[purplekitty]

It will be interesting to see where further research leads.
Obviously allergists and immunologists believe the research is substantial enough to recommend the 4-6months introduction of solids.

[Tesseract]

And how long before research actually reaches the people giving it out, mchn's? My mchn told me to introduce solids at 16 weeks (not even 4 months!), but to avoid egg until 12 months! Sigh. I exclusively breastfed to 6 months then introduced whole egg straight away, best of both worlds?

[lucky 2]

Ha, that's it, start solids when baby starts to focus gaze and reach out for food and can actually get it in the mouth, and make egg a first food! Perfect idea Tesseract.
Or eat a lot of eggs when you are pregnant and bfing!
eta, I'm not saying to do this at all, just talking about it.
Did that study differentiate btn a exclusively bfed baby or babies fed other milks?
Nutrition is not an exact science, if babies can walk and talk at different ages why can we not see this aspect of development the same.

Tesseract, the Infant Feeding Guidelines have been under review for years as there hasn't been consensus with the "experts" and it looks like they are actually on their way. So it is hard to get to the "bottom line". I've been hanging out for them for years!
I have friends who are MCHN's, I'll ask what they are advised re introduction of solids, I think I have asked in the past and was told ? 4-6 months.

This post has been edited by lucky 2: 15/04/2012, 02:44 PM

[deejie]

There are parents who when told the so-called "new" recommendations are for 4-6 months will start solids with gusto at around 4 months (or earlier) and do put their infants at risk by displacing milk out of the diet too fast.

This. It is amazing the difference I have noticed in two mother's groups. First with DS1 where we were told recommendation is from 6months. This is what the vast majority did (couple of exceptions on medical advice). Now with DS2 we were told from 4 months. Of the 10 in mother's group, 6 have been started on solids at 4 months purely because of the guidelines rather than looking for individual signs.

As someone with one allergic (and I suspect two allergic from the amount of eczema on DS2) children, I am as interested in allergy prevention as anyone. I suspec though it has more to do with not delaying key foods rather than anything & everything goes at 4 months. By the fact that my two are also exclusively BF, I also know genetics plays a stronger role than many give it credit for.

[bottle~rocket]

I have always thought there should be more than one guideline re introduction of solids, one for babies who are being fed in the biologically normal way (breast milk), those who are combination fed and those who are exclusively formula fed. Each of these groups of babies are different, have had different diets and different need.

I have wondered about this, perhaps the NHMRC thinks this would make the message too complicated for parents? It might also be sensitive issue, highlighting the differences between breastfeeding and formula feeding?

Baby-led weaning has always seemed to make perfect sense to me (even though we didn't do it!) The baby determines the type and the amount of food he/she consumes and thus is exposed to different foods (and potential allergens) as soon as they are developmentally ready to do so.

[Pooks*potters]

Right. So I saw something about this on the telly. Is it recommended to hold off til 6 months purely to preserve breast feeding? That's what it sounds like but I could be missing something, I'm tired. If so, what about formula fed babies? Or have I already failed him nutritionally so further failures don't matter so much? Argh, I'm in a cranky mood, aren't I?

[meggs1]

I've linked the WHO publication.

I think for a big western bub with access to clean safe food and water the reasons for delaying solids until after 6 months don't outweigh the benefits in allergy prevention in gently starting in the 4-6 month window, depending on individual readiness.

http://whqlibdoc.who.int/paho/2003/a85622.pdf

[brazen]

actually a lot of the allergy studies around atm are suggesting that introducing potential allergens is best done between 4 & 6 months while baby is still mostly breastfed. my understanding is that's the reason for the move back to 4 months (but not with food as the main source of nutrition - just introduced before 6 months)

[lucky 2]

You don't sound too cranky, sorry you are feeling tired and stressed pookems.
I didn't watch anything on TV, just saw the article above.
The intention of solids at 6 months is to reassure parents that breast milk alone is "enough" nutritionally until around 6 months.
That can be a tough sell at times, parents can worry and when there is such conflicting information out there it is confusing.
The WHO and feeding guidelines consider the evidence of the adequacy of breast milk and during a review (as at present) they will consider all available information including allergy issues/concerns.
But remember that babies become developmentally ready to try solids at around this age so you do the same when you are formula feeding.
Introducing solids into your baby's diet can be an exciting time for both baby and parents and a great opportunity to add other nutritious foods to the diet, it's a positive, not a negative no matter how your baby is fed.
Take it easy on yourself pookems, nothing to be gained by thrashing yourself, best wishes to you.

[Champion83]

For us, DS showed signs of being interested in food and being ready to start solids at almost 4 months. So we tried him on a bit of puree and haven't looked back.

He has a breastfeed at his regular time then either some rice cereal or pureed fruit/veg. His main meal is breastmilk and he has not shown any signs of weaning off the breast. He still loves his breastmilk. I see food as a complement not a replacement for milk.