7mo loves his solids

Hiya,

My nearly 7 month old son has been keen on his solids from early on - I initially wanted to wait until 6 months to start him on solids but he was giving so many signals that he wanted to eat that I ended up starting him on a meal a day from about 4 1/2 months.

He is now already on 3 meals a day, and he eats a lot at each meal (I reuse jars of Stage 2 Only Organics and fill them up with homemade vege/fruit purees, or porridge), any less than this and he will demand more. He is perfectly happy and healthy so I haven't had a problem with this, but I have noticed that he is starting to become less interested in breastfeeding during the day. He has a tooth coming through, so I'm not sure if that could be the reason why, or if it's because of all the solids he is eating.

He has 4 or 5 breastfeeds a day, and I breastfeed before meals except for in the evening when I breastfeed him just before he goes to bed. I am worried about my milk supply getting too low, I would like to breastfeed until at least a year if possible. I am going to be starting work part-time in a few weeks so increasing his feeds isn't really an option.

One thought I had is that he is pretty competent with finger food, so i could perhaps try giving him less pureed food and then keep him satisfied with a few veges etc. to play with.

has anyone else had experience with babies who love their solids, and if you were breastfeeding how did you balance the two?

Thanks

ETA

Edited by kaybee

I wouldn't say he loved them...but because solids are about tastes and textures at this age and not nutrition he got way more bf than solid food.

DS2 didn't start them until 7.5 months, he wasn't on a second meal until he was nearly 9 months and he was nearly 11 months before he was introduced to a 3rd meal. If he still seemed hungry AFTER solids he'd go back on the boob. So he was feeding on demand...which could be anywhere between 6-12 times a day, though I wasn't particularly keeping track. He had solids midday, 45-60 minutes after a bf and then a bf afterwards to 'wash it down' and/or top him up.

Had a lot of drama with DS1 and bf (top ups, solids from 4 months and on 3 meals a day by the end of the first week) and him prematurely weaning from bf altogether at 9 months so I wasn't about to risk another bf relationship in 'favour' of solid food again. DS2 self weaned at 18.5 months and because he was slow to gain weight, having more milk and less food worked really well for him. Not that Plunket was aware of it, they thought I was giving him more food!