I know the conventional advice has been 6 months for ebf babies but have recently heard that it cn be good to get them started in the fifth month. Have any of you heard about this recent rethink?when did you start with solids? My dd is eyeing up food quite a bit now and follows us eating with intense interest. This has started incidentally since she first tasted calpol and an antibiotic (less understandably - little druggie...) a few weeks ago. What are your experiences?
My dd has just had her 4 month b'day.

The advice and guidelines have not changed.

Watching you eat with interest is not a sign. My dd used to watch me light the fire and wield a knife. She was just interested in what I was doing.

Signs of readiness for solids are sitting up unsupported, pincer grasp, loss of tongue thrust reflex, ability to pick up food, chew, transfer to the back of mouth and swallow.

I ebf and dd was nearly 7 months when she was ready. There isn't a window of opportunity. The advice is around the middle of the first year, some will be earlier, some later but rest assured your baby can not only survive perfectly well on milk alone until 6 months, it's the best thing for them.

What showofhands said

Believe me, my 5 month old is doing all the same things, and for some totally irrational reason I'm itching to wean as well, but waiting until at least 6 months is the only right answer.

no change in guidelines that i am awre of, and the guidenlines are 6 months or so for babies, regardles of EBF or not

is your DD sitting undaided, with good head control? is she able to pick up, chew and swallow a piece of food? has she lost her tongue thrust reflex?

is there anything to suggest she needs anything other than milk right now?

wanting more feeds, watching you eat and more night waking are not reliable signs your baby's gut is mature enough for solid food , i/e anything other than milk

your baby will be ready sometime around 26 weeks, might be 23 weeks or 28 weeks.. the important thing is to know the signs of readiness

By the way (sorry - slight hijack here), how do you know if they've lost the tongue thrust reflex? If anything goes near DD2's mouth she sucks it or bites it (much to DD1's dismay!), does that mean its gone?

sucking/chewing and mouthing everything at this stage is normal

the tongue thrust is when you put something other than milk in, i.e medicien, and it gets pushed to the front of the mouth and out again, and dribbles down the chin !

what is tongue thrust? DS was weaned at 24 weeks and has taken to it like a duck to water. He eats from a spoon with relish and very little food gets pushed back out again. However I recently tried him with a bottle of milk and he kept pushing out of his mouth with his tongue? (He has been bf till now) He is 26 weeks.

whoops x post!

I wonder what the tongue thing is with the bottle then?

Aha, calpol gulped down with relish today (well, 95% of it), so I guess its gone or almost all gone. THanks

but is she showing any other signs of readiness? i.e the sitting, head control etc.. the outside phyiscal maturity is a good indicator of whether her insides are mature enmough for something other than milk