# When will you introduce solids to ur baby?



## Stephanie Weaver (Mar 7, 2015)

*Usually they say not to til 6 months. But obviously grandparents think otherwise. 
My mom said to start by 5 months.

Should i stick to what is advised or what "mom says" ?*


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## katelove (Apr 28, 2009)

This is something I am quite strict about. It was just after 6 months with both my girls and I would have waited longer if they hadn't had all the signs of readiness then.


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## LTurtle (Aug 7, 2012)

Stephanie Weaver said:


> *Usually they say not to til 6 months. But obviously grandparents think otherwise.
> My mom said to start by 5 months.
> 
> Should i stick to what is advised or what "mom says" ?*


Please do not give your baby solid foods until AFTER 6 months. That is what the recommendations really are, though they are often misquoted as at 6 months. The walls of the intestines begin to close between 6-7 months, ideally one should wait until after that to introduce solids. I recommend that you look into into Baby Led Weaning, also called Baby Led Feeding. It is a gentle introduction to solids dictated by the baby's signs of readiness.

I misread my daughters developmental signs and started her on solid food at 5 months. By doing so before before her gut barrier had formed I unintentionally did lasting damage to her digestive system that we are still trying to heal. She's 11.

My son didn't even try solids until 8 months, and wasn't eating them consistently until after one year. That's just when he was ready. He's not quite 2, but it's already apparent that his system is much more balanced and resilient than my daughter's.

I'm not an expert, but that's my opinion and experience.


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## ChasingDreams (Oct 13, 2014)

@LTurtle This is sooo interesting! I had never read anything about solids damaging the baby's digestive system before/at 6 months. I have Celiacs and am very interested in reading more about this, do you have any other information, articles, or websites I could research? I want to give my little one the best chance at healthy digestion!


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## LTurtle (Aug 7, 2012)

Check out this page at Kellymom, it has more info as well as links to other articles and studies.

http://kellymom.com/nutrition/starting-solids/delay-solids/

You can also read what Dr. Sears has to say about delaying solids. I was first introduced to the idea of delayed solids by reading Mayim Bialik's thoughts on it. I also really liked the philosophy of Baby Led Weaning, which isn't really weaning just a method of introducing solid food.

Strapping an infant who can barely sit up into a highchair and pushing globs of food into their mouth until they swallow it smacks of force-feeding IMO. That doesn't fit with how I parent my kids so I decided not to do it with my son (didn't know any better with DD). When he was 8 months old we started offering him soft finger foods that he could explore and eat if he wanted to. He mostly didn't want to eat them until after a year old. Babies who are exclusively breastfed don't actually need solid food until between 12 and 18 months old, and that's really when my son started eating them more.


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## lwarr (Mar 10, 2015)

Personally, I skipped the baby cereals (esp rice cereal! Turns right to sugar!) and started my dude on homemade baby food around 5 months. And it was only every few days just for the fun of it. I got tired of making baby food after about 3weeks and just started BLF like another mentioned. Steamed veggies/fruits and have it right to him. He hardly got any at first. Then we noticed drastic improvement in his fine motor skills & hand eye coordination. At 9 months now he EATS. He's getting a full meal. Where as in the beginning he was just practicing more than anything. Just my personal experience. 
My 5year old was fed store bought baby food from 4-10 months when she then started table food. Between the two. I feel like the second baby is healthier. He's not as chunky as my daughter was cause he's not getting food shoveled in his face & the real foods are healthier than store bought purees!


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## joanatron (Feb 17, 2013)

We did Baby Led Weaning. It is giving your LO solid foods that are not pureed or pre-masticated. You should look it up. He could eat with a spoon or fork at 14 months, it's so cool.


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## PitBullMom (Sep 22, 2014)

We're starting this weekend. Just some soft scrambled eggs for him to play in, and hopefully decide to eat. We have access to farm eggs from naturally fed chickens, so that's a good start in our opinion, I personally wouldn't start on commercial eggs.

Our main milestone to start BLW was that he had to be able to sit up on his own for about a minute. He can't get himself to sitting position, but if we sit him up, he can balance and he can recover on his own if he starts to tip a little. 

He'll be seven months old next week.


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## TheBugsMomma (Mar 24, 2015)

I started a week short of 7 months. I did "kind of" BLW. We started during squash season so I puréed that and put it on her high chair tray. She loved it! Not very much made it in her mouth, but she finger painted with it and tasted a lot of it. She just turned 2 and she still likes her fruits and veggies she eats really healthy, but she doesn't eat a lot at all because she still bf and I know she eats until her body says she's full.


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## Rachey (Jun 18, 2015)

In my country, it is recommended to start giving tastes of food between 4-6 months. Personally, my babies refused to eat normally until I weaned them from breastfeeding(1st baby was 15 months, second was 12 months)


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## muddie (Nov 10, 2014)

The American Academy of Pediatrics recommended 6 months in 2000, but they dropped the recommendation in 2008 based on evidence that delayed introduction caused allergies.

Here's a good blog on the whole matter:

http://scienceofmom.com/2015/05/14/starting-solids-4-months-6-months-or-somewhere-in-between/

Note that the 4 to 6 months recommendation is to prevent allergies, not so much food as to wean your kid.


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## DaliaJesse (Jun 19, 2015)

We can introduce solid foods somewhere between 4 to 6 months. But your baby should be ready to solid foods, he/she should show the signs like 

1) Baby need to keeps his/her head in a steady, upright position.

2) Sitting well with support

3) He/she must be interested in the food you're eating. This can be observed during your meal time like baby will be trying to take the food on your plate.

I introduced solid food to my baby some around 8 months, started with banana puree. I observed the above signs at 7.5 months I guess. Until then I didn't observe any sign. It is different from one baby to the other.


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## blessedwithboys (Dec 8, 2004)

Rachey said:


> In my country, it is recommended to start giving tastes of food between 4-6 months. Personally, my babies refused to eat normally until I weaned them from breastfeeding(1st baby was 15 months, second was 12 months)


Any chance you may not really understand what normal infant feeding looks like? Your babies didn't refuse to feed normally, they were following their instinct to live mostly off of milk. By weaning them, you took away the best source of nutrition way too early.

For anyone else who may be reading this, and worrying that their just-turned-one year old baby should be eating three meals a day, please know that it is NORMAL and appropriate for a baby that age to nurse for the large portion of their daily calories, with solids being just an added bonus, mostly for play, a little bit for food.



DaliaJesse said:


> We can introduce solid foods somewhere between 4 to 6 months. But your baby should be ready to solid foods, he/she should show the signs like
> 
> 1) Baby need to keeps his/her head in a steady, upright position.
> 
> ...


Yes to everything except the 4-6 months part. Four months is way too young to start anything other than milk, and 6 usually is, too. After 6 months is desirable.


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## katelove (Apr 28, 2009)

DaliaJesse said:


> We can introduce solid foods somewhere between 4 to 6 months. But your baby should be ready to solid foods, he/she should show the signs like
> 
> 1) Baby need to keeps his/her head in a steady, upright position.
> 
> ...


Showing interest in parents eating is not a sign of readiness. Babies are interested in everything we do.

Showing no interest may be a sign of *not* being ready but not the other way round.

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## Rachey (Jun 18, 2015)

blessedwithboys said:


> Any chance you may not really understand what normal infant feeding looks like? Your babies didn't refuse to feed normally, they were following their instinct to live mostly off of milk. By weaning them, you took away the best source of nutrition way too early.
> 
> For anyone else who may be reading this, and worrying that their just-turned-one year old baby should be eating three meals a day, please know that it is NORMAL and appropriate for a baby that age to nurse for the large portion of their daily calories, with solids being just an added bonus, mostly for play, a little bit for food.
> 
> Yes to everything except the 4-6 months part. Four months is way too young to start anything other than milk, and 6 usually is, too. After 6 months is desirable.


Yes, I'm aware that my babies weren't ready which is why I waited until they were old enough to be fully weaned without supplementing formula.


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## DaliaJesse (Jun 19, 2015)

blessedwithboys said:


> Any chance you may not really understand what normal infant feeding looks like? Your babies didn't refuse to feed normally, they were following their instinct to live mostly off of milk. By weaning them, you took away the best source of nutrition way too early.
> 
> For anyone else who may be reading this, and worrying that their just-turned-one year old baby should be eating three meals a day, please know that it is NORMAL and appropriate for a baby that age to nurse for the large portion of their daily calories, with solids being just an added bonus, mostly for play, a little bit for food.
> 
> Yes to everything except the 4-6 months part. Four months is way too young to start anything other than milk, and 6 usually is, too. After 6 months is desirable.


Yes the perfect age for baby to start solid foods is after 6 months.


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## DaliaJesse (Jun 19, 2015)

katelove said:


> Showing interest in parents eating is not a sign of readiness. Babies are interested in everything we do.
> 
> Showing no interest may be a sign of *not* being ready but not the other way round.
> 
> Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


Ok Thank You for the information. Can you please tell me the signs and symptoms indicating that the baby is ready for solid foods? TIA!!


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## katelove (Apr 28, 2009)

Sure. You can also find them on the BLW website.

- loss of tongue thrust reflex

- able to sit relatively unaided in a highchair or on your lap

- able to grasp objects in their hand and reliably bring them to their mouth (you will occasionally hear people say they should have a finger-thumb/pincer grip but that doesn't usually develop until around 9mo and isn't a reason to delay solids)


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## elliha (Jul 20, 2014)

I was planning to wait until 6 months sharp but my daughter showed me the way and we started at 5 months with tiny amounts, just a lick from my finger or pieces the size of her finger nail. She laughed and almost screamed *mmmmmm* when she got food. She was sitting up, was interested in food, had no tongue reflex and tried to get food into her mouth at the time but couldn't and screamed of frustration every time. I decided at that point that she should not have to suffer and was given small amounts of food until she was 6 months when I started offering her first meal. She ate soft but not extremely pureed food from then on. Already after a couple of weeks she was eating a small portion of food and we also introduced a second meal just before 7 months. After that point we did not introduce any more meals until 10 months when she started to seem hungry and I decided that I wanted to cut down slightly on breastfeeding and we added two snacks. At one we added breakfast to the two meals and two snacks. 

I still breastfeed my daughter who just turned 3 so while we were quite early with food we have also kept a breastfeeding relationship for a much longer than average time. I say this to prove that early food does not have to equal problems or early loss of breastfeeding which to me are real concerns but that if it is done with a child that truly wants more food it can be done if you make sure to listen to the child and if the child seems to favor food over breastfeeding that you hold back a bit. If the child is not ready this is torture but I must say that if the child is ready holding back too much can also be a problem. No one would force an 8 month old who walks to crawl but when it comes to food it is suddenly acceptable? 

If I ever have another baby I will introduce food between 4-8 months based on the child's signals with a skeptical approach before 6 months but still with a willingness to accept that children CAN be ready before 6 months. It seems to run in my family too, most of my nieces and nephews have also been very easy to introduce to solids and have eaten large amounts of food almost from the start. For my relatives who have not wanted to do extended breastfeeding this has helped them stop breastfeeding somewhere around 9-10 months too which was good for the mothers who wished to do so but for me who wants to do longer nursing than that this was instead a period of watchfulness as I had to make sure that breastfeeding didn't stop despite my daughter at this point being able to eat food to a level that she would be happy with. 

I realized once the baby was born that BLW is a formula, and not the approach for everyone. To have had perhaps months of a sad frustrated child who could not eat but wanted to eat had not worked for us but I did use the general principle of listening to my child and we did do a lot of child-led feeding (at 10 months she ate most of her meals on her own) but not just pieces of food but soft food as well. I looked very carefully for any indication that she didn't want more and rather stopped early than give one extra spoon. 

Sorry for the long post, I just want to give a voice to sort of a middle ground between "force-feeding" and extremely slow introduction of food because it seems these are two extremes are more or less all that are heard.


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## DaliaJesse (Jun 19, 2015)

katelove said:


> Sure. You can also find them on the BLW website.
> 
> - loss of tongue thrust reflex
> 
> ...


Thank you so much for your reply.

I heard of another sign - if we keep a bowl near the baby, if he is ready for the solid foods then he will grab the food by his hands otherwise he will push out the food and run around his face. Is this true and the sign that baby is ready for solid foods?? Can you confirm me please??


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## katelove (Apr 28, 2009)

No, that isn't a sign. Babies around 4-6mo will grab at just about anything within reach and try to put it in their mouths. It is one of the ways they discover the world. It doesn't mean their gut is mature enough to start digesting food.


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## DaliaJesse (Jun 19, 2015)

katelove said:


> No, that isn't a sign. Babies around 4-6mo will grab at just about anything within reach and try to put it in their mouths. It is one of the ways they discover the world. It doesn't mean their gut is mature enough to start digesting food.
> 
> Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


 @katelove Thanks a ton for your replies and patience!!

Thank you for explaining and confirming me the signs that baby is ready for solid foods. I have read few articles like for example

http://www.momjunction.com/articles...u-introduce-solid-foods-to-your-baby_0093156/
http://www.askdrsears.com/topics/fe...ds/faqs-about-solid-foods/solid-food-for-baby and few other articles but I didn't find the exact signs:frown:


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## kyradark333 (May 5, 2015)

It has been proven that it is fine for a baby to solely nurse for up to a year. It is more nutritious and healthy to wait, but only if the baby is solely breastfeeding.


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## SplashingPuddle (Jun 23, 2012)

I have definitely relaxed on this issue with time. My first was fed solids later (8-9 months) and then only single ingredients, homemade, organic etc. She developed tons of allergies at 1 year. 

My second got "tastes" of all sorts of foods, especially wheat, starting at 4 months. I chewed what was in my mouth and gave her the tiniest bits. I especially wanted early exposure to wheat to avoid the problems I had with my oldest. I didn't give her ANY wheat until 12 months, and then she was allergic to it. We saw a paediatric allergist who said that in the years since my first daughter, early exposure is supposed to be better at reducing allergies than late exposure. We figured we didn't have much to loose, since our oldest had been allergic to everything (well all major allergic foods - dairy, wheat, nuts, rice etc).

So now I don't advocate "feeding" 4 months olds per say, but being more relaxed really helped our family. We do extended breastfeeding, but we also delight in seeing the first taste of ice cream (something I was horrified to see grandparents give 4 month olds in the past).


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## PitBullMom (Sep 22, 2014)

We started with eggs, but he wore more of them than he actually ate. Now we've moved on to carrots, broccoli and squash. He's getting very good at eating, though we watch him closely. 

We are doing single ingredient foods for the time being, and only vegetables to start.


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## calico_aster (Aug 28, 2014)

We started at 5 months and 1 week, and my daughter was definitely ready--sitting on her own, accurately bringing things to her mouth, no tongue thrust, etc. She spent about a week in play-and-taste mode before starting to seriously eat. We just give her whatever is soft enough from our own meals--lots of fruits and veggies, some eggs, pasta, oatmeal, etc. She ate a pretty sizeable chunk of black bean burger the other day. She is super adventurous and will try almost anything. I always nurse before we offer any food so that she fills up on milk first, and food is just for fun. She is 6 months old now.


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## deenamathew (Jul 25, 2014)

You can start giving solid food any time between 4 and 6 months if your baby is ready. But his digestive system isn't ready for solids until he nears his half-birthday. It is always recommended to breastfed exclusively for at least six months.


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