Confused about weaning

[lovinmommyhood]

I have heard and read a hundred times that it is better to breastfeed your baby past twelve months and exclusively breast milk at that. I was shocked when my daughter's pediatrician wanted me to wean her before she even turned one! I didn't follow through for two reasons, 1 - the pediatrician didn't give me a real reason at the time to wean and 2 - my daughter hadn't taken to solid food. Now that she is about to be 18 months old I am willing to wean but my little one isn't. She won't eat baby food or any food besides puffed snacks consistently and I feel like I have to fight with her just to take more than two bites! Is it safe to wean a child just so they will start eating solids?

[lovin3]

I wouldn't say that you need to wean just so your little one will eat solids, but at the same time, she needs the experience that comes with eating solids as well as the nutrition. If she's eating puffs, you should be able to introduce small bites of soft big people food- tender veggies and fruits, yogurt, cheese, pasta, shredded meat, etc. My thought would be to replace one feeding at a time. For example, if you want to start by introducing breakfast, you could nurse at 8am when she woke up and offer cereal with a little milk and dices of a ripe banana at 10. Be consistant everyday. At this age, they should also be getting experience with using a fork/spoon. Try different things out- maybe she wants you to feed her or to feed herself, maybe she wants her own meal or maybe she'll eat better with the family. Also, be sure to introduce a cup- maybe water to start, but then you could offer a small amount of milk with her meals as you replace breastfeeding. Good luck with everything.

[lismom2]

here are links to my favorite site every time I have questions on breastfeeding and introducing solids Best of luck and Hope this helps

http://www.kellymom.com/nutrition/so...lids-when.html

http://www.kellymom.com/bf/index.html

[lovinmommyhood]

Well, we have tried giving her fruits and veggies, cheese, bread, yogurt and meats and she spits them out or doesn't even open her mouth. I do wish that I would have started feeding her solids earlier than I did. She used to eat rice cereal at 6 months for a while off and on but she wouldn't eat more than a few bites and then refuse and that is when we tried to feed her baby food and she didn't eat much more than a few bites each time then one day she just started refusing everything but me. She had been off and on since then with eating baby food and she refuses whole foods all together. She does drink whole milk from a sippy cup atleast 3 cups a day. I just can't understand why her doctor wants me to do it cold turkey with her not even accepting food. I don't want to feel like I am starving my child just so she will be hungry enough to like to eat solids.