Have You Been Told To Start Solids “Early”?

Have you been told that you should start solids but feel like your bub might not be ready?

Many parents are finding themselves in this position and feel a little lost about what to do next. Sometimes, it is recommended to try and help a baby gain weight but if they aren't ready for solids…trying to get them to eat anything…let alone enough or the types of food that will assist with weight gain is going to be near impossible. A baby that doesn't know how to eat, isn't going to be able to use food to gain weight.

Charts that look at percentiles are used to track a baby's growth. They are just a tool that health professionals use, to help them get an overall picture of the growth and development of your little one. They are a blunt instrument and not a diagnostic tool. If a baby is dropping weight percentiles, then that can tell us that something isn't right and let us know when we need to investigate further. A change in percentiles from one lot of measurements isn't enough to cause alarm either, it is ongoing drops or a plateau over time that raises concern. There is an obsession, in our very weight centric culture, over growth on these charts and where babies are tracking.

Some professionals will see a drop in weight or that a baby is now tracking many percentiles below where they were at their birth and start discussing catch up growth. But, what is normal growth for that child? Did they lose weight because of allergies or an illness? Is it reasonable to expect that child to drink (or eat) more then they currently are to regain weight to get back to a previous percentile they were on? What are the parents' heights and weights? Do they need to "catch up" or are they growing as they should be? Has the weight been taken on the same scales? How accurate was the height take - were they squirming and looked shorter? As you can see, the need to "catch up" isn't straight forward, there are a lot of questions that need to be answered.

Understanding if a child actually needs to gain more weight and "catch up" on their growth is complex. If a baby does need to gain weight, starting solids early will not help! Check out our article on "when should you start solids", to learn all about the signs that your bub is really ready for solids.

Being told you need to start solids early to help your child gain weight can be incredibly stressful for parents. If your bub has had challenges with weight gain, growth or illness the chances are you have felt an incredible amount of stress or anxiety at times around what your child does, how much they feed or what more you "should" be doing to help them. Then, being told you must get them to eat, when they physically aren't going to be able to, is a huge an inappropriate burden to place on parents.

If your bub isn't meeting the signs of readiness, then working with a health professional to optimise their current method of feeding is the best way to support their growth. This might look like optimising breastfeeding, fortifying breastmilk or formula. In fact, starting solids early, is not only dangerous, but will more likely make them drink less from milk feeds. Milk feeds are very energy dense compared to the foods you usually start on with solids. For this reason, working on improving their milk feeds is the first place to start and not a teaspoon or two of puree!

So, if you have been told to start solids early to help with weight gain and you don't feel your bub is ready then you need trust your gut. Advocate for you little one and tell the health professionals you are working with, that they are not ready yet. Link in with a paediatric dietitian, who can help you to optimise milk feeds if needed and then also work with you to form a plan to maximise nutrition when they are ready to start solids.

Remember, that you know your bub best and if you aren't confident that they are ready, then they probably aren't.

 

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