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I certainly hope new parents deliberating the early introduction of solids speak with the health care provider, and seek out reputable online resources rather than reading some of the gross misinformation posted here.
Anecdotal tales of "my kids were fine" do not take into account the fact that just because your children did not suffer any untoward effects from your practices, others did, you just weren't aware of it.
There is a wealth of information out there from reputable sources, please take anecdotal advice in this particular area with a great deal of caution.
Exactly. A Pediatrician is always your first source of information imo
I certainly hope new parents deliberating the early introduction of solids speak with the health care provider, and seek out reputable online resources rather than reading some of the gross misinformation posted here.
Anecdotal tales of "my kids were fine" do not take into account the fact that just because your children did not suffer any untoward effects from your practices, others did, you just weren't aware of it.
There is a wealth of information out there from reputable sources, please take anecdotal advice in this particular area with a great deal of caution.
This
It's a bit scary how much misleading info is being posted here...again, just because your children 'turned out fine' - doesn't mean the practice is safe for infants, maybe 9 out of 10 will be fine but the tenth baby whose parents will choose to follow this advice may develop some serious health problems...I'm sorry, a two week old's digestive track cannot, in any way, be ready for cereal...yes, babies survived and were 'fine' during war and famine and whatever else - that doesn't mean it's healthy! BFing every two hours is perfectly normal, even every hour, and if a woman has problems with bfing, that's why formula was invented!
Oh, and sorry, but a 3-4-5 month old does not know that they're ready for big people food just because they're chewing fists and grabbing stuff off the plate! My DS would gnaw on the remote control - does that mean I should've fed it to him?
Go ahead and flame me now for being an unsophisticated, unintuitive, fad-following parent
I had a cousin who was a La Leche League disciple, and her baby looked starved all the time - like a shriveled little old man. He was always screaming, and she had to nurse him practically every hour. She couldn't go anywhere or do anything - he was perpetually latched to her boob. I vowed then and there that NO WAY was I going to breastfeed. At six months, she grudgingly gave him some cereal, but I mean "grudgingly" because her La Leche mentor said not to - even though her doctor advised it. Her kids had a lot of food allergies (i.e. to dairy) and were frequently sick with ear infections. One had to have tubes in his ears.
Kids aren't necessarily one size fits all.
If the kid had a dairy allergy, that would explain the constant screaming and distress, especially if she didn't try eliminating dairy from her diet while bfing. The baby doesn't scream just because he's being bf'd rather than eating solids, that's such a ridiculous statement! Even more so, if the kids already had allergies and problems, you have to be even more careful and possibly delay introduction of solids even further, doing it earlier would not have helped anything except potentially put the infant at risk of major problems like GI bleeding. You're completely mixing up cause and effect here.
Delaying all food too long is going to cause allergies. Early exposure to antigens is good for kids, it doesn't mean that little ones need an 8 course meal, but as soon as they show interest in what everyone else is eating, they should get at least a taste.
If the infant is breastfed, then they are exposed to all of the foods through the mothers' milk. I've known mothers that had to lay off of certain foods themselves because their infant was found to those certain foods and showed up in the breast milk.
Breastfeeding every 2 hours is very normal for a newborn!
Did you not catch where I said my nipples were cracked and bleeding? I wanted to continue to breastfeed and was not going to be able to if my son kept wanting on every two hours. I had to let myself heal some in between.
He grew just fine and had no problems at all with watery (milky) rice cereal twice a day. He never had reflux problems and he has never had any food allergies.
You did things your way, I did them mine. Funny thing, all our kids grow and have to eat solids no matter when we started feeding them.
Did you not catch where I said my nipples were cracked and bleeding? I wanted to continue to breastfeed and was not going to be able to if my son kept wanting on every two hours. I had to let myself heal some in between.
He grew just fine and had no problems at all with watery (milky) rice cereal twice a day. He never had reflux problems and he has never had any food allergies.
You did things your way, I did them mine. Funny thing, all our kids grow and have to eat solids no matter when we started feeding them.
I did see that. My nipples were cracked and bleeding too, it sucks I know, but it still would have been better to give a bottle for a break than rice cereal, thats what I did until I bought some Lansinoh for my nipples (that healed them up nicely so I could feed as normal).
There is no rubber stamp for babies. Each situation, even in the same family can be vastly different. I don't compare, I always enjoyed hearing the differences in baby stories. Take what you need from each example, and ignore what you do not support. A good Parent is always going to try to do the right thing for their baby and considering all available theory's is part of that. No need to compete or dismiss another person's life experiences. Learn from them.
And, you all seem to be wonderful and caring parents...I'm very excited that there are so many folks that are so proactive and educating themselves. To me that is what the internet is all about, a this CD forum is a wonderful resource.
Has anyone ever started a 'delivery" thread...Now, that would be interesting too.
Last edited by JanND; 04-01-2013 at 06:58 AM..
Reason: edit text
I did see that. My nipples were cracked and bleeding too, it sucks I know, but it still would have been better to give a bottle for a break than rice cereal, thats what I did until I bought some Lansinoh for my nipples (that healed them up nicely so I could feed as normal).
Cracked and bleeding is usually indicative of a bad latch, which is fixable. I take it you were able to get a good latch?
There is no rubber stamp for babies. Each situation, even in the same family can be vastly different. I don't compare, I always enjoyed hearing the differences in baby stories. Take what you need from each example, and ignore what you do not support. A good Parent is always going to try to do the right thing for their baby and considering all available theory's is part of that. No need to compete or dismiss another person's life experiences. Learn from them.
I think the major take away is that individual anecdotal examples does not make for a great decision foundation for other parents. There is no down side to understanding how our actions increase or decrease risk to our children. While I am really grateful that my child "turned out fine" despite my neurotic feeding choices, it hardly makes my feeding choices a model for other parents.
If the kid had a dairy allergy, that would explain the constant screaming and distress, especially if she didn't try eliminating dairy from her diet while bfing. The baby doesn't scream just because he's being bf'd rather than eating solids, that's such a ridiculous statement! Even more so, if the kids already had allergies and problems, you have to be even more careful and possibly delay introduction of solids even further, doing it earlier would not have helped anything except potentially put the infant at risk of major problems like GI bleeding. You're completely mixing up cause and effect here.
It appears the referenced mom was taking her child to a pediatrician, so presumably all the above was investigated.
While I agree with JanND that CD is a wonderful resource, this is an example of when it's not so wonderful. I never cease to be amazed, even shocked sometimes, when people dole out the medical advice.
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