How long is it o.k. to exclusively breastfeed?

[mommomrebecca]

When we were in the hospital, all the nurses and doctors harrassed me because Levi (7 months) had never had food. They unanimously agreed that he would be nutritionally deficient, anemic, and have long term problems if I didn't start feeding him immediately. Is this true? I was delaying solid foods because he has allergies and chemical sensitivities and I *thought* breastmilk only might help that.

[dandelions2]

Wow...those drs and nurses must be very educated when it comes to breastfed babies...NOT! :getu

My dd didn't eat much in terms of solids till she was about 14 months, and that's only cause my milk disappeared cause I was preggo with ds. She started to eat solids at about 8 months - but only like a Tbs or so a day until 14 months. My ds couldn't wait to start solids, so he was almost 6 months and he ate quite a bit for those first few months, but now he's back to eating almost none. He just plays with his food now (he's 13 months).

Follow your baby's lead. When baby is ready, there will be no doubt.

Good link: http://www.kellymom.com/nutrition/solids/index.html

[littleturtlemama]

breastmilk should be baby's primary (if not ONLY) food for the first year, becuase their systems are still immature and unable to full digest foods to get the nutrients they need out of them. The only purpose of solid food feeding in the second half of the first year is to acclimate the babe to eating. period.

breastmilk is still the best nutritionally, the best immunity, and the best calorically for your baby. Anyone who tells you differnet is selling something, or just ignorant.

(/rant over. this is SO one of my pet peeves, cause I get frantic calls from my LLL mamas all the time about docs telling them they HAVE to feed their babies cereal/solid food/etc)

[blueskymama]

DD#2 gets a tsp of squash here and there and she is 8-1/2 months. With DD#1, she was 99% bf-ed until she was 1-1/2.

[Dawnie]

Rebecca,

Your baby will let you know when he is ready for solid food. Although many doctors reccommend starting solids at 4-6 months, and La Leche League mentions that most babies are ready for solids around the middle of their first year, I have found that many babies who are exclusively breastfed in the way that La Leche League reccommends are not even interested in solids until closer to 9-10 months. Even when solids are started, breastmilk remains the main source of calories in the baby's diet for the first 1-2 years of life. I would guess that more problems are caused by introducing solids too early rather than too late.


If you have a copy of The Womanly Art of Breastfeeding from La Leche League, check out the chapter on starting solids. If you do not have a copy, you can probably find one at your local public library or your local La Leche League group may have a lending library. There are several signs of readiness, like the pincer grasp (being able to hold a small object between the index finger and thumb) and sitting up unassisted. With my own babies, I've noticed that they start mooching off my plate when they're ready, and there's no doubt that they REALLY want to eat when they start doing that. My oldest daughter wouldn't eat more than a few spoonfuls of food until she was 15 months old and she is just fine. Her weight gain slowed down quite a bit, but she was growing in length and meeting all appropriate developmental milestones. I offered food to her almost every day, but she turned her head away and would not eat it. I learned to relax with my next two babies and let them tell me when they were ready to eat.

Good luck!

Dawn

[pageta]

Ben is 17 months and has eaten solids only a couple of times. When dh or I try to feed them to him, he pinches his lips, turns his head and puts his hands up in the way. MIL has managed to get him to eat a few bites on a couple occasions when she'd been watching him long enough for him to be hungry. They say breastfed babies often won't accept a bottle from their mommy - I'm thinking Ben won't accept solids as long as he can choose breastmilk.

My goal is to nurse for at least two years, but I wasn't planning on breastfeeding exclusively for quite this long. I'm getting rather tired of my life revolving around nursing. However, I get comments every week from strangers about how well-fed ds looks so I don't think he's suffering. He's a very cautious child and doesn't take unnecessary risks. I was sure he was never going to walk, but at 15.5 months, he finally did. But put him in a room in a new situation and he watches for a long time before he decides to participate. He watches us eat and occasionally wants to touch our food. He also has started putting things in his mouth - he didn't do that until about six weeks ago. I'm trying really hard to be patient and let him start solids when he's ready. I haven't heard of kids going much past 18 months on breastmilk exclusively, but it seems every time I ask about it, those people don't exist and I just get answers from people who are horrified that I'm still breastfeeding, nevermind exclusively.

[pmcgary]

I agree with everything already said. My 3 kids were all fed differently with solids....My last wasn't really into eating until probably 7 mos. And she wanted absolutely NOTHING to do with baby food. It had to have texture or she wouldn't eat it.

I know of a lot of babies that didn't eat solids until their first b-day....And the fringe benefit is they don't generally NEED baby food at all...

I would say that the risk of allergies would trump all other concerns....Assuming of course that the baby is growing and gaining weight. (Although probably not at the rate shown on the charts normed on formula fed babies!)

[whitecalx]

They are uneducated! :getu

12 months, at least, of only breastmilk is fine. Some kids go even longer. dd had oral problems and didn't eat any solids until she was 21 months old. She was perfectly healthy. She had a low iron score but still in the normal range.

[imonion]

Ditto all of the above. DS Anthony was almost exclusively bfed for 14 months--he just had an issue w/ the texture of food. He was very slow to start solids. He eats fine now, and has developed great. (He's 4)

[mommomrebecca]

Oh, What a relief! This is all what I thought, but was getting nervous from all the "professional" opinions I got. The pediatric gastroenterologist actually told me I was "starving him to death"!!!! I know he was sick, but he was still 20 pounds at his smallest, after losing 4 pounds over a week's time. And he has gained most of it back in 4 days with only breastmilk. This boy seems well fed to me!

[mommomrebecca]

Also...I'm giving him about a tsp of carrots with his lactobacillus each day now since it doesn't dissolve and he needs it to replace the bacteria the antibiotics destroyed, and he just tries to nurse it. You know, with his tongue out? I think it's so cute. It makes me love him more, if that's even possible.

[marnie]

Maya had really bad reflux for the first 14 months of her life. though i tried solids at all the stages they tell you to try them, she only vomited them back up again, and never would take a bottle. so she was BF exclusively until she was about 15 months when she nibbled a few teaspoons of vanilla pudding with mashed banana in it for about a month. Slowly she started eating a few other things here and there and now, at 19 months, eats more than many of her peers. She still nurses well and neither of us have any plans for stopping any time in the near future.

i was told (by my wonderful pediatrician) to BF as much and as often as possible as one of the few things that could speed repair of her stomach lining and esophagus was breastmilk. Her esophagus was worn very thin in a few spots and there was danger of it perforating, but it healed naturally with loads of nursing. She was also under homeopathic care but was only taking calcium to help regulate the digestion of the acid, not any medications to speed tissue repair. we were very concerned that she would be tube-fed, but in the end, with the help of our doctor, we proved again that mamma's milk beats chemical intervention.

she's always been healthy as a horse (except for the reflux) until she started eating more foods than BM. oh well.

edited to add: after 12 months, a baby's body metabolized iron in a different way that it did as an infant. It is common for a toddler to be anemic, and even a breast fed toddler often does not get enough iron (BM has a different kind of iron in it than is found in meats and dark leafy veggies - it is easily digested but that means it's great for a little baby but passes right through the system of an older baby). My ped does a blood test for iron levels at 18 months and says that an iron supplement is often required for a baby whose diet is more milk than solids.

[hunnybumm]

I just want to chime in and agree that you are doing what is right for your family. My little sister has cerebral palsy, when she was a baby she wouldn't/couldn't eat anything. My stepmom nursed her until she was 1 1/2 and 95% if not 100% of her intake was brestmilk. My stepmom weaned and that is when the feeding tubes started. They struggled with her for a good 4+ years having to use a feeding tube almost daily.

I know this is a pretty extreme case compared to your baby but she was thriving for a year and a half and went drastically down hill for literaly years after that. That in it's self helped comfirm how awesome and nurishing breastmilk is.

P.S. My sister is 17 1/2 now and thriving quite well, she has always been very skinny, but that is just the way she is. ;)

[CheekyMamaof2]

I just wanted to add my thoughts :) You are doing just fine mama!
My boy was exclusively breastfed until he was 10 months old, and even after that a tablespoon of food...maybe twice a day sometimes. Hes 15 months old now, and eating something in the morning, (usually a handfull of "o" cereal, and an evening meal (maybe a half cup of smooched whatever-we-are-eating) He still nurses several times throughout the day, and has no additional milk or juice. He's a great big boy too...30 pounds. :) You are doing a great job.

[abigailvr]

One more voice of encouragement for you, Rebecca! My DS also has food allergies and wasn't much interested in food until about 18 months.

From everything that I've read, you're doing the right thing. Nursing does protect their stomachs against food allergies!

[amyrobynne]

My nearly nine month old has only recently shown much interest in solids. We started giving him bananas when he was six months old because he was 22 lbs and passed all the "are you ready" tests, but he was over 8 months before he seemed happy to be eating. Now I give him tidbits of whatever I'm eating, but the vast majority of his nutrition comes from breastfeeding.

[pageta]

On the iron thing...I asked my ped about it at a year. I've read on kellymom.com and been told by LCs that the iron in breastmilk is absorbed just find and in sufficient amounts until solids are begun and then the solids interfere with the iron absorption. Our ped just wanted to know if I was concerned about iron levels. I told him I wasn't and why, and he said Ben may have some anemia, but unless it's really slowing him down, he isn't concerned about it. Our ped said he'd run a test if I wanted him to but otherwise wasn't concerned. If ds has anemia, I certainly haven't noticed. Granted, he isn't as high energy as some toddlers, but his personality is a lot like his daddy's and dh wasn't high energy either. DH was known to sit on a blanket for 2 hours and happily play with whatever toys he could reach. BIL was a different story.

I am glad this topic came up. With what everyone has said, I feel much better about ds not being very interested in food. If MIL can get him to eat a little, I'm fine with that, but I'm not going to force him to take it from me. I don't want him to have issues with food later in life. He is a very cautious child, and food sensitivities do run in dh's family (though dh and BIL were both fed formula) so there's probably a reason why ds isn't much interested in food. He's been walking for over a month and still looks like a chunky monkey so I think he's doing just fine.

[mhurst]

Charlie was EBF until he was 6 months and is still nursing at 2 (and going strong to my dismay sometimes :nut ).

We did give him iron supplements, but more because I am anemic so I was concerned that I couldn't provide enough iron. We probably only used the drops for a few months.