That is a silly question. Of course we feed our babies (though some people would argue against feeding in my situation, which blows my mind, but whatever). What I'm referring to is whether or not to start solids with the big man over here.
He has reached a whopping 17 pounds in a mere 3 1/2 months - he's a porker. When I discuss our night-feeding woes and people comment that he might be hitting a growth spurt, I giggle inside... his entire life seems to have been one big growth spurt! Of course they may very well be right - even giant babies grow at varying rates. It's just difficult to imagine him growing any faster than he has! Anyway, being a bigger baby, it makes sense that he would get hungry a lot and eat a lot. But for the longest time, he really didn't seem to get hungry at night. From about 7 weeks until about 14 weeks, he was sleeping through the night like a champ and we were spoiled rotten parents. It started out with about 5-6 hour stints and by 8 weeks it was consistently 7-8 hour stints, with an occasional 9. As I've outlined in previous posts, he would sleep from 10:30-11:30ish until 6:30-7:30ish, and after a diaper change and feeding would sleep again until 9ish, sometimes even 10!
As I mentioned in my last post, Eli has started waking up in the middle of the night to nurse, and we're just about back to newborn pace - up every 2-3 hours (sometimes even more frequently). Yes, it sucks a little bit for me. I do like sleeping, and it's hard having your sleep interrupted that frequently. In the middle of the night, I really just want to go back to sleep! But when I think about it in the light of day, my main concern is for him. Why is it that all of a sudden he isn't able to stay full through the night? Is he getting enough to eat? Is my supply keeping up? Is the quality of his sleep suffering? On the one hand, I know that it was unusual - the amount he was sleeping before - but on the other hand, that had become his "normal", and I feel that a change in what was "normal" for him is worth some consideration. I won't say "worry" - I know that babies go through phases and their patterns and routines change over time, so I'm not exactly "worried" - but I've been putting some thought into why it might be that things are changing, and considering ways that I might be able to help him.
He has picked up the pace on nursing during the day as well, so a growth spurt is quite possible, but this has been going on for at least 2 weeks now... seems like this is more of a new pattern than a temporary "spurt". It may be the result of a certain two tooth buds that I've spotted approaching the surface at the center of his bottom gums, but I'm obviously also considering the issue of hunger. Is it a supply issue? He doesn't seem to ever "run out" when he's nursing, but I suppose it's possible that my supply isn't keeping up and he's getting a little less for his effort and is falling asleep without getting as much as he needs to stay satisfied. The other possibility is that he just needs more than breastmilk in order to stay satisfied overnight, which has me considering cereal.
Our pediatrician said that we'd discuss cereal at his 4-month check-up (which is in ten days). I had originally thought that I'd want to postpone solids for as long as possible, in keeping with the AAP's recommendation that infants be exclusively breastfed until 6 months. Now that I'm in this situation, I find myself more concerned about making sure that my baby isn't constantly feeling hungry! I feel bad for him, being constantly woken up by hunger pangs! I suppose that's life as an infant, but then again, that didn't seem to be the case for all those weeks that he was sleeping through.
There's an awful lot to consider... rice vs oatmeal vs barley, MYO vs store-bought powdered stuff, and then there's the school of thought that encourages skipping right to mashed avocados or bananas or sweet potatoes! What's a first-time mom to do? I feel like my various concerns are all pointing to conflicting conclusions. I'm concerned about his little digestive system and its first exposure to solids, which leads me toward whatever is mildest on his tummy (probably store-bought powdered rice cereal). I don't want to exchange middle-of-the-night hunger pangs for middle-of-the-night bellyaches! But that is also the least nutritious option, and as a mother I want to err on the side of more nutrient-dense foods like MYO oatmeal from whole oats, maybe working toward adding mashed bananas or something like that as he is able to handle a thicker consistency.
It makes perfect sense to start as mild as possible, and it's only a matter of time before he can handle less processed foods that will be better for him. In the meantime, he's still being *almost* exclusively breastfed, so he's getting the nutrition he needs. Maybe I just need to be patient. But then again, if many people have success skipping the empty carbohydrates altogether and going straight for more nutritious foods, it seems like it's worth considering. Of course, there are lots of goofy people in the world that do all kinds of things with their babies that aren't the best/safest, so the fact that some people do it certainly doesn't mean it's the right thing to do. Just worth considering, I suppose.
At the end of the day, I think I've narrowed it down to a decision between rice and oatmeal cereal. Jumping straight to veggies/fruits is a little extreme for me, and based on previous conversations I don't think it's what my pediatrician will be recommending. As a medical person, I put a lot of stock in my pediatrician's advice - she's been caring for babies for decades now, has seen all kinds of different recommendations and practices come and go, and is plugged in to the most recent scientific research on these subjects. I know that there are many people who believe that the medical community has all sorts of hidden agendas that fuel their recommendations, but that's another topic for another post. Suffice it to say that I have a wonderful pediatrician - recommended by several other wonderful pediatrician friends of mine - who I really trust. Anyway, back to the rice vs oatmeal question... Oatmeal is a little more nutritious and tastes better (or so I hear), but my friend Lisa brought up the issue of gluten which is worth considering. Gluten can be tough even on adult digestive systems, and gluten allergies aren't terribly uncommon. But my sister-in-law's baby wouldn't touch rice cereal and ended up on oatmeal and did just fine. I guess I'd just have to be watchful for signs of an allergy or prolonged tummy troubles if I decided on oatmeal. But as Lisa pointed out, she started her first baby on oatmeal and then he refused rice cereal because it didn't taste as good, so if we did have an issue with oatmeal and needed to scale back to rice, we might be up a creek! GAH!
The more I talk (er, type) about it, the more I'm realizing that I just have some sort of weird issue with the idea of rice cereal. I guess it just sounds pretty gross to me, and I know that oatmeal isn't gross. But that's really not the point, now is it? After all of this back and forth, I have the feeling I'll be greeted with the perfect irony that his issue ends up being entirely related to teething or something, and starting solids isn't even going to help. It's pretty terrifying that so much of parenting ends up being trial and error!
No comments:
Post a Comment