Thoughts and feelings about introducing solid foods to breastfeeding babies

In this episode by La Leche League (LLLGB), volunteer breastfeeding counsellors Sarah Fletcher and Maria Yasnova discuss the pressures of introducing solid food to babies in our society. One of the 10 La Leche League Philosophy Concepts states: ‘For the healthy, full-term baby, human milk is the only food necessary until the baby shows signs of readiness for complementary foods, about the middle of the first year after birth.’

While breastfeeding babies feed themselves pretty much from birth, it is often assumed that eating solids is a skill we need to teach them. It may come as a surprise that babies cancontinue to feed themselves as intuitively and confidently with solids as they have been for months at the breast.

Just like with most other aspects of mothering and breastfeeding, many mothers find themselves under pressure from the well-meaning community as well as online resources to actively pursue introduction of solid foods to babies and are often left baffled by overwhelming and conflicting information about this developmental stage.

In this episode we highlight the importance of sharing meals and food as a social interaction, with a focus on enjoyment, responsiveness and innate babies’ curiosity and dismantle the myth of babies ‘needing’ solids packaged as ‘baby-food’ as they can join in with your family nutrition with someassistance.

We reiterate the importance of ‘responsive feeding’ which means trusting your baby to know his own appetite and share our personal experiences of this stage with our own babies.

A holistic model of support offered by LLL is discussed and the listeners are encouraged to reach out to LLLGB ifbreastfeeding support and information is needed.

LLLGB is a charity that offers mother to mother and parent to parent support for breastfeeding and chestfeeding. The charity was founded by seven mothers in 1956 and since then has accumulated a wealth of knowledge that is now supported by the latest scientific evidence and research.

Episode Notes:

For breastfeeding support, mothers’ stories and information on introducing solid foods to breastfeeding baby please visit: www.laleche.org.uk

To find your local group:

https://laleche.org.uk/find-lll-support-group/

Get your ‘Art of Breastfeeding’ book by La Leche League International:

https://www.lllgbbooks.co.uk/store/p258/Art-of-Breastfeeding.html