When did/will you introduce solids?

[phrumkidost]

Basically what the title says -- I'm curious what the received wisdom is out there on this. My LO is four months and I realize some parents begin introducing solids at this age. I personally don't feel like I need to yet, but how would I know? Is it better to wait as long as possible? etc.

 

[Noo]

I'm aiming for 6-7 months as I'd like to try BLW but at LEAST 5 months. I'm totally avoiding jared/packeted foods as no doubt it'll all contain powdered milk!

 

[Celesse]

DD had reflux and at drs suggestion tried weaning at 4 months, but she was violenting sick. I tried again at 4.5, and 5 months with same results. Eventually it started staying down at 5.5 months.

DS decided he was ready to wean at 5.5 months, stole some food, chewed it and swallowed a bit. The next day we started BLW at every meal.

 

[staralfur]

We tried BLW at 6 months. She played around a bit but didn't actually start to eat anything until she was 8 months.

 

[xsadiex]

Best to wait until 6 months or when they can sit up unaided and put the food Into their own mouth. With my first I started at 5.5 months and I started wit my second at 6 months. He doesn't eat yet though, never puts it into his mouth and just plays!

 

[Bevziibubble]

We attempted just before six months but she had no interest at all until she was around 9 months. She still doesn't eat that much these days!

 

[SarahBear]

A baby's digestive system isn't ready for solids until 6 months. I waited until Violet showed interest in food which happened to be a week before she was 6 months. If you wait until they're ready, you can skip the purees. It's a lot easier that way.

 

[Pearls18]

6 months, DS was a "hungry baby" he was feeding every 2 hours and weighed 20lb by the time he was 6 months on milk alone but I still think solids before 6 months when BF (unless for other medical reasons like reflux etc) isn't necessary. I aim to do the same this time, if he gets hungry I will just feed more, DS is the pillar of health and has a very varied and healthy appetitie.

 

[JenX]

We waited until 7 months. Now, a month later, we are still only offering tastes of things as that's all she's really interested in. Following her lead.

 

[sunnylove]

A baby isn't ready for solids until at least 6 months. Even if they are showing "interest" it doesn't mean their stomach can handle it. We don't plan to start solids until LO is at least 6 months adjusted. He's 6 months old now, but only 3 months adjusted since he was preemie, so we won't start solids for at least 3 more months, but we will just go with the flow.

 

[Brieanna]

We started offering around 6 months and after lots of research went with blw. Her first food was avacado! She ate some, but honestly ate mainly breastmilk until around 1 year even though food was offered all the time. She was always above the 90th percentile in height and weight so I guess mainly breastmilk for a long time was good enough for her, lol.

 

[kitabird]

We started at 5 and a half months when Felix grabbed my banana and bit a piece off. I only gave him little tastes of things here and there to begin with and moved onto proper meal times after a few weeks.

 

[Here_we_go]

My dr told me the only time he ever recommends to start solids earlier is if the baby is not flourishing on milk alone.

I attempted to start after DD was 6 months old but her belly didn't take to it very well so waited til 7 months to slowly start her on it. She still has troubles sometimes with upset belly and constipation (only eats veggies/fruits beside breastmilk and water from sippy).

The dr recommended giving my son rice cereal when he was about 4 months because of his severe reflux. It did help. He never had any tummy problems with food unlike my daughter

Good luck

 

[Mummy Bean]

we started a week before he turned 6 months as he started helping himself from our plate. we did mostly BLW with the occasional spoon fed item added in. plan to do the same with this wee guy.

we got lots of history of digestive problems in the family so dont want to force food too early.

 

[Mum2BKW]

Babies guts do not magically mature ready for solid food the night they turn 6 months.... That is just a guideline as the majority of babies are ready then. Many are ready earlier.

Never start before 4 months. There are then 3 things to look for:
1. Baby can support themselves well enough to eat, I.e their head isn't flopping down all the time and they can sit in a high chair (they don't have to be sitting completely unaided)
2. Baby has the coordination to pick up finger food and put it in their mouth themselves
3. Baby wants to do it and doesn't push the food out again with their tongue, which is a reflex they lose when their gut matures.

Luckily when baby meets the above criteria it means they are ready, if they do not you need to wait. Don't give wheat based food before 6 months. Don't give honey or cows milk as a drink before 1 year.

I appreciate guidelines are important but I like to read into why they have been set as they are often a 1 size fits all, including third world countries and slow developers. We started giving Scarlett bits of finger food to play with and chew at 4.5 months, she didn't 'need' it but she really enjoyed it, and we discussed it with our HV first to make sure we avoided anything that could be harmful.

 

[Katteh]

We just gave our little man his first tastes of food and he will be 6 months next week. Admittedly it was just baby porridge made with breastmilk, but he wolfed it enthusiastically. Tomorrow ill start him on something like carrot and will introduce a new food each day x

 

[RaspberryK]

6 months xx

 

[summer rain]

Except with my eldest, and being pushed into giving purées for a week or so with second eldest at 5.5 months, we waited until 6 months with all the others. My youngest could put stuff in his mouth from about 4 months but just didn't feel like he was ready and with allergies and digestive problems most evidence suggests while it's not a good idea to start after 7 months because this can increase some risks it is best to wait until as close to 6 as possible. We started just over a month ago with my youngest and at the moment on most days he has a little bit of food once or twice a day. We're taking it slowly and have stepped back a bit as he started to get extremely constipated even though he was having water with meals and we tried to offer a good variety. There's no rush as he is still doing very well on mainly breastmilk and we have started giving him vitamin drops as an 'insurance policy' xx