Early Solids in 20+ lbs 5 month old

[sarahbogdanovich]

I'm sure my questions have been covered somewhere in this forum, but I can't seem to find the answers. I would love any help you all can provide:

My lo is 5 months and 20+ pounds. (At 4 months, he was 18 pounds and 27 or so inches) He's a big boy - his father's family is quite tall. I finally got my pediatrician to approve starting solids at 5 months, and we've been feeding rice cereal for two weeks now (breakfast and lunch for the last week, 2 tsp at each feeding) one hour after his morning and midday bottle. I'm still giving him a full bottle, which for him is about 9 oz.

My first question is, am I doing this right? At some point, I think I'm supposed to switch to feeding solids before the bottle, but I'm not sure when to make that transition. Should I be doing that now?

Also, I'm having trouble gauging how much formula to give him since he has always been a bobber. (He bobs off and on the nipple to look around. He did this when I BF him, too, which was part of the reason we had to switch to formula because it was very hard for me to let down with all the squirming.) Burping helps a bit, but doesn't solve the problem, so I've had to just kind of guage from past experience how much he needs and continue to offer him the bottle until he takes that amount. (I gauge it by how long before the next feed he starts being hungry/fussy or waking early from his nap.) Any thoughts on at what point I should back off of the formula and when to increase solids intake above 2tsp?

I must say, I'm really looking forward to the time when my lo can feed himself because trying to figure out his food intake has been super confusing! He JUST started sleeping through the night when we started solids, so I'm happy that we're moving in the right direction. Thank you in advance for any advice you might be able to share.

[yaya]

bump

[Freya'sMum]

Hello!

Sorry for the delay in replying, I like to give others a chance to respond before jumping in, but it appears no-one has yet, so I'll have a go

The recommendation by international organisations is to breastfeed exclusively until 6 months, and then to slowly introduce solid foods. Here at BW we advocate listening to your lo's cues, so some babies might be developmentally ready to try some solid foods at 5 months, some not 'till 7 months! The important thing to remember is that babies don't actually need solid food for nutrition until a year old, so whatever age they start sampling them, they do just that, sample them.

Whether you go straight in with finger foods (Baby-led weaning) or use purees, the food is only for babies to experiment with, not necessarily to swallow/eat. It can be useful to think of milk feeds as the Eat in EASY and solid foods as an Activity where babies learn what foods are and what to do with them. Because milk is the primary source of nutrition, it matters not if your lo only plays with what you offer, and if his activity/solid food time coincides with your mealtime even better because he'll get to join in with the social side of eating!

I would suggest that you continue to offer ds his pre-solids quantity of babymilk until he's 9-10 months old, whilst the quantity of solid food he consumes gradually increases as he learns how to eat. You don't want the solid foods to replace milk until this age, so it's best to do milk before solids (Eat then Activity, as in EASY) until at least then. The minimum recommended amount of formula for babies under a year is 20oz, however at 5 months I would expect him to be having significantly more than that, nearer 30oz.

It does sound like you are doing just what ds needs right now, just remember that there is no rush to increase how much solid food he eats, or how often - as with all things BW it's about following your lo's cues whilst guiding the process safely and offering opportunities to develop!

HTH a bit?

Ax

[claires mum]

Ditto!

My LO started solids at 5 months and it was a journey more than anything else.  She just wanted to get stuck in and try different things.  Gradually she'd ask for more via her cues.  She's 10 months soon and I can't believe how much more she wants to eat...a bottomless pit!  But the lesson here is that I never forced anything on her...she let me know if she wanted more or less ..or nothing. 

Definitely milk before solids until at least 9 months. 

Have fun!

[koakitty]

I'm glad I found your post, because I have a very large baby, and was wondering if anyone else out there had one as well and started solids a little sooner. My DS is 10 weeks tomorrow, and he weighs 15 pounds and is just over 24"...He was 8lbs 4oz at birth and 20.5" and by his 8 week appointment he was already 24" and 14lbs 4 oz! He has been waking between 12-1Am and again around 4AM.  My DD was average in size and started sleeping 7+ hours a night at 6weeks. Both of my kids are/were breast fed exclusively. I didn't start my DD on solids until 6 months because she was gaining weight so well and sleeping 10+ hours at night by then. I am however wondering if I will need to start my son on solids sooner,he just wants to eat all the time. I am exhausted!  My DH and I have talked about adding a bottle of formula at night just to see if he'd sleep a little longer at night, but I really want to try and wait until he's a bit older, as I don't think it will make that much difference right now. When I read that your DS started at 5 months, I thought I bet that's what we're going to be doing....but we'll see and I'll talk to his Dr at his 4 month appointment...I just think he's going to need more calories by then...he's been averaging about 3/4 pounds a week in weight gain. Yikes!  Both my husband and I are tall (I'm 6' and my DH is 6'2")...So I was looking to see if other big babies were starting solids sooner.

[Jennerific]

sarah my LO is just over 5 months & we've been on solids since 4 months (our pedi told us to start at 3 months but i felt that was too early so waited). he's a very big baby too (over 18 pounds) & breastmilk just wasn't filling him up (he'd nurse for 15 mins on each side & i'd get at least 2 letdowns each side for a total of 30 minutes, at least 4 letdowns)

anyway to answer your question, we will continue to offer BM at least an hour before a solids meal until he is around 9-10 months old. that way he's still getting lots of BM & not filling up on solids before he drinks. the way i look at it, solids are helping to just take the edge off until he BF's again. it allows him to get from one BM feeding to another where before he just wanted to nurse constantly b/c he was hungry all the time

during the 3rd week of solids - using Tracy's first book as a guide - we introduced lunch. he now gets 1-2 oz of solids 3 times a day. we don't feed cereal (it caused constipation problems, plus i found it had little or no nutritional value & just served to fill him up which sounds good in theory but his milk intake started to drop so i knew we had a problem that needed to be fixed) instead we switched to feeding sweet potatoes, then introduced prunes, next pears, then carrots. we will be introducing peas this week & then banana if the peas go well. so far he's had no ill affects & bowels are moving normally

i know that a lot of people judge me for starting solids so early, which is just so sad... b/c some babies are ready for them & do well with them. whenever i feel judged i just re-read both sections of tracy's book that says its okay for bigger babies to start earlier if all the "ready" signs are there - this always makes me feel better, like i'm doing the right thing for US.

[sarahbogdanovich]

Thank you, thank you for your advice and support. I'm sorry I haven't been back on for a while. Things get crazy and forget about this awesome resource! So far, things are going well with the solids. My lo has really started to enjoy his feeding times and I'm looking forward to introducing something other than cereal in a couple of weeks. Wish me luck!

[claires mum]

Well done