My LO will be 6 months old on Sunday and I started him on a small amount of solid food at around 18 weeks. This was contrary to my best intentions, I had wanted to exclusively breastfeed until 6 months as I had read a lot about it and all the good advice was to hold on for as long as possible. HOWEVER at around 16 to 17 weeks he started really fussing/breaking off when feeding, and seemed very frustrated when my breastmilk wasn't flowing quickly enough. I know demand feeding can increase supply, but he was simply pulling off and crying so he wasn't giving me an opportunity to produce more. I spoke to my public health nurse as I really wanted to continue solely breastfeeding but this was really getting me down, and she said I could maybe start him with a bit of fruit as baby rice can be constipating. Initially he wasn't interested in the food (a sign he wasn't ready I now feel) but soon he was tucking in and now he refuses NOTHING ! The problem?? Really bad intestinal cramp and wind - also heading towards constipation but not quite. He gets this after nearly everything I give him. I am keeping a food diary and I know that certain things - bananas, rice, apples, even sweet potatoes etc. can be constipating so I avoid them. I have tried stopping food for a couple of days and he was still windy (he tends to be anyway) but better. Maybe his digestive system just wasn't ready for food? I feel inclined to stop giving him food again, but now he is almost 6 months I feel that nutritionally he will need some solids from now on. I am just really annoyed with myself for starting him in the first place, if I had just gone with my instincts and kept him on solely breastmilk he probably wouldn't be suffering, and now I am worrying about allergies in the future. Oh, and this is also affecting his sleep, day and night. If he is bad it can take an age to settle him to sleep, then he can wake 25 minutes into a nap and I have to pick him up, wind him and put him back down.
Wish I could turn back the clock but alas we only get one chance at this game ! Anyone have any advice on how I can go about alleviating the poor little man's troubles
. I rub his back which brings up wind and bicycle his legs to get it out the other way, also breastfeeding brings out some wonderful noises
- but avoiding it in the first place would be better.
Help please.....