Am I wrong for this?

[Tiddybiddy247]

My baby is 5 months old exactly and for weeks has been super interested in food. Reaching out for our food at dinner. He has two teeth. We've given him a dab of this and that on our fingers (clean) and he loves it. Everyone was so passionate about not giving it until he was 6 months old. All my friends and the health visitor all talk about solid starts and we're so worried and shocked when I said I was considering introducing a bit of Ella's kitchen pouches.

This morning he's watching me have breakfast and leaning forward with his mouth open. Trying to reach my bowl. My husband and I thought f**k it, let's try him on one of the pouches. Just a few spoons. Tiny amounts. And yeah...he loves it.

So now am I a monster? Is he going to be ok? He's breastfed but never gained good weight.

I want to do the right thing and am mindful of what the current trend is but I'm also trying to respond to instinct and my baby...

Please be nice I'm a first time mum x

Does he sit well in a highchair?
Do they have good hand / eye co-ordination, as in can they pick up something and put it in their mouth?
Did their tongue try to push the spoon back out?

Those are all three signs that they’re ready for solids, being interested in food is not a sign in itself.

Personally I’ve always waited for around six months because that’s the NHS advice based on the latest research, I’ve tended to do BLW so I think six months is better for actual solid food, and also life is much easier when just having milk so I wanted to make the most of it! My eldest was ready before my youngest even though my youngest was the ‘bigger’ baby who had seemed more interested in food.

But your baby will come to no harm by starting a few weeks early if they’re showing all the true signs of readiness so go with what you feel is right.

Make sure you’ve looked into introducing allergies, and also consider starting with bitter food tastes so baby doesn’t get used to sweet stuff.

I have no particular expertise here but, I say, not at all! I did similar with my first who was big at birth and never seemed to be gaining as well as he might have done on breastmilk. I had already started combination feeding before 5 months, but started pureed food then. The only thing I'd say is that you might as well puree your own fruit / veg as buy the pouches.

People of my generation (40s) and older were often given solid food at three months.

He sits well and spits the spoon out/pushes food around. But I'm proceeding with caution and only giving him very small amounts. Less than a baby spoonful at a time, probably the amount of a 5p size in puree. Just a taste and to see if he's ok. He always reaches out for more until he was putting spoon to mouth himself. But after 5 or so tastes he's snuggled in for a boob instead so lol he's not ready for it to replace a meal

Strongly need to correct your terminology of “trend” because it isn’t a trend.
The 6 month recommendation from the NHS is based on science and evidence.

That said, both my bf children showed interest at around 5 1/2 months, I still held off after doing my research.

It’s entirely your decision and probably won’t do harm, certainly that’s never anyone’s intention is it.

My fear was the link to inflammatory bowel diseases with early feeding, I’m still not sure that this has been categorically proven.

If he's sitting well and and has good hand eye coordination, rather then spoon feed puree why not give soft cooked veg (which is better to start with then sweet fruit) in batton shapes easy to grip.

I did Baby led weaning with mine and neither had puree, both went straight to cooked veg and could happily feed themselves. I felt it was less hassle and we then didn't need to transition to solids as I came across so many parents who's babies struggled to do this as they had had puree and not solids. Or do both at the same time. Remeber milk should still be there main food source until 12 months.