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Home › Articles › Starting Solids and Supplementation › From Breast Milk to Solids

From Breast Milk to Solids

The Real Scoop on Solid Foods for Breastfeeding Babies

By Ann Calandro, RNC, IBCLC

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Ready or Not?-The Real Scoop on Solids

After a perfect start with nature's best food, there comes a time when your baby will be ready for other foods. Up until this time, your baby's gut has been soothed and coated, and his nutritional needs were perfectly met by breast milk. It is an ideal food – unsurpassed in quality and nutrition – and that makes it a hard act to follow!

It stands to reason that when it comes to starting solids mothers have many questions: Why? When? What?

Why Solids?
Why in the world would we start adding something to Baby's diet that is going to cause more work for Mom (stinky diapers, changes in the perfect GI flora and possible allergies or tummy upsets)? The main reason is iron.

At some point, the iron supply your baby was born with will begin to dwindle, and breast milk has easily-absorbed but low iron content. Iron needs to be added to your baby's diet to assure that his iron levels stay at a healthy level. As he becomes more active, he also needs more protein and calories to help with weight gain.

When Solids?
When to start solids is the million-dollar question. Even the experts disagree on exactly the best time.

The World Health Organization and the American Academy of Family Physicians recommend starting solids at 6 months. The American Academy of Pediatrics Breastfeeding Committee recommends exclusive breastfeeding until starting solids at 6 months. However, the American Academy of Pediatrics Committee on Nutrition encourages parents to begin solids between 4 and 6 months. (Many pediatricians have learned the 4- to 6-month rule in medical school.)


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