Weaning - resources?

[SusanneUK]

Hi all,

I've been McDougalling for years and have had my pregnancy and a very healthy, exclusively breastfed baby who is now 4 months old. She's thriving in every way!

It's about time I start thinking about her diet when we start introducing food. I plan to continue exclusively breastfeeding her to at least six months, and adding solids when she's interested. The first few months I expect will be quite straightforward as her main source of calories will still be breast milk.

But as she grows, towards the later part of her first year, I really feel like I need proper guidance and resources to make sure I'm doing this right. Health professionals will question me. Health Visitors official advice is that babies around one year should have 20oz. of dairy products (milk, cheese, yogurt) - now I can meet some of that by breastfeeding but likely not all; I guess it's calcium they're concerned about and I can't imagine my 1-year-old would take in loads of kale and other green veg like that...

Essentially what I'm asking is what is the right way to move a baby from breast to food, and are there any helpful sites or books I could check out?

Thanks

[jamietwo]

Congratulations! I'm so glad you're nursing your baby! I did too! I got involved with LLL when my child was a year-old and I realized he was nowhere near ready to wean. We nursed through the toddler years which gave me so much peace of mind about him getting the proper nutrition. I also found a lot of support at mothering.com (although this was several years ago). This is what Dr. McDougall has to say on the subject:

https://www.drmcdougall.com/misc/2012nl ... ildren.htm

Good luck!

[cena]

My personal advice as mom who breastfed my 10 kids:

Try to breastfeed longer than 6 months. For the best nutrition I went for at least a year, and most of my babies nursed to around 18 months to 2 years.

Around 6 months I gave them bites (little tastes) of food we were eating at our table, fruits and veggies. Mostly items that were already soft. They have no need to eat solids if they have no teeth. They were still nursing full time. Sweet potatoes, rice, oatmeal, white potatoes, bananas, avocados.

At 9 to 12 months we gave them more volume of solid food at out mealtimes, breakfast, lunch and dinner time. The rest of the time, pre-naps and pre-bedtime, and additionally when needed, I would nurse. They got plenty of both worlds and it is nutritionally sound.

After 12 months they ate when hungry from healthy foods, starches and fruits and vegetables. My kids got a little meat back in the day, but they mostly didn't prefer it. I nursed at naptime and bedtime for the most part.

They lost interest and were eating plenty of solid food by 18 months, and I mostly let them completely wean as they desired.

None of my kids had juice or any other milks/drinks except water. My kids started drinking water around the same age as eating more volume of solid food. From a cup, not a bottle.

I am a believer that breastmilk is the best food for babies. I believe early weaning is detrimental to sound nutrition. It is a natural progression to nurse and give solid foods for a year or 2. I do not believe any baby should be fed formula except for the emergency cases of none available. I don't believe that our human children should drink the milk of another species, that other milk is not designed for them. I also never fed my kids jarred baby food. My husband stated that HE would not want to eat canned food all day every day... this made sense to me.

Nursing longer means that they get the nutrition from what YOU are eating for a longer period of time. It's true that you will not necessarily get a child to eat large amounts of kale early on. But if you are eating your broccoli and greens, then so are they, if you are nursing. And as you give them little bites of greens and other foods (that they see you eating too) they will slowly eat more and more of it as the months go by.

If you plan on the possibility of being intimidated by a standard American diet pediatrician, find one who supports a vegan diet. Change doctors, and let them know why. As more and more parents want the support, it will become more available.

I hope you are blessed with wisdom and peace and happiness in the raising of your baby. Babies are awesome miracles.

[SusanneUK]

Thank you cena for this piece of eminently sensible common sense advice! It's a jungle out there with conflicting studies and health guidance and yet what you're saying is so simple and straightforward, coming from experience, you've just taken a big load off my shoulders! I have every intention of feeding her until she no longer needs it. Completely agree about formula, she's never had it and unless something horrible happens to me she never will.

I love that you bypassed bottles completely! Did you use sippy cups?

I'm in the UK where I don't get to choose my doctor; in theory all health professionals are required to provide only evidence based advice. Although I've heard stories of a health visitor who told a breastfeeding mum that after baby was 6 months her milk was no longer enough so she would have to give cows milk formula! That was a non vegan mum, if she'd told me this I'd have asked her to leave immediately!

Jamie thank you also for that link, that was a very helpful read. I've found LLL and I think their support will be key when mine gets to a year and beyond and the questions start, but I don't think they have much to say on vegan diets.

Thanks again both!

[cena]

I'm so glad you feel encouraged by us. I love this website! Yes, I put them onto sippy cups right off.