Every night we tried to spoon feed our little guy. By the third night, he refused the spoon altogether. He would grab at my shirt and rub his hand over his mouth in a rooting manner. I explained to our pediatrician that he just wasn't ready. He only wanted to nurse.
At seven months, I consider solid foods to be supplemental to a breastfed baby's diet. The new AAP (American Academy of Pediatrics) guidelines still recommend starting solids at six months, but they now encourage breastfeeding up to 12 months as a main source of nourishment. They now advise pediatricians to encourage breastfeeding past 12 months for as long as it is mutually desired because of the health benefits. This is great news to many breastfeeding mothers who have been told in years past that breastfeeding could be discontinued after six months with no substantial consequences to baby.
But despite the studies that show the AAP that breastfeeding continues to be the best feeding choice for babies for one year and longer, there are still millions of pediatricians who worry about the baby who is still exclusively breastfed past six months. And it is not just pediatricians. Spouses, family members, friends and even strangers all seem to want to know: "When is that baby going to eat 'real' food?"
Supplementing solid foods into your baby's diet should be a fun experience for all involved. Unless there is a medical or nutritional need for supplementation, solid foods will probably be more like a game to your baby than a meal during this learning process. Just like some babies have to learn to nurse, some babies have to learn to take food from other sources as well. For me, it was hard to see my friend's baby taking every last bite of cereal while mine just cried at the sight of it. But after talking to my LLL leader, I realized that as long as he was still nursing well, I would have to wait until he was ready.
