My pediatrician said no solids till 6 months, DS is 4 mos...should I try anyway??

Why do I feel like I'm the only one on here whose doc said 6 months? I told her that I know that some moms start at 4 but she said something about new guidelines and this is what they're going by now. I mean, I don't really care either way...I just thought that Shane was an excellent candidate for solids. He was 18 freakin lbs at his 4 month appt....he's CONSTANTLY nursing, the kid can't get enough. I thought solids would help him feel fuller and I guess I thought the ped. would agree. His gastro said that solids could aggravate his belly but that I could give it a try if my ped. gave the go-ahead.

So what would you do? Think i should start some cereal myself or follow drs orders??

Re: My pediatrician said no solids till 6 months, DS is 4 mos...should I try anyway??

I believe if you are EBFing, they recommend waiting til 6 months.

In addition, since he sees a gastro, who said to abide by the ped, I'd abide by the ped at this point.

Re: My pediatrician said no solids till 6 months, DS is 4 mos...should I try anyway??

I say if they gastro said it could aggravate his system and the pedi said hold off......Id wait. They usually know best and are basing their decisions on there medical knowledge and specific knowledge of your son. Weight doesnt necessarily have anything to do with beginning solids, its all about their digestive systems being mature enough to handle it. Id say wait, if that was the professional advice you were given.

Re: My pediatrician said no solids till 6 months, DS is 4 mos...should I try anyway??

There's no harm in waiting til 6 months, and a lot of peds recommend that, including mine. I started rice cereal at about 5.5 months, and nothing else until her 6 month well visit

Re: My pediatrician said no solids till 6 months, DS is 4 mos...should I try anyway??

i waited until 6 months with both DD's. ped said i could do whatever i wanted, but recommended 6 months. even if he said 4, i would have waited til 6...

Re: My pediatrician said no solids till 6 months, DS is 4 mos...should I try anyway??

I'm a big fan of do what feels right to you. ORIGINALLY I wanted to WAIT until 6 months to start solids with Alexa, the ped was pushing for 4 but was ok with me waiting until 6 mos.

Around 3.5 months her reflux started to get worse on the prevacid and at teh same time she started to show an interest in food. Her tongue reflex went away, she stared at us when we ate and tried to grab at her plates.

The GI specialist gave us 2 options to handle the current reflux flare up.
1) start her on cereal by mouth not in the bottle
2) ADD ANOTHER medication on TOP OF the prevacid. THis new medication had a few potential side effects I wasn't comfortable with some of which could be permanent neurological damage....

The GI specialist really pushed for the cereal because they don't like to use this other medication often.


We gave her the first bowl and she kept wanting more and more and didn't let a single drop escape her mouth


So I was comfortable with this decision.

Does he show any interest in food? DOes he still have his tongue reflex?

Re: My pediatrician said no solids till 6 months, DS is 4 mos...should I try anyway??

Re: My pediatrician said no solids till 6 months, DS is 4 mos...should I try anyway??

I waited until just before 6 months to start solids. DS takes the same amount of Bm in his bottles ay daycare and still nurses for just as long/often as before. I haven't noticed a difference. He still wakes up at night to nurse too. I also haven't noticed any difference with spitting up. You should do what you feel comfortable with.

Re: My pediatrician said no solids till 6 months, DS is 4 mos...should I try anyway??

Well your ped. is probably going by the guidelines of the AAP and the WHO, who both say a baby doesn't need solids until 6 months. Feeding them sooner has been linked to obesity, diabetes, and food allergies later in life. Babies have an open gut until around 6 months and can't properly digest the food. If your ped. has said to wait, you should wait, but that's obviously your call.

I just saw the tongue tie part..are you having it snipped?

Also, my DD spit up until she was over a year. Some babies are just spitters unfortunately

Message edited 6/23/2009 12:20:38 PM.

Re: My pediatrician said no solids till 6 months, DS is 4 mos...should I try anyway??

Posted by ruby

Posted by Blissful

Does he show any interest in food? DOes he still have his tongue reflex?

Yes, he shows an interest, he watches me put food in my mouth, it's funny actually. But tongue reflex, that's a whole nother issue. He was born with an attached frenulum...he's tongue tied, so his tongue doesn't necessarily work like it's supposed to anyway. Surprisingly, we didn't have any latching issues at all with BFing which is what usually happens with tongue-tied babies. But other than that there's no tongue reflex issue. His reflux is still bad though. His gastro upped his prevacid....he still spits up everywhere, ugh I just want him to grow out of this already. But back to solids, I just feel like it might be worth a try. Worse case scenario I feel will be that he'll react poorly in which case I'll stop. Maybe I'll compromise and wait a few more weeks and start when he's 5 months.

Re: My pediatrician said no solids till 6 months, DS is 4 mos...should I try anyway??

No, you aren't the only one waiting until 6 months. I did as well, mainly because there are allergies in our family.

I would wait till 6 unless you see some compelling reasons why he may need solids sooner. Especially if he has tummy problems, that might be why your doctor said to hold off.

Re: My pediatrician said no solids till 6 months, DS is 4 mos...should I try anyway??

My ped also said no solids until 6 months. I waited until a week after that. DD was EBF and there really was no need to start earlier, and plenty of reasons to wait until the 6 month mark.

In your case though, since your DS is being seen by a gastro and together with the ped they are telling you to wait, I would. No need to risk your DS's health and/or comfort level. I know my nephew had reflux issues and it took 5 weeks for the burn in his digestive track to heal.

Re: My pediatrician said no solids till 6 months, DS is 4 mos...should I try anyway??

Ok I'll wait. I think it's more that I feel like he's just constantly constantly hungry. I know at this point that the breast milk is all he NEEDS, but I was just thinking that he'd be less starving all the time (even with round the clock nursing) if he got something solid in him.

Re: My pediatrician said no solids till 6 months, DS is 4 mos...should I try anyway??

We waited until late 5 mths, only started with cereals too.

I would wait, absolutely, in your case.

Re: My pediatrician said no solids till 6 months, DS is 4 mos...should I try anyway??

I didn't ask my ped, but I'm pretty sure he would have said 6 months. that's what the american academy of pediatrics and WHO recommends.
4 months is what people were told years ago.

DS only started solids a week before he turned 6 months.

Re: My pediatrician said no solids till 6 months, DS is 4 mos...should I try anyway??

My ped also said to wait until DS was 6 mo. I read up on it and saw the reasons for waiting and I agreed. DS was EBF not sure if that matters. Honestly, what's the rush? I figured if it was healthier for him to wait no big deal. So he started eating solids two months later. Now he is 21 months old and eats everything just like everyone else.

Re: My pediatrician said no solids till 6 months, DS is 4 mos...should I try anyway??

don't feel rushed into it. We completely skipped baby food and went straight to soft table foods at 7 and 8 months old with our girls. There is no need to start so early.

Re: My pediatrician said no solids till 6 months, DS is 4 mos...should I try anyway??

My doc said to wait til 6 months too- I was expecting to be told to start her on cereal, but she said to wait.

You aren't the only one!

Re: My pediatrician said no solids till 6 months, DS is 4 mos...should I try anyway??

Normally I would say your the Mom, do what YOU want, Dr's are just there to provide guidelines in these types of situations...BUT b/c your child sees a gastro, well I would trust the judgement of the Dr. More in that situation.

Re: My pediatrician said no solids till 6 months, DS is 4 mos...should I try anyway??

My ped wanted to wait until 6 mos and DS was a very healthy weight and drank like a fish.
Being a 1st time mom, I took everything the doc said as gospel.
I *think* DS would have been fine on cereal at night, but since I didn't have twins and test my theory out on one, I can't be sure.
The longer you wait, the more their little tummy's develop and the less chance of allergies...or so "they" say.
The cereal police aren't going to come get you if you decide to give cereal. But the doc may have other reasons. You might want to question his reasons first.

The cereal has to be really soupy at first b/c its totally new to them. And make sure you have a camera and a bib b/c it will be a funny mess!!!

Re: My pediatrician said no solids till 6 months, DS is 4 mos...should I try anyway??

Posted by ruby

Posted by Blissful

Does he show any interest in food? DOes he still have his tongue reflex?

Yes, he shows an interest, he watches me put food in my mouth, it's funny actually. But tongue reflex, that's a whole nother issue. He was born with an attached frenulum...he's tongue tied, so his tongue doesn't necessarily work like it's supposed to anyway. Surprisingly, we didn't have any latching issues at all with BFing which is what usually happens with tongue-tied babies. But other than that there's no tongue reflex issue. His reflux is still bad though. His gastro upped his prevacid....he still spits up everywhere, ugh I just want him to grow out of this already. But back to solids, I just feel like it might be worth a try. Worse case scenario I feel will be that he'll react poorly in which case I'll stop. Maybe I'll compromise and wait a few more weeks and start when he's 5 months.

Re: My pediatrician said no solids till 6 months, DS is 4 mos...should I try anyway??

My ped said the same thing. This kid waas not having it. I started cereal in his bottle at 2mos, he is eating 3 solid meals a day now at 5months. there is NO WAY he would have waited. I told the ped at his 4 month what I was doing, she was fine with it. You know your child.

Re: My pediatrician said no solids till 6 months, DS is 4 mos...should I try anyway??

Depending what your DC is seeing the Ped GI for, my DD started at 4 months and here is what i think...
She is seeing a Ped GI too...well, it was too soon for most foods..she couldnt take it well and had tons of green stool..BUT, she was a hunger machine so what did work well was doing Oatmeal Cereal mixed with fruit...to this day, in the am she does cereal with peaches and loves it..plus, it sticks to them better...she just had a zillion reactions to the food early on and now at almost 7 months she is fine...but at 4-5 months, she just couldnt handle it..
My DD is huge in height and weight and she needed more..i would go cereal and then really slowly introduce foods etc...