Feeding Solid Foods - Sugar Land,TX

just a thought, if she is small for her age you want to make sure she's getting a lot of your hindmilk (what comes after the letdown) so if you're not already doing so, feed her on just one breast for a few hours at a time. for example, from 1-4 in the afternoon, feed her just on the right, then from 4-8 when she wants to nurse, feed her using just the left. also, i agree that she needs only 1 or 2 meals a day. you can feed her cooked egg yolk (not the white!) and that my help with her weight gain also. when i started solids with my dauther (she's 2 1/2 now) she really didn't eat that much until closer to 9 months. so if she's doing great on breastfeeding, don't feel like you have to include much in the way of solids.
good luck!
p.s. i'm an aggie also, class of '99 (whoop!). let me know if i can help in any way.

Congratulations on getting to stay home with your baby! It's the most rewarding thing I've ever done.
3 meals a day is too much for a 7-mo-old, especially if she is small for her age. Too many solids will definitely interfere with nursing at a time when her main nutrition should still come from mama's milk. Cereal once a day in the evening is good for a 7-8 month old who needs it, although a large 8-month-old may still be hungry first thing in the morning after nursing. Enjoy that sweet nursing relationship while you can - it will be over before you know it!

If she is having difficulty with weight gain, I would limit solids to once a day. Ounce for ounce breastmilk is much more calorie packed than a few tablespoons of pureed food.

You didn't say what her weight was at birth. Is she going to her regular checkups with the pediatrician? Some children have 'failure to thrive' and require medical attention.

Always offer the breast first. When she is finished nursing, an hour later or so you could give her cereal with some breast milk instead of water mixed in, and possibly a fruit or veggie. in the late afternoon, about an hour after nursing offer her the food again. I didn't start giving my baby three meals a day until she was about nine months old, which is fairly normal for a breast fed baby.

I hope this helps,
S. in Alvin

Before you get antsy to feed your daughter more, check with your physician about her height and weight chart. She may weight very little because she is just small- height and weight. Now with the feeding issues, if you want her to gain weight, adding one feeding of formula is going to add more weight per volume of food. Not sure what you are calling silent reflux, but if she has reflux, she will benefit from small frequent feeding.

Well, first of all, Gig'em! I married my A&M sweetheart, also. And I went to high school in Spring Branch, so we have a lot in common!

When my DD (abbreviation for "deardaughter") was 7 months old we started solids also. I had heard a lot about something called Baby Led Weaning (BLW)so I decided to look into it and try it. It's for breastfed babies, and I see that you are nursing. It was SOOO much nicer than doing the whole cereal and baby food thing. Blech! I did that with my 1st daughter and she is a difficult eater to this day.

Anyway, BLW is where you basically start your baby on REAL food, cooked and cut into about the size of a thick french fry, not jarred baby food. I started DD on broccoli. I just steamed long stalks of broccoli for a long time until they were pretty soft, but sturdy enough so she could hold the stalk without it crumbling, and let her go at it! She dropped about 75% of it the first time but that's ok. At this age their main source of nutrients should be coming from your milk, so food is really just a new experience. We also did banana, chunks of potato, mango, cauliflower, peach and some other things that I can't remember! :)

There's a website you can go to if you'd like to read more of the details on BLW and get some ideas for good foods to start with. It's www.babyledweaning.com

My DD who did BLW is a PHENOMENAL eater now at age 20 months. She eats everything. And she uses a spoon and fork bby herself easily, so don't let anyone tell you that BLW will cause them to have problems with utensils later on. That's bunk.

Let me know if you have any questions!

-C.

ETA: I agree with the other posters who said that there's not a big rush to push a ton of solids right now. We just did it once a day for a while until she got better at it and seemed to want more. You should definitely be focusing on the nursing right now more so than on feeding solids. And FWIW, DD's breastfeeding wasn't affected negatively by starting solids. She continued to nurse well past a year until I dried up (I was pregnant). Good luck!

Although I am not a doctor, I breastfeed my kids and augmented cereal as needed. The best source of nutrition is breastmilk. Sometimes children who have digestion problems are unable to tolerate the cereal so continue the breastfeeding and add in cereal as needed. Remember as a mom, we have natural instincts so listen to them. One other thing, breast feed as long as your daugther is interested. The longer the better!!!

Gig Em...my husband is class of 97!

We have a 14 month old former 26 weeker. We have had our share of troubles with feeds. My pediatrician recommended a book titled "Fit Kids". I can't for the life of me remember the author's name, it's a paperback and we ordered it through Hastings. It has a great feeding chart that includes BF. It gave us a place to start and goals to set for our daughter. I truly think it has been a life saver.

Good Luck.
Amanda

A good book that I have found helpful is The Super Baby Food Book. I didn't do the whole 'super porridge' thing. But it has good charts for intro-ing foods and how to do your own (so easy!)
Remember that until 12mos of age, solids are for intro-ing taste and texture. Since you're bf-ing there's no real need to worry about fruit vs veggie first - your dd gets a variety of tastes and flavors through your breast milk.
I second the suggestion to nurse on a given side for 4hrs and then switch. However often she wants to nurse, stick to the same side. This will give her the rich creamy hind-milk that is so calorie packed. And that was another good point that someone made - breast milk, especially hind-milk, has so many more calories per oz than baby food (esp the jarred stuff, too much water to thin it down).

When you do make cereal or some kind of fruit/grain combo for you dd - instead of thinning it with water, use breast milk or rice milk to keep those calories up.

If nursing is going well, there is no reason to intro a formula bottle. If you choose to start this, be aware that it will affect your milk supply. As soon as non-breastmilk has been intro'd, the weaning process has begun. The less you nurse, the less milk your body makes. Conversely, the more you nurse, the more milk your body makes.

Once she's over a year, or even before depending upon her readiness, you can make shakes/smoothies with yogurt (goat or cow), bananas, pears, and other fruits - this was a good healthy snack for my kiddos that helps keep their caloric intake up since they seem to be too busy to eat most the time :-)

HTH

K., mama to
Catherine, 4yrs
Samuel, 14mos

Gig 'em, A.! I'm now not just an Aggie, but an Aggie mom! Whoop! And I teach in Spring Branch, too. I stayed home for many years (mine are 19, 17 and 13) and just became a teacher last year (had to pay for college, you know!) My youngest was also small for her age, and she wanted NOTHING to do with food. I worried about it but my doctor assured my my baby was fine on breastmilk, and she was a contented nursing baby. She discovered oatmeal at 13 months, and we slowly introduced more and more foods til she weaned at 17 months. (Now she is on pizza and Whataburger!!) You have lots of time to get Isabella (beautiful name) eating solids. If she is happy and healthy, keep doing what you are doing. And enjoy every moment! Before you know it, she'll be sawing varsity's horns off!

I wouldn't push the solids. Your child's main source of nutrition in the first year is breastmilk or formula. Feeding solids is only to get them used to swallowing things with more substance. Also children with reflux often have a harder time with textures of food. I would offer her cereal with a fruit or vegetable one time a day (pick a time when she is most receptive) and stick with that until she gets the hang of it!

My oldest daughter didn't eat any solid foods until she was 13 months. She loved nursing and I nursed her until she was 2 1/2 years. She is very healthy and has never been on antibiotics. Some of her first foods were avacado, banana, sweet potato, porridge (thin oatmeal), applesauce. So glad you have an opportunity to stay home and watch your little miracle grow up. I used recommendations from Super Baby Food. It is the most exhaustive book on feeding that I have read. Even if you don't make all of your own baby food (it's much easier and healthier than you think), it has specific suggestions and ideas that you can use. Good Luck!

Hello A.! I remember feeling the same way you do a few months ago. I started giving my breastfed daughter solids at 7 1/2 months. I started with only breakfast for about 2 weeks, then progressed to breakfast and lunch, and now she eats 3x per day. When I first started with breakfast only, I would offer her the breast first, then the solids right after. And I would just let her eat what she wanted knowing that breast milk was the most nutritious thing for her right now. Then when I started feeding her solids 2xper day I did the same thing, nursed first and solids second. Then it got to the point where she wasn't eating a lot of the solids that I knew she needed, so I switched it up and started feeding her the solids first, and letting her nurse right afterwards. This works for us, and she still wants to nurse even though she has just eaten solids. And here's what our day is like now. She wakes between 5-6 to nurse, then I put her back down until 9:30. At 9:30 I nurse her first, then give her oatmeal and bananas. I used to feed her first for breakfast, but sometimes she is half asleep and starving, and I hated to rush her into the kitchen, put her in her high chair and feed her. It's easier to let her wake up and nurse first. Anyway, then she eats lunch around 11:30, and I feed her food, then nurse her down for her nap. Then she sleeps until around 2-3pm. At this time I nurse her again. Then she eats dinner around 5:00, and I just give her water with this meal, and nurse her to bed at around 6:30. I nurse her now about 6 times a day. I hope I helped out a little. I remember desperately wanting a schedule to follow and wondering what is the right thing to do, but from what I've researched to death is that there is no right and wrong, it's what works out for you and your baby. Good luck!