In one of my online discussion forums, the topic of pediatricians and parenting advice comes up over and over again. Every day there's another mom saying, "My pediatrician said ______!! But from everything I read and researched, speaking with other professionals, and following my mom instincts, I should be doing something else! What do I do?!"
It ranges from breastfeeding/nutrition advice to ... more breastfeeding and nutrition advice! Sleeping and schedules also come up often.
After reading yet another post and reassuring yet another mom that she doesn't have to start cereal RIGHT NOW with her four-month old, that he WILL learn to swallow food (what neurologically intact baby doesn't develop that ability once their extrusion reflex goes away later on!), that she shouldn't limit breastfeeding (since that's his main source of nutrition for the first year), that solids are more about practice and experimentation, not particularly nutrition, I decided to write this post.
Breast milk is the single best source of nutrition for infants - your "low" percentiles baby doesn't need other foods that are lower in calories, most just need breast milk! Kellymom.com has a great page of references and resources for helping your breastfed baby gain weight if that's the concern.
No matter what the problem, the solution offered by pediatricians is often "add solids", "stop breastfeeding","stop night feedings", or "supplement".
The "problem" could be a fussy baby ("s/he's not getting enough!", a deviation from the 50th percentile (it could be they're "too small, solids offer more nutrition" - FALSE, or it could be "it's such a healthy big baby, he is ready" - nope, not true either!), a baby waking "too often" at night ("add cereal to the bottle", "start solids", "he's big enough, he doesn't NEED it nutritionally").
Other arguments for delaying solids.
Iron supplementation?
Just One Bottle: The argument against supplementing with formula
When and How to Introduce Solids
This is just a beginning of references - all links have, at this point, been from Kellymom.com.
Happy Babies!
