Kate's Story - Introducing Solid food from 6 months

Kate attended a BfN Breastfeeding Centre in Blackpool with her baby. She wanted to breastfeed exclusively for 6 months. She had let the baby lead the way with breastfeeding and found it really convenient but she wasn't looking forward to weaning as it sounded like hard work. Kate writes about her son Caleb who is now 19 months and still enjoying breastfeeding.

Introducing solids to Caleb my first baby wasn't something I was looking forward to. I had visions of endless pureeing, sterilizing ice-cube trays and freezing, and of spooning mush into his mouth to have him spit it out all over the place. It all sounded like rather hard work after the convenience of breastfeeding. It was therefore with great relief that I discovered at the BfN Fylde Breastfeeding Centre that you didn't have to do it at four months, and in fact it would be better to leave it to around six months. After reading books and papers on the matter, I decided I would definitely wait until Caleb was six months old before giving him anything other than breastmilk.

I live in Blackpool, an area of the country where breastfeeding rates are very low, and parents are actively encouraged by the majority of health professionals to introduce solids at four months. When my health visitor broached the subject at a 3 month developmental check, I had predicted that I might meet with some pressure to start earlier than I wanted to, so I had a review of a lot of the research that has been done ready to show her. It was made clear to me and recorded in Caleb's 'red book', that it would be better to introduce solids between four and five months, and I was told about a 'chew reflex' that happens between six and eight months, and I could miss it if I left it too late. I remained unswayed, and Caleb had his first taste of solid food - tiny pieces of uncooked pear, at six months old. At first he wasn't sure what to do with these strange things once they were in his mouth, but he soon got the idea and started chewing and swallowing. Over the next few weeks we introduced him to a wide variety of different textures and tastes, and did nothing more than mash foods we were all having with a fork.

I did find it a bit stressful at times, on days when he didn't seem very interested and didn't eat much, I originally got rather worried. However, once I reminded myself that I had trusted him to let me know how much and when he wanted to eat for the past six months and should carry on doing this, I relaxed and felt much better about the whole thing. At his seven to nine month development check the health visitor wrote in his book "Continues breastfeeding, started introducing lumpy foods and finger foods - no problems" !!!

Caleb has never had much in the way of baby food - he tended to protest when he was offered it. He has always had his meals sitting at the table with myself and his dad. Before we introduced him to solid foods I thought it would be hard work, and wasn't something I looked forward to. I am so glad we waited, it wasn't the ordeal I was expecting, and now, at 19 months old, Caleb will eat anything and everything (more or less), but still makes sure he has plenty of room for breastmilk."