Why bottle before solids?

[Wriggly]

Hi there,

I'm a little way off weaning yet, my lo is only 19 weeks, but he's big and although I want to try and wait until 6 months, I think I'll have to watch his cues carefully as he might need them earlier.

So, I'm reading up just in case it happens in the next few weeks - have been reading Tracy's books, and looking through this section and the FAQs. I read from Tracy's book, that you introduce a tsp at a time, with breakfast, then when that's established, move to lunch and so on, very gradually, and just with a tsp at a time. She advocates giving the tsp of solid food first, however the advice here seems to be go with the bottle first, just wondering why that is? Tracy seems to suggest that you can give a little bottle first to take the hunger edge off if needed. Just wondering why there seems to be a divergence here form Tracy's suggestions? I appreciate that the milk will still fulfill the bulk of the baby's nutritional requirements for the first year, but offering the solids first seems to make more sense...

Many thanks

Wriggly

[maggie2]

don't know for sure, but perhaps giving a small amt of solids first, when initially introducing new foods, helps baby adapt a bit - a hungry baby would be more willing to accept a new taste/texture than one who's just finished a bottle.

However, as baby gets more accustomed to eating solids, it's better to give bottle/breast first to ensure the majority of the nutrition comes from milk.

does that make sense?  So, when starting off and only offering a tsp, it's good to offer that first, since it's such a small amount and baby needs to be hungry to accept it.  When the amount of solids increases and baby is capable of filling up on them, better to give milk first...

[Jennerific]

hi wriggly, i found tracy's advice about solids confusing as well & in some cases contradictory. in her first book she recommends giving solids 2 hours after a milk meal, which confused me so i posted asking questions & got some good answers which made sense. you should be able to find the link by clicking on my name & then opening up my posts

so contradictions aside, when all is said & done, we found it best to feed milk first, then wait an hour to give solids. even on our first time giving solids he was still hungry enough to them b/c breast milk is digested in about 90 minutes - not sure if the same is true for formula (digested as quickly) but it shouldn't matter. if you wait an hour after then they will probably take them

[jess, lukeys_mom]

Agree with you and pp's that the advice is confusing and I think Maggie is spot on with the reason for the switch. In the very very beginning when you are only doing a tsp or so at a time your lo has to be hungry enough to want something in his mouth. When he has accepted the initial texture and change of solids and you are starting to create "meals" then you want to be careful not to have these replace his milk in the first year.

I guess it also depends on your lo, how hungry he is, and how he goes with milk. If you bf I would def do milk first to be sure that he is taking enough and help your supply keep up. If you do bottles and he is finishing everything then I suppose it doesn't matter as much as long as it keeps up. Eventually towards the end of the first year you want to move towards having the two feedings (ie solids and milk) alongside each other.
HTH

[Wriggly]

Thanks everyone,

That does indeed make sense! will work it that way when the time comes. No doubt I'll be posting here agian when that happens, it's good to think ahead though I think. Can't wait 'til he starts (I say that now!) - can't wait to see what he likes/dislikes - it's so exciting watching their personalities develop and it'll be the first time he can choose what to eat! (well sort of but you know what I mean), and we can enjoy meals as a family!

[Freya'sMum]

Without wanting to duplicate what's already been said, may I suggest that when the time comes, you don't even think of introducing solid food as Eating - if you have a typical EASY routine, it helps to think of milk as the Eat and introducing solid food as an Activity, this way baby fills up with milk, the most nutritionally beneficial food he can have, and gets to learn about food (what it is and what to do with it) without any pressure to actually eat it.

There has been another progression since Tracy wrote the BW books, in terms of introducing solid foods, which is the rise in 'popularity' of baby-led weaning (BLW), a way of introducing solid foods where the baby self-feeds - it compliments BW very well, and if you are interested you can check out more about it in the FAQ section

Ax