Sep 09 2008
Introduce solid to breastfed babies
I breastfed my 2 kids 100%, without any supplements including clear water or fruit juice, etc until they were 6 months old.
When they reached 6 months old or so, I started to introduct solid, but faced with some challenges. I lately found that these challenges seem to be quite common to other mothers!
My lactating consultant told me that I should breastfeed till baby first, then only offer solid. I find it really hard to know when to stop them breastfeeding before give solid. It is not like bottle feeding when you can reduce the amount slightly. Most often, when we breastfeed, it will be feeding till full and the baby automatically let go.
Feeding directly from the ’source’ can also be very comforting that the baby tend to fall asleep afterwards.
Giving cereal at this stage would be really challenging because:
- The baby’s stomach is full with milk
- The baby is usually sleepy or even fall asleep!
I think whilst theoretically it is logic (to ensure baby continue to have enough nutrients from breast milk), it is hard to implement.
So, what I did was the other way round. I gave cereal first. Started with just 1 or 2 spoons, just for them to lick and play with, coz they didn’t know how to swallow when they begun. Then only gave breast milk. It was much easier this way! Well, I don’t think they drank less breast milk with it.
Also, to help them like eating cereal, I used my expressed milk instead of water, when prepared (mixed) the cereal.
One key to this is, to prepare small portion at a time, because somewhat with breast milk, the cereal becomes ‘watery’ very fast. The moment it is prepared, it looks with just the right consistency. But after just 1 min, it can be very watery and fussy babies would reject.
I also grind some Quaker Oats (Instant) into powder and added them into the cereal. When added the oats powder, the consistency would be maintained for a longer time, and it added more fibres and nutrients. 
Even now, we occassionally would eat oats for breakfast.
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Me too. I find giving an oz of solid before bf helps ease them into solids better.
Yeah I think all BF momma will find this way easier. I fed Megan 1 or 2 spoon of solid food such as smashed sweet potato, some fruit puree just to help her adjust with solid food taste and texture then continued to bf her.
But I never like idea of using instant oat for babies, from some source I read, instant oat tend to contain more sodium then regular or original oat. So, for Megan, I blend or grind original Lowan oat or Quaker oat to powder, then cook it for her with some breast milk.
Well I think it’s just the matter of preference though
Kids are always a chanenge no child is alike they like different things and know different things there behavior is different. Kids are funny no one will never know what they will like next
allthingspurple: You too? Good to know I’m not the only one doing this.
elwi: Thanks for educating the sodium thingy. Never thought of that, never knew that. But, when you cook it with breast milk, wouldn’t the antibody dies? We normally only warm up the ebm, not to cook it directly.
Kim Moss: You are right, and we have to just keep on experimenting until we find a way suitable for them!
I never cooked oatmeal with milk or breastmilk because I thought the heat will destroy all the nutrition in them. I cook with plain water and cook it thick then when I’m going to eat or feed them to Megan, I just mix them with milk or breastmilk.
This way I can cook oatmeal previous then just add warm milk in it to get warm meal
elwi: oh, i see. I thought you cooked the oatmeal with milk. :p Thanks for expaining.