To ask when you gave your little ones their first taste of solids

[Foreverthinking]

I'm a little confused by advice I was given from the health visitor. She says not to introduce solids of any sort until 6mo

However clearly there are jars of baby food readily available in all shops which say from 4 months.

I have on occasion given a small amount of baby rice and also rusk crushed up and mixed in with milk formula. Baby loved it no problems and is 4 and a half months old.

When did you first introduced yours to solids of any sort?

Both of mine round about 4-5 months, I think using some common sense is the best advice, if your baby is not showing any interest in food then leave it a bit later, if they are showing interest & appear hungry or maybe not gaining weight as they should, then introduce foods a bit earlier, as upthread they are guidelines not set in stone & couple of the links posted are worth reading.

My PFB was six weeks old, and had baby rice (on the advice of the health visitor). My second was 8 months because he refused to eat anything until he grabbed a fistful of ice cream one day and decided food wasn't so bad after all. I think my other three were about 16 weeks iirc. My PFB is now 28, and my youngest is 11.

My girl is almost 5 months old and we aren't planning on giving any food until 6 months. Was told on a postnatal course that they basically only write 4 months on the packaging for marketing reasons - the guidelines are now 6 months unless otherwise advised by a medical professional! I think it shouldn't be allowed as it is confusing for parents and there is already so much conflicting advice in the medical world without companies getting involved and trying to make that extra 2 months worth of money out of us!!

When we do give food think we will start with something like carrot or cucumber sticks as well as some veg purees. Then move onto sweeter things like fruit once she is used to that. This is what I have been advised to do otherwise veg may taste too bitter and it's hard to get them to eat it once they have had the sugary goodness of fruit!!

I wouldn't worry too much about them getting a taste for sugar. Breast milk contains 7-8g of sugar per 100g so babies already have a taste for sweet things before they even begin weaning. For context an apple contains 8-10g per 100g, depending on variety whereas melon has 8-9g per 100g, and a carrot has 4-5g.

6 months with both. Baby led weaning.

DC1 - 4 months
DC2 - 5 months

6 months. DH has Crohn’s disease so no way would we give food earlier. We did blw and she took to it pretty quickly. The purée stuff was too confusing.

6 months. Despite huge family pressure by people who were determined I should wean earlier as she would sleep better etc. Totally disregarding all of the new advice. Guidelines change for a reason when new information is found. Just because you can buy baby food from 4 maths doesn't mean it's a good idea, you can buy cigs/booze 3rd but it's not good for you lol.

Ps. Starting baby on solids did nothing to make her sleep better!!!

Around 5 months with both. Traditional weaning - a combination of purées and finger foods (from 6 months.) DD2 has particularly bad reflux, too.

I always get confused when people say they did 'some purees and some baby led weaning.' Baby led weaning is an approach in itself, whereby children are given foods in their whole form and not spoon fed the mashed form. Giving finger foods is not 'doing a bit of baby led weaning.' It's traditional weaning . Anyway, I digress!

Yes to marketing - of course the manufacturers are going to write the earliest possible date on them. Because if you write "From 6 months" on your weaning pots but your competitor writes "From 4 months" on theirs, anybody buying for a 5 month old baby is going to go for your competitor, even if your food is exactly the same.

In addition if you can convince people that they need baby food from 4 months right up to 18 months that's a much larger market than saying hey, use our jars at 6 months and move onto real food mashed up by 9! Even though that's a perfectly valid approach.

I think 16 weeks for my first as per the guidelines .My second l have no clue could have been earlier but she just got what her brother was eating at time. I wish guildlines were 6months 25 years ago would have saved me a fortune in stupid baby rice and food. Anyway they both healthy adults now so nonharmonic done

Harm done..stupid phone

I did BLW with both.

Daughter (PFB) was offered carefully steamed/raosted organic veg at 26 weeks and took to it very well.

Son (neglected 2nd child) weaned himself on an oven chip pilfered from his sister's plate at 24 weeks. Said sister had been trying to feed him her snacks since he was a couple of weeks old, so we're all lucky he held out til then!

I was told that the new recommendation was 6 months but the midwife said from 4.Igave in at 5 months as my milk didn't seem enough.No such thing as now then some puree,mashed and finger food.Have a fantastic picture of her in her chair on the lawn(no floor washing) waving a spoon with her face covered in fromage frais and grated cheese,beaming.
She's almost 15 and will eat just about anything.

5 months ish with both. When they stole food off my plate and got it into their mouths. we went with BLW

DS1 & 2 from 6 months (BLW) but DS2 wasn't interested so I stopped and started again at 7 months.
DD is just 6 months but can't sit up unaided yet so will wait until she can before starting.

I don't understand why the 'grabbing things and putting them in mouths' means they are ready , all of mine have grabbed everything they can reach and attempted to put them in their mouths and have done from a few months. Babies just seem to like chewing anything they can get their hands on!

Grabbing things and putting them in their mouth is one of the signs of readiness as it shows the baby can coordinate eyes, hands, and mouth so is capable of picking up food and putting it in it's mouth. One sign on its own doesn't mean much but once you start seeing a few of the signs together then it indicates readiness.

About 20-23 weeks.

Any time between 17 weeks and 26 weeks is fine.

6 months as the HV told me to. She showed none of the signs of being ready for it. She still didn't really want to eat food at 12 months. She only started putting food in her mouth at 18 months. She's mostly good at 2 years, but still won't bite chunks off anything.

6 months. But the. The health visitor seemed baffled that I had followed the current advise and told me that by six months her dcs were right into eating meat and bread. Dmil was a nutrionist and said it was rare as hens teeth to find any mother’s who waited until 6 month in the area that she worked in

Like some other pp, mine were babies over 25 years ago and the advice then was 3 months, but both mine started at around 10 weeks. I can’t imagine making them wait 6 months!

I was a baby over 25 years ago and official advice then was 4 months.

6 months, as recommended. Of course companies sell products that aren’t in line with this - they are there to make money not think in the best interests of children!

Yes they do that, it's a developmental stage, they use their mouths to explore everything, because lips/tongues are extremely sensitive and better developed for feeling and understanding things in a under 6 month old baby than their eyes and hands.

When they first start to gain better control of their hands, therefore, it makes sense that they'd use that skill to bring things to their mouths which is their main way to explore and discover things. It does make some sense from an evolutionary perspective that this would be to do with food, as it tends to occur at around the same time as their iron stores run out and they're needing more than BF alone, so it all ties in. Especially as younger babies tend to have a tongue thrust reflex so if they do manage to get anything solid into their mouths they will just spit it back out. It's the two in conjunction which would naturally let them explore foods - being likely to get something to their mouth to taste and feel it, plus for it to actually stay there long enough to get swallowed! And the taste of edible things is an incentive to keep trying again.

They don't need to sit unaided, just reliably straight upright with support. It's about avoiding choking risks rather than anything else. Some babies don't sit alone until 9 months or so, but it's not a good idea to try feeding solids to a baby who still needs to be reclined.

6 months.

Do people still give babies 'baby rice' and rusks?! My two just ate whatever I was making for myself.