Starting Solids
Posted by: LizzieI can’t bring myself to argue about this in person. I’ve tried my hardest to make light of this situation, but it all comes down to the fact that Simon is MY child. He is MY responsibility and so, it is MY decision whether or not he has anything other than MY breastmilk.
“It’s all a matter of opinion,” my mother-in-law says. She doesn’t know how dangerously wrong she is, even if her boys turned out to be healthy young men after she put cereal in their bottles at 2 months, and they were “chowing down” at 6 months. It’s not a matter of opinion, it’s a matter of fact. When Corey and Aiden were babies, they had an old school pediatrician that recommended juice & cereal at 4 months. We’ve since changed pediatricians, and I feel more comfortable with Dr. Miller. Not that I agree with everything he says, but at least he knows not to recommend anything but breastmilk until Simon is 6 months old.
Simon is now 5 months old. He’s fat & happy, healthy, and will reach for anything in front of him. If we’re at the dinner table, he reaches for my plate. If he’s sitting on my lap at the computer, he reaches for the keyboard. If he’s just being toted around, he reaches for my necklace. And simply because he’s putting everything in his mouth does not mean he’s hungry for solid foods!
It’s been researched and I’m exhausting every source I have. I’m this close to printing out medical papers and sending her every link I’m aware of just to prove my point. I’m at a place where I don’t even want to go over to her house for dinner because I know I’m going to hear, “I’d give you some if your mama wasn’t looking!” about five or six times before the night is over.
I don’t know how to talk about this with her. I hate confrontion, even if I know that in a few months, the subject will be moot.
Developmentally, Simon is not ready for solids. He’s not sitting up without support. Last week was his first time having Tylenol because he had his first fever, and even then, he spat it right out. There are no signs that he’s ready. I just don’t know how to make it more clear without getting on my soapbox.
Tags: breastfeeding, delayed solids, solid foods
