Starting Solids--When to Make That Leap?

As their babies' age creeps closer and closer to that magical 6-month mark, moms' thoughts turn to solids. When is the right time to start solids? Should we wait or start now? Will it help my baby sleep through the night? And what does the pediatrician say about all this, anyway?

Well, patience, my pet. We'll address all those concerns in this post--starting with the latter. What does your pediatrician think, anyhow? And should you care?

Of course, I have no earthly idea what your pediatrician thinks. What I do know is my own personal approach to medical professionals--which is that, by and large, they are a valuable resource to use when making decisions regarding your health and that of your family. In other words, while you should consult your pediatrician regarding decisions such as this, please remember that he or she is not necessarily any more informed about certain issues than the well-educated parent is likely to be. There are scads of (medical) journal articles every month--your pediatrician is not necessarily reading the ones most pertinent to your situation (that's your job!). So, consult your pediatrician, but do your own research.

That's what I did. At The Bug's 4-month appointment, my pediatrician brought up the topic of solids. I explained that I was still exclusively breastfeeding The Bug, and had no plan to start solids yet. She seemed to find this agreeable, but then added that The Bug fit two of the situations in which starting solids early is recommended--he is on the big side of the height/weight spectrum, and he still wakes in the night to feed (several times a night, I might add). The third situation was a seeming desire to eat--watching intently as you eat, trying to take food off your plate, etc.

By now, The Bug meets all three criteria (as of Saturday, he had tried to swipe both chicken nuggets and pancakes from my plate). This begs the question, why am I not starting solids yet? Well, let's look at my pediatrician's criteria for starting solids.

First, her claim that "bigger" babies should be started on solids earlier. I happened to mention this to a friend who has a child on the small end of the spectrum, and she indicated that her own pediatrition had recommended starting solids early for this reason. Now, if either lunatic fringe variety of baby's parents are told to start solids early, the conclusion I'm going to jump to is that the pediatricians do so because they believe that these babies' nutritional needs are no longer being satisfied by breastmilk alone. Does this make sense? Well, in a word, no. The fact is that breastmilk has both a higher caloric content and a higher nutrient content than any cereal, fortified or no. Not only that, but breastmilk is more easily digested, meaning that it won't sit in gut and give baby a false illusion of fullness like cereal can do. It seems to me that a better suggestion in either of these cases would be to breastfeed more frequently and to be sure that one's own diet isn't lacking in nutrition.

Now, about the implication that solids could affect the waking in the night to feed situation--I'll admit, this part made my ears perk up a bit. Could starting solids help The Bug sleep for longer stretches at night, maybe even helping me to eliminate a feeding or two? Not according to a study performed by the Cleveland Clinic Department of Pediatrics. Researchers found no difference between a group of infants between 5 weeks and 4 months of age who were given rice cereal in a bottle at night and those who were not. Admittedly, the practice of including cereal in a bottle is silly and archaic, not to mention not really the topic at hand in the first place! But whether in a bottle or a spoon, cereal is cereal is cereal--and in this case, cereal was not found to affect sleep one way or the other. Sigh.

The third situation, otherwise known as the one that got me to actually go out and purchase spoons for The Bug, is that babies who are trying to get to table food are ready for solids. Now, to a point I can see this being the case. However, it should be noted that I have observed The Bug trying to jam the following things in his mouth: my nose, my hair, a dirty diaper, the hoof of a stuffed donkey, and the dog. None of these seem to be appropriate foodstuffs, and never did I see him try to shove any of those things in his mouth and think "Gee, it must be time to start solids." This leads me to think that the logic behind a baby's readiness for solids being determined by his eagerness to shove things into his mouth is, well, a bit flawed at best. Furthermore, I'm not sure that the physical and emotional readiness for anything should be determined by interest alone. I mean geeze, didn't ya'll check out the condom shelf surreptitiously before you actually got down to business for the first time?

It comes down to this--study after study seems to indicate that 6 months is the earliest age that BREASTFED babies should have solids introduced to their diets. Formula-fed babies may have different nutritional needs, but I haven't researched this enough to comment either way. And furthermore, since breastfeeding until 7 months of age is associated with an increased IQ later in life, you certainly don't want to do anything to jeopordize your milk supply at this point! (An emphasis on solids too early can cause a drop in milk supply, which may lead to premature weaning.) So, I'm going to make a case for waiting on that cereal.

After all, once you start, your baby will be eating solids for the rest of his life. But he will never rely only on you for nourishment again. It's a precious time! Hold on to it!

But I'm not getting rid of the spoons. No harm in getting him used to them. Maybe I'll put some expressed milk in a bowl and spoon-feed that to him? I've seen that suggested.