Good for you to have confidence in your gut, and what you think that your baby needs. Noone knows your baby like you. If your baby is happy, and you're happy, then there's really no issue!
I only have one thought -- since you are doing Elimination COmmunication, I gather that you are someone that believe that you can read your babies cues, and that they CAN and DO tell you what they need. I guess I just hear people talking about six months as if it's some kind of magic number (you said that you were going to wait until the six month birthday mark). Babies do all mature and develop at different rates. What one baby is ready for at 6 months might be 5 for another baby and 7 or 8 for a different baby. It's actually a guideline, NOT a magic number. The longer you exclusively breastfeed, the more likely your baby is to breastfeed long term, which of course, is great! But not mutually exclusive, to be sure.
As you listen to your baby and watch for clues in everything, you can also continue to watch your baby for clues that he or she is ready for this as well. They do show signs of readiness for eating. If she is five months and grabbing at your plate, spoon, fork, food, staring at your food, and trying to get it hersefl, etc, then she's trying to tell you something. On the other hand, if at 6 months she's not showing any interest at all, perfectly happy and content nursing exclusively, and that's working for you, then read the signs -- she's also telling you something. There's nothing special that suddenly happens to their bowels at six months that was not there the day before, you know what I mean?
We also did EC as well, and are starting with my second son too. We watched our first son cues for wanting to eliminate, wanting to nurse, wanting to sleep, etc. My first son showed NO interest in eating at six months. He spit everything out for months (makes me wonder why I bothered!). It wasn't until he was over a year that he really had any interest in eating. He was an avid nurser and would nurse for an hour every session! My second son is completely different. Right from birth he's been more interested in watching his brother. He'll nurse really fast, like it has only ever taken him 10 minutes. At four and a half months he was reaching for our spoons, trying to get the food into his mouth, trying to grab it out of our hands, off our plates, out of our mouthes. I tried a little bit of cereal at about five months and he sucked it back like a vacuum cleaner. He was just ready. That being said, if I ever DO feel like I want him to nurse more, I CAN do that. It's not like i have to give up nursing to give him solids. The nursing is the primary nourishment. I monitor how much I give him and when (only after nursing) to make sure that my milk is still his primary food...
My eldest son nursed for 19 months. My second son is 8 months and i'm planning to nurse him into his twos.
If you start to feel that your child is showing signs of being ready in the coming weeks or months, you CAN try it without doing any damage to her. If you change your mind and decide you want to carry on exclusively breastfeeding, the you CAN stop solids, and go back to exclusive nursing. This is not all or nothing. When you do start with solids, breastfeeding advocates recommend to always breastfeed first, so that the baby is filled up on your milk, and then try a little solids after that. If you start feeding solids first, the baby will fill up on that, and will miss out on your milk.
And really, if a baby starts trying purred peas at 5 months, I REALLY doubt that it will cause her to be obese OR diabetic for trying, as long as the parents model healthy eating habits for her throughout her life. If all they eat is fast food, no amount of pureed peas from six months to a year is going to make a difference, they see what they see and they learn from what they see you doing. I seriously did once see a woman feeding her six month old (he was six months, after all!) fat off the side of a steak, because it was moist and soft and dissolved in the baby's mouth. I don't really know that it's the specific DATE that makes the difference. I don't think that baby #2 stands much of a chance against diabetes OR obesity, but I think that baby #1 will probably be just fine.
Anyway, that's just my opinion. Props for doing what you think your baby needs. Mother knows best!
Especially mother of a happy, healthy, thriving baby like yours!
Digg
