Comments on: Exclusive Breastfeeding beyond Six Months

By: Laura

Laura — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 15:59:44 +0000

My daughter is 8 months old and on three meals of solids a day. However I am having second thoughts because I feel that the solids have replaced alot of the breastmilk she drinks. My supply has dropped since starting solids and I really want her to get as much benefit from the breastmilk as possibly. Additionally, her weight gain has doubled. She has been in the 5th to 10th percentile gaining about a pound a month, but since starting solids ended up gaining 2 pounds in one month. Which is fine if that is what her body needs to do, but I worry that I’m just feeding her too much now! On the other hand if I reduce her solids I worry it will affect her growth and development. My plan is to skip breakfast and lunch (breastfeed more) and give her a dinner with protein and veggies in it every night. (I make homemade meat and veggie purees for her)
Any thoughts? I would love to hear someone else’s take on it as I get really anxious about it. I’ve worked hard at breastfeeding (low supply, latch problems, thyroid issues, etc.) and want her to have the most benefit possible.

By: becky

becky — Sat, 05 Sep 2009 06:04:28 +0000

I breastfed my daughter exclusively for 11 months and she was very healthy. Actually her weight was off the charts! I chose not to start solids b/c of mine and my husbands history of allergies. I did research this out before I made the decision, and I read that some baby’s digestive systems are not even mature enough to break down the food to get alot of nutrition from it. I understand that every baby is different, but my daughter was fine and very healthy. Her doctor couldn’t believe that she was not eating solids:) I think every mother should do the research and make their decision from their own convictions and not what family or society is telling them.

By: Christine

Christine — Sat, 22 Aug 2009 17:45:05 +0000

My daughter is now 7.5 months old. We started her on homemade baby food shortly after her 6 month birthday because that is what I thought I was supposed to do. We gave her rice cereal, then added some avocado a week later, then some millet cereal a week after that. She was interested in eating, but we started noticing that she was having a very hard time pooping and would go 5 or more days between bowel movements (this from a child that would usually poop at least 2 times a day, sometimes 4!). And she was noticeably uncomfortable from not being able to go to the bathroom, plus she would have a lot of gas, which was also unusual for her. So even though we started out slow (only one feeding a day of solids), we backed down even more. We went to every other day, then every third, then every 5th. Now we have just stopped completely with the solid foods. It took about 2 weeks for her system to get back to normal, but now she is my usual chubby, healthy, happy, active baby who poops every day!
I feel that if her body is showing me that it is not ready for solids, then why push it! And I have since found articles and research that backs up that idea. So she is once again exclusively breastfed and I plan to do that until she is about a year old.

By: Noelle

Noelle — Wed, 19 Aug 2009 22:30:36 +0000

My daughter, now 14 mo old, was exclusively breastfed until she was 10 mo old, she showed no interest in solids until then except sucking the juice out of some bites of fruits when I would eat them, like grapes and melon. Then at 10 months we started few spoonfuls of fresh fruits (easy to digest) and at 12 months started little bit of oatmeal, steamed mashed veggies, avocado, etc. I have a dairy intolerance so we wont do it for a long time. Even now at 14 months I would say she is still 75% breastfed, and shows no interest in slowing, which is fine with me, except it leaves me kind of drained alot of the time. She is 22lbs, perfect skin and can say or attempt already about 50 different words, so developmentally she is just fine despite the lack of solids (which the dr. hounds me about!). I know that the breastmilk has been so good for her!

By: Jenny

Jenny — Sat, 08 Aug 2009 15:31:53 +0000

My son is exclusively breastfed, he is 8 months old and was diagnosed with FPIES (food protein induced enterocolitis syndrome). He has severe GI reactions to dairy, soy, bananas, apples, sweet potatoes and a possible wheat. His pediatric allergist recommended breastfeeding as long as I could, he wants me to start pears or peaches, but I might wait another couple months. He is a very healthy little guy and thrives on breastmilk. If he had formula, he would go into shock, there is only one formula I could give to him but there is no need, so for now I am doing things the way I feel God intended them to be. I may exclusively breastfeed for longer than a year, why not? His blood came back great!

By: Emma Stocker

Emma Stocker — Thu, 06 Aug 2009 10:23:59 +0000

Hi all,

My son is just over 6 months and i followed all guidlines and started him on solids once he turned 6 months. I have breastfed him and will continue to do so, i introduced a bottle at 8 weeks so that he would get use to a bottle as well as breast and he took fine to it, he then had expressed milk in a botle once a day. I then started giving him formula (cow and gate) at night as i found it really tiring doing the night feeds. He took fine to formula as well. Since he was introduced to a bottle he slept through the night and goes 12 hours. My milk supply was just enough to provide 4 feeds a day so I then decided to give him 1 bottle a day before he went to bed. He has since had 5 feeds a day, 4 of breast and 1 bottle formula before bed.

Since 8 weeks he has had excema (sorry about spelling) and has been given creams for this, as it runs in the family i was very keen to breastfeed as i feel his skin would have been much worse if i hadn’t.

Since introducing solids i have only giving pureed fruit / veg however he is not liking savoury and will only have sweet veg at the moment. I have also found he has a dairy intolerance and everything that has either milk or cheese brings him up in a rash. I was advised by the healthvisitor to start him immediately on finger foods….he has only just started having a few teaspoons a day twice a day and to rush straight into finger foods i was a bit shocked, they tell you to delay weaning until 6 months and then say should you wait this long you should speed the process up!????

If he has something he doesn’t like or a tiny lump he gags and is nearly sick so surely he is not ready…….As recommended though i tried him this morning on half a banana and a small piece of bread with non dairy butter (he wasn’t having any of it and i felt like i was forcing him to have it)…..i am happy to go slowly and give him what he wants and stick to purees at the moment but i feel very presurised by family/friends and the health visitor.

Since seeing them i have realised that his excema only started since he was introduced to formula milk and this could be causing it…..i have now stopped giving a bottle and fully breastfeeding, we are seeing the doctor later to disucss dairy free diets for him but i just hope they don’t make us feel more pressurised that we already do.

I am really happy to hear that there are others who breastfeed long term and delay weaning until they are ready. Breastfeeding is hard enough as you are made to feel uncomfortable in many places…doing something very natural!

Will keep you posted

xxx

By: breastfeeding infants

breastfeeding infants — Thu, 30 Jul 2009 03:27:47 +0000

To ensure that your baby is eating often enough, you should wake him up if it has been four hours since the last time he has been fed. Getting comfortable Feedings can take 40 minutes or longer, therefore you’ll want a cozy spot. You don’t want to be sitting somewhere where you will be bothered, as it can make the process very hard

By: Angela White, J.D., breastfeeding counselor

Angela White, J.D., breastfeeding counselor — Sun, 26 Jul 2009 17:08:18 +0000

Hi Alexandra,

I am glad to hear you have been happy with your decision. I do feel the need to respond to some of the claims you make. It’s great that your sister-in-law nursed for 18 months, particularly if the nursling was having illnesses and could particularly benefit from the immune protection that breastfeeding provides. Imagine how sick she might have been had she not had the antibodies provided in mother’s milk! The World Health Organization recommends breastfeeding until at least 2 years of age. A breastfeeding mother’s diet does not have to be perfect — even a malnourished mother makes milk that is better for babies than formula. Mothers who breastfeed exclusively (no solid foods) beyond six months of age would be wise to monitor their babies’ health in conjunction with a doctor. Dental caries are a difficult issue. Breastfeeding exclusively does not cause decay — it’s actually the addition of solid food or formula that causes a problem. Some children are born with dental defects that make them more prone to decay as well. The answer is not weaning.

By: Alexandra

Alexandra — Sun, 26 Jul 2009 09:53:37 +0000

I didn’t breastfeed any of my babies – a decision I haven’t regretted in anyway at all, my partner didn’t seem to understand my reasons but now he does – health issues. Anyhoo I would never condone anyone’s opinion or decision, each to their own. however my sister in law refused flat out to ween her now 2.5 yr old – she breastfed her daughter until she was 18mth old – the downfall was the following – the daughter was undernourished and her new teeth literally decayed before her 2nd birthday and now she is left with stumbs. when they brought her to the doctor – he explained that when breastfeeding your diet must be tip top and if not then you should be supplementing with other sustenance, also this little girl from the age of 1mth was constantly at the doctors with colds etc – her immune system was not supported, now I am sure that most women who breastfeed are taking care of this issue but if you are not then you should evaluate your diet before considering breastfeeding exclusively, it’s not fair to your child. I’m fairly confident that most women know this. It’s nice to see so many women promoting breastfeeding.

By: Ninja Mom

Ninja Mom — Thu, 18 Jun 2009 18:30:49 +0000

My middle daughter (now almost 5) was my first breastfed baby. She had undiagnosed cerebral palsy and was physically incapable of eating food until well over a year of age – even though she appeared to be a “normal” little girl. Her CP affects mostly just her mouth and facial muscles so it was very difficult for her to eat anything without choking. She finally was able to handle food at around 14 months of age but still got the bulk of her nutrition from breastfeeding. She wasn’t fully on solids until she was 2 and self-weaned at 37 months, when her baby sister was born.

She never had anemia or other issues related to not having solids. She did have failure to thrive, but this was due to her CP. She was unable to form a complete seal while nursing – imagine trying to drink from a straw with your mouth open. But once we figured that out (around 7 months) she was able to gain weight.

The worst part of this ordeal was all the doctor referrals to dietitians. Every dietitian we saw told us that my milk was “too thin” and she needed formula. (Never mind that she aspirated anything from a bottle or cup – formula would have killed her!)

In our case, delaying solids saved my daughter’s life. If I had another baby like her, I would seek a diagnosis much sooner, but otherwise would do the same thing I did with her – give her the nutrition she needs in the way she could handle it.