Introducing Solids to Your Premature Baby
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Knowing when to offer your baby solids can be confusing - but knowing when to introduce solids to your premature baby can be positively bewildering!
Guidelines set for feeding full term babies - by such organizations as the American Academy of Pediatrics, the World Health Organization and UNICEF - state that breast milk or formula meets all of an infant's nutritional needs for the first 6 months of life.
Despite this advice, many pediatricians still recommend starting full term babies on solids at 4 months. Pretty confusing, then, for the parents of full term babies.
But what happens if your baby was born 8 weeks early, for example?
Should you start solids at 4 months after your baby's ACTUAL birth date, or 6 months after?
Or should you ignore baby's actual birth date altogether and go by his adjusted - or corrected - age? And if you DO go by his adjusted age, which guidelines should you be following... those set by the organizations mentioned above, or the advice of your pediatrician/other medical professional, which may be different?
The needs of a premature baby vary greatly from one situation to another, so there's no 'one size fits all' answer to these questions. However, the purpose of this page is to bring together the advice and experiences of other parents who have gone through the 'minefield' of feeding a preemie, to help you better make a decision that suits YOUR little one.
Please note - this article is for information ONLY and should not be taken as medical advice.
You should ALWAYS discuss any decisions regarding your baby's nutrition with your pediatrician or other medical professional.
Introducing solids to your premature baby - signs of readiness
There are no official guidelines for the timing of the introduction of solids to a premature baby.
And from the responses we received from the many parents we spoke to when creating this article, the advice given by doctors varies enormously!
One of the main reasons for this, of course, is that the DEGREE of prematurity plays a big part in baby's development. A baby born particularly early may have experienced health problems that could have an impact on his nutritional needs or ability to consume solid foods. On the other hand, a baby born only just before he would be considered full term (at 37 weeks) may have no feeding challenges whatsoever.
So - unless your doctor suggests introducing solids early for medical reasons - this is one situation where the advice 'Watch your baby, not the calendar' has particular significance!
.::. Arrggghhhh laparnya T___T .::.
by AkUGaDiSiKaN
