Solid help...afraid she will wean early and FTM

[@llli*mcmacmommy]

I have started solids at 5.5 months (even though my pediatrician said to start at 4 months I waited). I have tried to get answers from the local lactation consultants but have gotten the run around to call back two times. I exclusively breastfeed on demand (5 to 11 times a day sometimes) when I am home with my baby and tell my family caregivers to feed her when she is hungry on demand as well while I work part time 4.5 hrs. I feel like since starting solids my baby is not nursing like she used to especially at the last feed at night (not sure how much milk I had anyways by that point but now I can pump right after putting her to bed and get over two ounces where as before I would get barely one and have to wait an hour or more to get that much). I normally pump about 4-5 oz when at work. I breastfeed before giving solids but am wondering if I give too much solids(I know it should be complimentary not replacing bm)...we are at 3 tbs two times a day of cereal and little veggie at the night solids feeding. She will be 6 months next week. I am worried she will wean early but am also worried because she was drinking so much milk (10 ozs) while I was at work part time(4.5 hrs) and afraid I will not be able to keep up. Sould I feed her less times in a day? Less ounces of cereal? Or not worry about it? Please help as any advice would be greatly appreciated.

[@llli*evolvingmama]

... am also worried because she was drinking so much milk (10 ozs) while I was at work part time(4.5 hrs) and afraid I will not be able to keep up. Sould I feed her less times in a day? Less ounces of cereal? Or not worry about it? Please help as any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Welcome to the forum!

Yes, 10 ounces is WAY too much to be feeding her while you are at work for 4.5 hours. The general guideline is 1-1.5 oz/hour. So, in your case, 4.5-6 oz is all that would be needed. If you are pumping 4-5 ounces while you are away, that should absolutely be sufficient for that time period. The first thing I'd do is have a talk with the caregivers about how they are feeding her and why she is getting so much. My guess would be that they are interpreting any fussing as a demand for food, so it would be good to give them some more ideas about things to try to settle her, besides feeding her. And, I would leave the 4-5 ounces in two smaller bottles. There is also information here (http://kellymom.com/bf/pumpingmoms/f...ottle-feeding/) that may be helpful for them to read (there is even a handy PDF for you to print for that purpose).

With regard to the baby food, I have really no idea is 3Tbls is a lot of a little--we did BLS, so I don't have a real sense of what he was eating, quantity-wise. As you said, it really isn't important that babies take in much (any) solids. BM is there primary source of nutrition (or, as the saying goes, "solids for fun before they're one"). I'm sure others will have more advice on this particular subject.

How close to the last nighttime feed are you giving her solids?

Have some more thoughts but LO just woke up....

[@llli*browncow]

I with pp. 10oz is WAY to much for 4 hours! The AAP actually doesn't reccomend starting any solids until 6 months so... Don't worry about not following your dr.s reccomendation. If I were you I would ditch the rice cereal, it's just going to make baby full without adding any nutritional value. The only thing I ever used it for was to thicken DSs purees when he was a bit older. DD never had any at all. Also, at this age the MOST I was offering solids was once a day really it was once every couple of days. There's no rush, solids before 1 are for fun, and in reality many many babies are well past one before they eat significant quantities of solids. Have you looked into baby led solids? We've had a lot of success with it. Basically you don't give them anything they can't feed themselves. Good luck momma, keep us posted.