We made it! BabyT has been exclusively breastfed for 6 months. I had trouble imagining this point in the first difficult weeks. But somewhere around month 4, it really became no big deal, thanks to baby efficiency getting the feeding sessions down to < 10 minutes (almost not enough time to check email!). And in the last month or so, she's only eating every 3 hours or so during the day. I imagined that once we got to the magic 6 months, I'd just quit and go on about my life. Yeah, yeah, I *know* the AAP recommends it up to a year, and WHO recommends it up to 2 years, but the first 6 months was supposedly the most important.
BabyT weighed 20 lbs 2 oz, and was 26.5" long at her 6 month checkup last week, 75% for height, and 97% for weight, so clearly she's growing like she's supposed to. So here we are at 6 months, and it seems a shame to stop doing something that's obviously working so well. Plus (and dare I say it?) it's kind of nice to have that quiet (short!) snuggly time with my ginormous baby a few times a day.
So yeah, in a surprising turn of events, I guess I'm going to keep going. Today we're introducing her first "complementary food" to start her on solids. We're waiting for her to get up from her nap to introduce her to the wonders of avocado.
I'm totally becoming one of those crunchy Seattle moms. I prefer carrying her in the Ergo to using the stroller, the aforementioned breastfeeding business, we nap together in the bed, and her first solid food is going to be avocado slices.
Since we waited until 6 months to introduce solids, we're giving "baby-led weaning" a try, which is essentially letting the baby decide what to do with table foods, rather than spoon-feeding purees. It's messy, but looks like fun, and also lets the baby do more "exploring" with different foods. Supposedly it leads to less picky eaters, but that's not a scientific fact. I just like the idea since she still doesn't *need* the nutrition from food, she just needs to get used to eating it, so that after she's a year old and really needs it, she'll be used to eating what we eat.
That's the theory, anyway. We'll see how it goes. But don't worry, no matter how crunchy I get, I still believe wholeheartedly in vaccination ;)
Good for you, making it 6 months! It can be so hard in those early weeks (and for me, in the early MONTHS, thanks to thrush), but isn't it funny how it seems just to be the thing to do to continue? When it's working and there is some sweet cuddle time, why stop?
ReplyDeleteWe also did the baby-led weaning with my daughter. It went really great for her, and we're big fans. Though it didn't work out for my son, so we had to switch to mostly purees with more and more finger foods as he gets older (10 months now). Good luck with it!
Your baby is gorgeous! And your dogs are very cute! We have a beagle, also. :-)