Why Delay Solids

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From my own research America is the only country that suggests solids before 6 months and even in this country the suggestions are mixed.
The World Health Organization suggests breast milk or formula only for the first 6 months.
Immature Digestive System: A babies digestive system is really not ready for solids before 6 months. Before 6 months the only solids are supposed to be rice cereal with BM or formula. This is because the babies body is not really ready for solids.
Reduction in Allergies: Delaying solids has been linked to the reduction of food allergies.
Obesity: Delaying solids has been linked to maintaining a healthy weight. I think it says something that America is the only country that suggests solids before 6 months are we are the heaviest country with lots of health problems linked to obesity.
More Variety for Baby: Delaying solids means that rice cereal does not have to be the first food, or their primary food. Giving plain white rice cereal may be why we love white bread and other unhealthy white products. Being able to delay solids means that you can introduce other solids, like veggies and fruits, to teach your baby healthy food habits from the start
Breast is Best: Breast milk has so many advantages for your baby. Starting solid earlier may mean your little one may be eating rice cereal instead of some of the breast milk s/he was eating before. Breast feed babies get immunities from their mommies, this occurs in its greatest amount when a baby is exclusively breastfed. The longer you EBF the better for building up your babies immunities

Any my fav reason from BLW, delaying solids means you are preparing your baby for BLW. So delaying means you are getting your baby ready for BLW. Feeding your baby with a spoon may hinder BLW. I will talk more about this when I talk more about BLW

My Sleep Tips for A 4 month Old

I have a very bad sleeper and from all my readings these are some tips that have worked for me.
1) sleep with white noise, ocean sounds all night long
2) A lovie, Liv has the Snoedel and I slept with it for several days to get my smell on it. So far she loves it and it helps her put herself to sleep.
3) A specific bedtime routine. For us, massage, change into pjs, nurse, read 2 stories, turn off lights, on nightlight, on humidifer, on white noise, sing 2 songs, all while rocking.
4)Then I put her in her crib awake. (this only started after I got her used to her crib after the first 3 months co-sleeping, for about 3 weeks after I put her in more often asleep) If she cries I go in and pat her hopefully to calm or asleep. I am not a big fan of CIO, especially at this young age, so if she is not doing well I will rock her either to sleep or try awake again. Awake in the crib works well if she is not overtired and had an easy day.
5) Key words. I have key words I say to her at the end of our routine "shhh swee'pea its time for sleep" I am trying to build an association to these words so when she is older then will calm her along and I will be able to calm her in her crib better.
6) Try to calm in crib before picking up
7) Only awake for 2 hr blocks, she can't handle more then 2 hours awake. This means she needs to be asleep by that 2 hours mark, so 1hr and 45 min or so we start a nap routine. This has helped the most for us. Liv seems to know now that sleep time is coming since I have been very consitent with the 2 hour blocks.

I also have a nap routine 2 books while rocking, one song, in crib and the better naps the better night is.

I sing the same song last at naps and night, and read the same book last at night.

Liv used to take an hour or more to fall asleep naps and night, now it is pretty smooth on most nights. I think she was often overtired and got that "second wind" and did not want to sleep. We have set backs and I just let her fall asleep in my arms those night and put her in her crib. She is still little and learning the process of falling asleep on her own, so I am not to concerned yet. Since I am not doing CIO it takes longer to learn this, its a slower, but more gentle process. It took about a month to get me happy with her sleep. It is not perfect but it is so much better. No more crying baby, because she is so over tired and can't calm herself. This mean a much calmer me.
She still gets up a lot at night, every 3-4 hours. So some days I take a nap with her. Its a nice cuddle time for us. I always bring her Snoedel with us to get in more associated with sleep.

19 week regression

So right before 19 weeks Liv hit that regression. I never heard of such a thing till I googled it. She is eating every 2-3 hours and sleeping at night in stretches of 3 hours. Fun, fun. I hope this goes away. The first thing I hear when I mention this to people is "are you giving her cereal?" No, and then I go into my whole schpiel and still get comment on how it can't hurt. Even my pedi said to hold off a little longer if I want to do ceral. Some babies sleep worse with it. I hope this sleeping and eating gets better, I don't want to fail and give in to the cereal pressures of the world. At least my DH is on myside about BLW.

Just Got BLW Book

I just received Baby-Led Weaning for Christmas. I am loving what I am reading. My LO is just over 4 months and I plan to blog about my adventures in BLW when I start feeding her at 6 months, or really when she starts feeding herself. I am excited to try this and share my experiences with it.

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