how many solely nursed their baby for the first year?

[Ariella]

just was wondering how many solely nursed their babes for the 1st year? my baby is now a little over 7 months old and i have been solely nursing her the whole time. anyway, i am starting to get a lot of comments now on why she has not had any solids yet! what would you say? she is getting big and thriving so i really dont know why the issue. with my son i sadly started him on solids (mainly raw though) at 5 months. so it was a lot different for him. although i continued to nurse him until 16 months. my 2nd baby, my daughter, i would like to go for as long as she would like to go and solely nurse her for the 1st year. well if anybody has any ideas on what to tell people i would sure love to hear them!

thanks!

Ariella

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[Matilda]

Hi Ariella,

I basically solely nursed both of my children for the first year. Around 7 or 8 mo., I started to introduce a few simple foods. But neither of them had any interest in eating it. They both shortly after they turned one, went from zero interest in food....to total interest.
I say congratulations on giving your baby the best food possible.
I use to get comments from people on my breastfeeding my first after she was a couple of months old. Like I should only do it for a couple weeks than start popping a bottle in her mouth. I just blew them off, because there was no way they could convince me that formula was just as good as breastmilk.

Anyway...I know I didn't answer your questions on how to deal with peoples questions. Just wanted to say you are not alone.
My son is 21mo. old, and I am still breastfeeding him.

[eachpeachpearplum]

Ditto EVERYTHING Matilda said! My son is 20 months and he is a raw food kid from the first and I am still breast feeding.

So hang in there and listen to your instinctsand you baby! Mother knows best!

[cpinokc]

Hi, Ariella!!!

Here's my history with introducing solids: My oldest started solids at 4 months old because I thought that's what I was supposed to do, plus I thought it might help his collick. Boy was I so uninformed about good nutrition and really didn't care at the time!

With my daughter I wanted to wait a whole year, but at 6 months I started hearing it from friends, family and the doctor "She really needs to eat solids.....she can't get enough nutrients from breast milk alone after 6 months." Now who was the most misinformed??? I tried, just from all the pressure, to give her solids, but she was not interested at all. I didn't want to force it on her, so I stopped offering after a few bites. I tried again at 7 months, and she was still not interested at all! The pressure was growing quickly, but by this time I decided to quit taking her to the doctor for checkups and just do what I felt was best. She started solids at 9 1/2 months, which was just within a few days of her getting her first tooth! By that time she was showing more interest and able to handle it better. I strongly believe that teeth are a sign that they are able to handle solids. My oldest didn't get his first tooth until 17 months!!!

My 3rd was almost identical to the 2nd. He started solids around 9 months, which was just a few days before he got his first tooth. I was getting pressured a little bit before that to start him on solids, but I wasn't going to let anyone get to me this time. He's never been to the doctor, but the nurse got onto me for not giving him solids at 7 months when my oldest son was at the doctor's office for a broken arm!!! I honestly just wanted to slap her and say, "Excuse me, he's my kid, and my THIRD kid at that! I think I know what I'm doing here!!!" But, I held my tongue.

If I had to do it over again, first of all I would have tried to increase my milk suppy (which probably won't be a problem while raw), but if I still noticed a huge drop in energy levels like I did and could not increase the amount of milk, I would have either started supplementing or started solids 2-4 weeks earlier.......ONLY because by 9 months they both seemed to not have much energy. Other than the energy level, I would've kept going as long as they were satisfied on breast milk alone.

I know you really listen to your own body when it comes to what you need, and I'm sure you do the same thing with your mothering. God has given us instincts that are very useful to us!!! Just follow your motherly instincts, and I know you'll do what is best for you and your daughter. ;)

Cindy

BTW, I am pregnant with number 4 now, and I am planning to work extra hard to go for at least a year of breast feeding alone. I'm not going to be tied down to that.....I will watch for signs of readiness from the baby, but I'm going to aim for a year or more. :)

[firefaery]

My daughter nursed exclusively for the first 16 months. She wasn't crazy about eating in general until she was 20 months old.

[firefaery]

Sorry, I hit reply prematurely! Breastfeeding is the optimal food for the baby's first year. In fact it is not uncommon in some areas for babues ti be exclusively breastfed for the first two years. Biologically speaking, babies are born with a leaky gut, and it's the colostrum and BM that helps fill in the gaps. It can be very damaging to introduce solids, specifically grains and dairy before one year. To play it safe, I always recommend that if a babe is interested try fruits and veggies exclusively until a year. Then you can think about grains (soaked). HTH

Elisabeth

[Ariella]

thanks for the encouragement & info. sometimes it just gets challenging being the one always "bucking the norm" and not really having a very strong support system locally anyway.

elisabeth : where did you get the info regarding leaky gut? i had not heard that before.

we dont really eat any grains at my house anyway, usually just one night per week

she does have 2 teeth & is getting 2 more, but she is not acting lethargic or anything. she has a lot of energy & spunk ;) she just has several food allergies though - stuff that i can't eat or it upsets her tummy and she gets cranky and constipated.

Anyway! thanks again for all the encouragement i sure appreciate it :)

Ariella

[Ginger]

I did for just over a year, maybe 2-3 months. She is 3 & still going!

[tinkinpink]

The number one thing I recomend is getting a doctor that suports you. This helped so much when I would get asked why I wouldn't let my 12 month old have cake ect. It is just plain not healthy to be eating sweets (or any solids, or formula for that matter but don't get me started on that one) especially before they even have all there teeth. Also do your research and find facts that suport your choice and then when people ask you have all the medical knowledge and doctors help they will pretty much leave you alone. At least this worked for me. (It also helps if your babys are cubby as mine were.)

[Helen Of Tennessee]

My daughter's son didn't start to eat solid foods until he was 11 months old. At 5 months she did offer him some mashed bananas, but he wasn't interested. She would periodically try something but he never ate until he was 11 months. He's 2 1/2 years old now and quite healthy!!!!! She nursed him 27 months.

[coolchalk]

With my first two babies, I did just about what every mom in america does. With my third, I didn't feed her solids until she was 9-10 months - and it was only mashed up fruit on occasion. Her teeth didn't come in until she was 10 months. She wasn't really interested in food until after her first year. She breastfed for 20 months.

With my fourth, I solely breastfed him for about 12-13 months, then introduced the mashed-up fruits. Banana, avocado and watermelon work great for beginning foods. He's still nursing as of now at 23 months. I'm 2 months pregnant with my fifth baby and still debating whether I should wean him as I did with my daughter at 20 months. The idea of tandem nursing doesn't seem to bother me as much as it used to.

Amy :)

[coolchalk]

I forgot to mention that I had absolutely no problems with the pediatrician with my fourth baby, because I finally realized by that point that the visits were unnecessary. If you think about it, the only reason you go is to check on growth and other habits, which of course the doctor will criticize if it's not what he thinks it should be. The other reason is shots, which is what I'm trying to avoid for my future children, so I haven't had to deal with doctors since there was no real reason to go. If people ask, I change the subject discretely. I don't "advertise" our belief system, just because I choose to avoid these subjects knowing that most people will not agree. If they don't know, it's not a problem. My husband believes we should get shots, but he hasn't urged me to get them for our fourth yet, and I hope he "forgets" about the subject completely. LOL It will be the same with our fifth baby if I can help it.



Amy :)

[mommamia]

I nursed my dd until she was 1...I think around 7 mos. I introduced banana's which she was ambivilant towards. My mom and others pushed rice cereal/cow's milk etc cause they thought she'd sleep better or thru the night "with something in her stomach"~~I know babies who nurse who sleep thru the night so that wasn't really the issue~~ at any rate with people I didn't know well, I just shrugged off their questions and said "oh, really?" to any advice then changed the subject. To family and close friends I just asked them to tell me why they thought it was so important to introduce food so fast.....alot of thoughts people have are very outdated. I put the onus on them. I once asked someone to gather me info to support her statements and I would be happy to consider it. People just talk to talk sometimes. If they're really worried about you and your childs health they'll follow thru w/info and quit nagging.

Chart your own course and don't give in!

[theresaann]

I had both my kids at home (after a career in the medical field, and seeing what goes on "behind the scenes", the hospital was the LAST place I wanted to be...) and nursed them both pretty much exclusively the first year. My first nursed until almost 3, and my second nursed until about 4 1/2 altogether. So altogether I was nursing for basically 7 years straight. It was AWESOME for them. THey are both very intelligent (breast milk fat builds strong neurons), know they are loved, and are loving people. they also were both not vaccinated.

I am WAY into attachment parenting. I feel so sorry for moms who dont' care about nursing or really bonding with their kids and dont' trust themselves to know what's best for their babies. But I feel MORE sorry for their kids. I see kids all over the place with emotional issues from not bonding well with mom. I love it when new moms say they are going to attachment parent and breastfeed on demand long term-I feel like I breathe a sigh of relief for that little person they brought into the world!