Mythbusters: 4 Myths About Starting Solids

I have a background in education. One of the things that frustrated me most as a teacher was when I encountered families who had received bad advice from other teachers. This shouldn't be all that surprising though. Teachers today are burdened with unrealistic expectations from administration and the state, not to mention standards that change more rapidly than a growing toddler.

I am not a medical professional, so I don't presume to know better than my pediatrician. However, if  the field of healthcare is anything like teaching, then it's possible that the everyday demands of the job may prevent some doctors from keeping up to date with current research and AAP recommendations. This is why I think it's important for parents to do their research (which is not the same as one Google search) when it comes to making decisions about the health of their child. In this post I'll provide a few links to get you started, but please understand that I am not an expert and there is a lot more information out there!

Click here to use the AAP's interactive infant timeline

The American Academy of Pediatrics currently recommends that parents introduce solid foods into their baby's diet when s/he is about 6 months old. On their website they remind parents that "babies who start eating solid food too early are more lilkely to be overweight or obese in childhood and adulthood." They also recommend introducing a variety of tastes and textures and encouraging self-feeding early on.

In spite of the AAP's efforts to communicate these current guidelines, there are a few pervasive myths out there regarding baby's first solid foods.

Myth #1: My baby is hungry and breast milk isn't enough.

Evidence shows: Breast milk contains all nutrients baby needs up until 6 months.
The AAP states time and again that breast milk is the best source of nutrition for babies up until they are one year old. At around 6 months when baby's iron stores begin to dwindle, introducing solid foods rich in iron is a great way to supplement his nutritional needs. But a baby's need for iron may be impacted by factors like birth weight, gestational age at birth, etc. So if you have a healthy, typical baby who isn't a huge fan of solid foods at 6 months, keep offering those solids, but keep offering the breast as well. It's likely that she will come around when she is ready without her health suffering.

There are some periods of time early in baby's life when he may be going through growth spurts and doing lots of cluster feeding. Frequent feeding is not necessarily a sign that baby isn't getting enough. If you are concerned, see an IBCLC to do a weighed feed (do not rely on pump output to tell you how many ounces baby is consuming!) and ask for advice. This timeline of a breastfed baby has some excellent guidance to help you know what is "normal" as baby grows and develops.

Myth #2: My baby needs solid food to sleep through the night.

Evidence shows: There isn't a link between feeding baby solids and longer stretches of sleep at night.

One study specifically found that rice cereal feedings before bedtime had no discernible impact on infant sleep duration at night. In fact, research has shown that introducing solids too early may make your baby sleep less! Dr. Gold, a pediatrician in Brooklyn, told the New York Times that infant sleep often has less to do with hunger and more to do with learning how to sleep. If you're a haggard mommy zombie who's desperate for some infant sleep guidance, try reading this or this.

Myth #3: My baby can only eat bland purees at 6 months.

Evidence shows: Different babies prefer different kinds of food.

Age-old solids introduction probably looked like a mix of purees and finger foods. Baby-led weaning (BLW) is on the rise today with more parents introducing their baby to solid finger foods before first using purees. Skeptics of BLW are often leery of choking episodes. Whether you choose to do BLW or not, be sure to look up procedures for infant choking. I keep the picture below on my phone, desktop, and have a printout close by for ease of mind. The point is, babies love exploring new foods and textures. It can take  up to 10-15 tries before a baby will accept a new food, so if she refuses, offer again a few days later, and repeat!

Both images courtesy of American Heart Association

Myth #4: Delaying solids can lead to [insert malady here].

Evidence shows: Evidence shows: Delaying solids until at least 6 months benefits mom and baby.  Not all babies are ready to eat solid food at 6 months.

More moms today are realizing that delaying the introduction of solids until at least 6 months has many benefits. What confuses many parents in US black-and-white culture is that guidelines are not intended to be hard and fast rules because every baby is the same, but at the same time marvelously different. We introduced solids to my daughter at 6 months, but she did not really become interested in eating any of them until closer to 10 months. During this time I had moments when I worried, but I tried to remind myself that she was developing at her own pace. Now she is 13 months old and healthy as she's ever been. She attacks broccoli, enchiladas, and blueberries with great gusto and it's rare that she refuses a particular food.

Some are concerned that a baby's delayed interest in solids could lead to speech and fine motor delays. This speech and language pathologist shares her take on BLW and how it has some overlap with an SLP's perspective on feeding.



Like I said before, do some research. If you find some method or philosophy that resonates with you, keep reading! Don't limit your explorations to only reading studies, blogs, and articles that agree with you. As you widen your search and learn about feeding (or parenting in general!) you will learn to differentiate between people who are experts and those who are blowing smoke, and you will ultimately learn to trust yourself.

Increasing Your Milk Supply

 

What ways do you use to increase your milk supply?

4 Myths Busted

My adventure in breastfeeding started about three years ago when I started working as a night RN in the newborn nursery. There were no night shift lactation consultants at my hospital and most of the time, since company was gone for the day and things had settled down, night shift was the perfect time for first-time breastfeeding moms to ask for coaching. It was also the time that breastfeeding moms wanted to give up and get sleep. I took on the challenge, even though I had never breastfed, and instantly fell in love with lactation. During my journey of trying to conceive and pregnancy loss then finally my pregnancy with C, I was envious of all of the breastfeeding mothers. All I wanted to do was nurse my own baby and I prayed that all of the advice I gave new moms over the years was worth taking!

Working in the hospital with new moms during their first few days, I hear so many reasons why moms don't think they can nurse right away, exclusively, or at all. Here are some of the most common myths - busted.

I can't squeeze anything out so my baby isn't getting anything.

If only we could be so lucky! Most women aren't blessed with the ability to squirt milk across the room right after the cord is cut (and yes, I actually say that at the bedside because I'm awesome like that). It takes time and effort to establish supply.

Think of it as breast milk economics. Create the demand for a supply and generally it will come.

It can take 4-10 days to beef up milk supply to the point of feeling full or that milk has come in. Even after this period, it is normal to have highs and lows of production throughout the day, so don't be discouraged if you see colostrum dripping out during the first feeding and not the second or more commonly, morning and nighttime feedings.

Check out my next post for yummy recipes and ways to modify your diet to help increase supply!

My baby is in a low weight percentile so I need to supplement with formula to help him gain.

In the words of my son's pediatrician, someone has to be down there! Anywhere from the 1-99 percentiles is considered normal. If a baby is below the 1st percentile or starts dropping weight rapidly, that can be cause for concern, but some babies just gain slower than others and that's OK.

Exhibit A - My son's growth chart

He was consistently under the lowest little line but thanks to a great pediatrician, supportive family, and a hint of genetic stubbornness, we are now 9.5 months into our breastfeeding relationship without supplementing and he is now in the 31st percentile for weight and 69th for height. We are lucky to have a great pediatrician who told us that C would just follow his own curve and around 6 months he was expecting him to shoot up - that's exactly what happened.

Usually, as long as baby is having adequate wet diapers and not showing any signs of dehydration or other distress, even with slow weight gain, exclusive breast milk feeding is the way to go.

I have sensitive nipples. 

Oh yeah? Me, too!

Can it hurt a little in the beginning? Yes. Should it hurt the whole time? No.

If the latch is good, (which is a topic on the shelf for another day) it should not hurt for the entire duration of your breastfeeding relationship. A good way to initially check a latch is to assess if your baby is tugging or biting. It should feel like a strong tug so if it feels like a bite, break suction, start over and get the nipple deeper in the mouth until you feel a tug. This helps alleviate a lot of tenderness in the early days.

A question I get asked often by mothers experiencing tenderness is if it goes away. I'd love to tell you it does but the jury is still out. Does it go away or do we just toughen up and get used to it? 

Regardless, that wincing, piercing, OMG-why-am-I-doing-this feeling should subside in the first week or so. In the meantime, air out your nipples, wear gel pads, use lanolin cream, coconut or olive oil and ensure that your baby has a good latch.

My baby is hungry an hour after I nurse. There's no way he's getting enough.

The simple answer: You and your baby are designed to grow at the same rate. As long as you exclusively breastfeed, baby's tummy and your supply will grow together. In the first few days, when you just have colostrum -aka liquid gold- baby will probably want to eat small, frequent feedings and as milk gradually gets more calorie dense, there may be longer stretches between feedings.

Baby's tummy probably isn't going to be bigger than a marble on the day of birth and it will gradually increase in size.

As baby sucks more, mom will produce more, then baby's tummy will grow. If a bottle is introduced in these early days, baby will suck it down really fast and it is super easy so the tummy will expand faster than mom's supply can catch up.



What myths, wives' tales, or opinions did you have to combat in the early days of your breastfeeding relationship? Were you able to bust or overcome them?

Keep calm and nurse on, mamas. Til next time...