For the first time in 6 months (yes, his whole life) we did not do the usual morning bottle of formula. He nursed instead. He has been awake for 2 hours, nursed twice and is not at all fussing or indicating hunger in any way. I always post about these little miracles and they end up being a fluke, lol. But WOW what a fluke it is! For a Mom who wants nothing more than to EBF, one less bottle a day makes me feel like a superstar!
And I thought I should talk about his solids intake. We started him a few days before he turned 5 months... totally baby led feeding. He was READY. I appreciate what the breastfeeding experts have to say about early solids, but they simply cannot account for the individual infant. Dalton showed all signs of readiness (lunging at our food, grabbing off of our plates, starting us down during dinner time, etc...) When we introduced them he took to it like he had been doing it for years. To date I have never even seen him gag. Now, at 6 months he is eating solids twice a day, and will take an entire tub of puree or 1/2 oatmeal 1/2 puree... works out to about 1/2 cup at each sitting. I do as much fresh food as possible, making my own food when I can and giving him Gerber when I can't. So far the only thing he has refused is green beans, lol. And MAN did he refuse them. The look on his face made it seem he had chomped down on an un-ripe lemon!
So far (other than this morning) I have seen NO reduction in his fluid intake. He still nurses every 2 hours, still takes his 3 (4 oz) supplement bottles per day and nurses through the majority of the night. In no way have the solids changed his patterns... they just kinda wiggled their way in there. In fact, since starting on solids his bowel movements have increased and improved (he is struggling waaay lesss.)
So... once again we have beaten the odds! My baby is a nurser, a bottle eater, and now a solid eater. I still have milk, I still have not started my period (indicating my lactation is still at full steam) and no one is worse for the wear. Moral of this story is: let your baby lead the way. He knows what's up!
