Those First Six Months
November 22, 2006 by Angela White, J.D., breastfeeding counselor
Filed under breastfeeding stories
As we all know, exclusive breastfeeding is recommended for the first six months of a baby’s life. One reader shares how her son’s first six months went:
“Henry is still exclusively breastfeeding. He hasn’t even tried formula. And I’m amazed at how fast these six months have flown by in the breastfeeding realm. I remember with Kira that exclusively nursing her for six months felt a bit like running a marathon. (I presume, anyhow. No marathon running for me.) But with Henry, overall the nursing has been pretty easy and it hasn’t felt like a strain at all. I feel as if I could keep going exclusively for a lot longer. Probably part of the reason for that is that I have more milk this time around, in addition to the extra experience.
For his sake, I’m glad that he will be able to start eating solid foods. When we are eating, he will watch every single motion that we make. It’s obvious that he wants to eat like us! It’s so obvious that it’s guilt producing. You almost feel like you should apologize because you’re being so selfish with your food. Even so, I’m laughing slightly right now in anticipation of his first taste of solid food. I’m expecting either a grimace or a big look of surprise. We’ve already given him a sippy cup with a small bit of water in it and the look on his face when he tasted the water was priceless. So funny.”
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As a followup to my story, since it’s been about a month since I wrote it:
Henry’s face when he tasted the rice cereal was indeed priceless. I have a great picture in fact – his face is all screwed up in a big frown. Unfortunately, after a month of trying rice cereal, he still doesn’t like it. I can get a couple of spoonfuls in and then he’s done. For all intents and purposes, I’m still exclusively breastfeeding! I imagine we’ll try either a different grain cereal or some veggies here soon…
Thanks for the update! Sounds like he’s thriving on your milk, and as long as that’s the case he doesn’t NEED solids until he’s 12 months. It’s all for fun and experimentation now.
I found both my girls liked food a lot better when they were 8 months or so and could start picking up bits of food by themselves – soft avocado, mashed sweet potato, banana, steamed broccoli etc.