My 8.5 month old daughter has boycotted babyfood. She refuses to eat anything, and only wants to nurse. Is she being deprived of other nutrients being only breastfed? I suppose she will eat sooner or later? Also, she is really a big baby. She weighs just about 21 lbs. How does a breastfed baby get that chubby? If I eat junk food here and there, does that go through my milk and get to her? I've nursed all my kids until they were over a year and none of them were this big. Will she lose some weight when she cuts down on nursing?
She's perfectly fine. I had a 21 lb 9 month old and a now 20 lb 22 month old. Both are still breastfed and my little one who nursed more hardly eats food at all so it's not just breastmilk, it's genetics.
It's a fallacy that all babies at 6 months old need solid food. They don't. Gerber made us believe that :)
Maybe a formula fed baby is different but milk is a more than sufficient diet for an 8.5 month old.
No, she isn't being deprived of nutrients. My babies were all huge just on breastmilk. My doctor always joked that he needed a growth chart just for my babies because they were never on it. She will thin out eventually, don't worry about it.
My daughter only nursed until she was 14 months and then went straight for table food and eats with gusto (while still nursing at 2 yrs old now.)
Just keep nursing. She may have allergies or food sensitivities and is just following her instincts to protect herself. Your body accommodates her needs and your supply increases with her demand.
:)
Good job!
M.
My daughter was just like this - she didn't really start eating solids until around 9 months, and then it was with offering every day. She was also very big - around the same weight at that time. At 12 months she had actually *lost* about 1 oz, and now at 17 months she is around 60% for weight and 90% for height (she had been at 97% for weight for a while, then 90%). The good news is that baby weight before age 2 has *no* relationship to adult weight, especially in breastfed babies. Anyway, keep offering her a variety of foods every day - try some finger foods at this age too - shredded cheese and apple, bits of pancake and waffle that she can pick up - as well as purees. Don't worry too much about what she eats - the breastmilk is the most important source of nutrition for her until 12+ months of age.
