it—and I can’t make up my mind what to do. I’ve heard a lot of different advice from different friends, and have read a lot of different things online, and each person and site seems to offer good arguments—for both sides. One might suggest that I should follow the recommendation of our doctor, who we like very much and who has been seeing babies for twenty-seven years. But he gave a suggestion, not an order, and so it’s up to us to decide what’s right for us.
On the one hand, I’ve been eagerly anticipating the six-month mark for this very reason, ready to take a little of the pressure off of breastfeeding exclusively. If Lucia were a better nurser, this wouldn’t be an issue; but her breast-rejection episodes are frequent and consistently stressful for me (more pumping, trying to heat bottles with a crying baby, feeling rejected, etc. etc.). We always manage in the end, of course, but it would certainly be nice to have a little relief, even if it starts off just a little at a time. And the feeding-obsessive in me would love to have yet another way to make sure she’s filling her little belly.
On the other hand, she’s so tiny. She’s not yet sitting up on her own, and she just seems too babylike for solids. Besides this, I’m afraid that introducing solids will tax the breastfeeding further, making her even more unpredictable than she already is. I certainly am not ready to wean her or anything like that, and I worry that introducing solids will put us on that path prematurely when my goal was to breastfeed for a year. And an irrational part of me feels like starting solids before six months is a cop-out somehow, a kind of failure. Ridiculous, I know, but who said mothering-emotions always make perfect sense?
Maybe we’ll wait until she’s five months—two more weeks—and start up then. Maybe we’ll push on to six months. I really don’t know what to do.
Comments
Arlington was also very tiny - she threw up a lot of her food ALL THE TIME until she was 8 months old. But it wasn't hurting her, and she continued to grow, so the doctor didn't worry.
But Arlington also was sleeping through the night. I know your doctor told you she doesn't need fed at 4:30am, and he is right. She doesn't.
Mothering isn't perfect. It is natural to wonder, question, worry, stress. that will never go away. But sometimes you just have to try something and see what happens. Nothing bad will happen if she tries rice cereal and in a few weeks you decide it wasn't the right decision.
But you will never know if you don't give it a try. She may be a natural with a spoon!!!
Good luck!
anyway, does lucia seem interested in what you and andrew are eating? if she does, then it's a pretty good sign that she's ready and if she isn't, then perhaps you wait a few weeks and see if her interest has grown. she seems like a lady with her own mind :) she doesn't seem much like a gal you can "make" do anything she doesn't want to do anyway ;)
i assume you've seen this website: http://babyledweaning.blogware.com/ but i put here just in case if not. i'm not saying what you should do at all, but it's an alternative to boring old rice cereal and buying baby food or grinding up everything you cook and you might find it interesting.
some mamas like to take a naked baby photo before they start solids so they can look back and say "i made this baby ALL BY MYSELF!" it's maybe a little silly, but it's true too. it's amazing that she's 12 lbs and it's just from your own milk, isn't it?? every milestone with gus was bittersweet for me. good luck with whatever you decide to do :)
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