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Hi everybody,
My daugther Laurie will be 5 months old in 10 days. So far, she has been exclusively breast-fed and she is perfectly healthty. In spite of her very low birth weight (5 1/2 lb), she has never been sick, did not have any fever and she has doubled her weight at about 3 1/2 months old. She has not been vaccinated.
We could probably continue to breastfed only for an other month, but her mother begin to be tired and a little fed up because Laurie doesn't sleep through the night yet. She did once a 8 1/4 hours period and 7 3/4 hours a few times, but usually the longest period she goes between 2 breastfeds is 5 to 6 hours only (beginning to beginning).
We would like to start to introduce some solid foods and/or supplements that would help her to sleep throught the nights and gives a break to her mother. But what should we give her first?
The official recommandation we see everywhere is to start with cereals. However, many writers rather suggest to postponed introduction of grains to at least one year old. Airola was even recommanding to wait at 1 1/2 years old and other experts prohibit all grains before the age of 2.
Since I have got a H-G metabolism and my spouse is a mixed type, I think that starting my daughter on grains would be a very bad idea. But what should we give her?
I was thinking of egg yolks, avocados, carots, sweet potatoes and maybe a small quantity of cod liver oil. Does it seam correct? What other vegetables should we give her?
All sources I have checked so far don't recommand introducing meat and liver before the age of 6 months, is it correct? When can we give fish and what kind of fish would be good?
At what time of the day should start with the solid food?
Any suggestion?
Thanks
Serge
In Reply to: Baby first solid food? posted by Serge C. on May 31, 2002 at 23:16:18:
Serge, we've always had good results with sleeping through the night with cereals. Rice first, then oatmeal. My three children have done wonderfully on this. If you're going to start with vegetables, try green beans first; they seem to digest easiest. Then maybe squash or sweet potatoes.
In Reply to: Baby first solid food? posted by Serge C. on May 31, 2002 at 23:16:18:
Serge,
I breast fed my first son until he was six months old, and then introduced baby cereal, the rice kind. I mixed it with mother's milk the first couple days, and then mixed it with water and dry formula, which had vitamins in it.
Just a few spoonsful in the morning, to start. His stools, which had been soft and "cheesey" smelling, really not too bad, immediately changed to stinky -- phew!
I used sweet potato for his first vegetable, for the Vitamin A. I bought the freeze dried flakes, because I was mixing up such small amounts, and put it right in with the rice cereal and the powdered formula. (Baby stew, lol)
I also tried some of the other baby cereals, like oat and wheat. He developed a rash on his face and behind his ears. Sometimes the stool in his diapers looked almost like what I had fed him, and I wondered if his system was even able to digest it. I also continued to breast feed.
I had the book from the La Leche League, "The Womanly Art of Breastfeeding," and it had all kinds of tips on how to start solid foods, and suggestions on what kinds would be well tolerated.
When I had my second son, I again started solids at six months. He got a rash on his face. Hmm, maybe it wasn't agreeing with him....so I went back to mother's milk for another month, and it cleared up.
Mother's milk is easily digested by the baby. I think six hours is a pretty good stretch. My children used to nurse almost every hour or two in the evening, like they were "tanking up" to last through the night.
If you have the baby in her own room, and she wakes up early to nurse, try leaving her alone for a couple minutes, and see if she'll go back to sleep. I had to use two cloth diapers on my sons at night, so that I wouldn't have to wake them up to change a soaked diaper.
If she is still in your bedroom, maybe it's time for her own room. You'll get better sleep if you don't wake up every time she wimpers.
My first son also was only 5 and a half pounds at birth. He gained weight well, although he was always small as a child. Both my husband and I were small as children, so we were not worried about it. My children did not have many ear infections, which is one of the benefits of nursing your baby.
Based on my readings and my own experiences, I don't think you should try solid food yet. A well fed five month old is chubby, and when she begins to creep and to crawl, she will thin down, which is normal. This is a great age for a baby -- she is alert, and responds to you, and laughs, but doesn't move around much yet. A baby is harder to take care of as soon as she's crawling, and at that point you'll really be busy!
If you go to Amazon.com, you can look up "The Womanly Art of Breastfeeding," and read 24 sample pages. I found this book to be very helpful.
Have fun with your baby, and I hope you are reading to her every day!
In Reply to: Baby first solid food? posted by Serge C. on May 31, 2002 at 23:16:18:
Hi, Serge C.
The reason for delaying solid foods is that the immature intestinal lining might pass poorly digested peptides and so cause allergies (PRECISELY the mechanism of LGS described so often on this BB for older people).
This explains why rice cereal is recommended first: RICE IS NOT A STAPLE IN OUR CULTURE so, if the baby becomes allergic to rice it is not such a big deal. In China it is wheat cereal that is recommended first....understand?
Hope this helps.
Walt
In Reply to: Re: Baby first solid food? (Archive in infants.) posted by Walt Stoll on June 01, 2002 at 09:16:23:
Thanks Walt,
Interesting to note that wheat is the first recommanded in China. I understand the idea. But overall, assuming we put all grains on the same basis of consumption, can we say that some are really more prone to alergy than others?
In the case of Lise (her mother), she is not a big bread and pasta eater. She also likes rice a lot. During her pregnancy, she ate mostly spelt and Kamut, but also rice, oat and wheat in comparable amount.
What do you think of these recommendation of avoiding grains in the first year?
What would you start with?
I knew that 6 months is the prefered age to start with solid food (as suggested by Carol) but, like I said, Lise is a bit tired and I don't think she will have the patience to wait another 40 days if Laurie doesn't sleep through the night. We must take into account that she is 43 and she is the kind of woman that usually need a lot of sleep. It is also important for Laurie that her mother feels well and has a good mood. Since most doctor say that 4 months is OK for starting solid food, I tought that 5 to 5 1/2 months would not be a big deal for Laurie. I am just looking for the best sustaining/digestible compromise.
So far, when Laurie wakes-up in the middle of the night, it seems that she is hungry. What can we do to help her sleep throught the night other than solid food?
Thanks
Serge C.
In Reply to: Re: Baby posted by Carol B. on June 01, 2002 at 01:35:23:
Thanks Carol for your response,
Your input is appreciated.
However, since vegetables only provide carotenes that need to be converted into true vit A, I don't beleive in vegetable as a reliable vit A source for a baby since they are probably not really able to make that conversion. That's why they get quickly a yellow/orange color when they are fed to much carots.
Since both your sons developped alergic reactions to some grains (even at 6 months), it only reinforces my belief that grains are not suitable for a young baby. In the case of your second, what cereal did you try first?
Thanks
Serge
In Reply to: Baby first solid food? posted by Serge C. on May 31, 2002 at 23:16:18:
NMI
In Reply to: Re: Baby first solid food? (Archive in infants.) posted by Serge C. on June 02, 2002 at 21:26:06:
Hik Serge.
We had 4 kids within 4 years and started all of them on rice cereal at about 4-6 months of age. None of them have had any problem and they are all in their 40s now.
Since you understand the principle, the weirder the kind of cereal the more likely it could be started about that time.
I think that the frequency of use is what determines the rate of allergy, not the kind of grain.
Hope this helps.
Walt
In Reply to: Baby first solid food? posted by Serge C. on May 31, 2002 at 23:16:18:
Hi Serge,
based on a recommedation from my allergy doctor we started with vegetables at 6 months, then fruit at 7, rice cereal at 8, meat at 9. the first vegetables were squash, sweet potatoes, eggplant (which he turned out to be allergic to), peas, and green beans. we waited for carrots until 9 months because of the nitrates.
Unfortunately just because we fed him solids, our little guy still didn't sleep through the night. if she's really desperate to get some sleep I would suggest a hypo-allergenic formula for the middle of the night feedings. they are easiest to decrease then eliminate (plus her husband can do them). That was what finally worked for me - unfortunately it took 7 months of fatigue to figure it out.
Good luck!
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