Wednesday, October 20, 2010

Commencement of solids at 6.5 months

Hi, I am back with some experiences to share, regarding feeding solids to our son. There were initial hiccups, then rejects, insecurities, throw-ups and many more emotions to be handled, when we started giving solids to our son. 

We were, again, poured in with innumerable advice as to when to start solids. Despite lot of pressure from relatives and friends to start early, we started solids for our son not before he was 6.5 months, as he fell ill. Sometimes, they are no longer advice but more of repeated instructions in every conversation, like the FOR LOOP with infinite bounds! Heart in hearts, we know that no one means any harm, just want to give their best input. All we need to do is filter the important information rather than rejecting everything.

Anyway, coming to the main topic, we observed a few signs before we decided on solids.

Signs
  • he started attacking the food in our plates, which was not seen until he completed 6 months.
  • he made chewing motion. Initially we thought he has put some object in his mouth, but on inspection found that his mouth was empty. Thus, a sign that he was ready for solids.
  • frequency of desire for breastfeeding increased, guess he was feeling more hungry.
  • he was able to sit upright with back support without losing balance for more than 1 minute. We were not exactly waiting but he somehow was sitting at the same time he was doing the above mentioned things too. Guess, am unsure whether this is a sure sign.
  • he started using his thumb and index finger to pick up things. This started much at the same time that he started sitting. Again not sure if this is to be taken as sure sign.