Feeling guilty either way - advice gratefully received.

[Lexingtonlala]

Our DS2 is 21 weeks tomorrow and has been unsettled for weeks and apparently obsessed with our food. He tries to grab what ever I'm eating and shoves it into his mouth. As he's been so unsettled I've been under pressure from family to try solids. Our HV have been useless in advising me. Tonight our LO was going mental while DS1 and I ate. So I mashed a bit of banana and let him feed himself. It seemed mean not to let him have something. He went mad for it. But have I done the wrong thing? Should I have waited? What to do now? Should I continue? Family expecte me to. Don't know what to do. Advice please.

If he's able to feed himself, then I'd let him get on with it. Signs of readiness are being able to sit up with support, pick up food and put it into his mouth and eat it.

DD1 started BLW at about that age as she was grabbing food off our plates. DD2 is 19 weeks and showing signs of being ready to start soon.

GO for it!!!!!! Go with your instinct like you did this evening.

With DS1 now 7 the advice was highly pureed foods from 3 months. With DS2 now 4 the advice was nothing till 6 months. I'd say DS1 was more open to a wider range of foods and weened better. My personal non professional view is that to experience tastes is good but they can get all they need from milk so let them get messy in the food and experience a bit of flavour - at least they feel like they're joining in.

Things like courgette, baby rice with milk etc are from memory good starters. Some of the baby biscuits are suitable before 6 months but you need to check the packaging. I'd recommend ice cube trays so you can prepare batches of stuff and then just defrost a little bit as required.

The Annabel Carmel books are really good for talking about foods for different stages (available in most charity shops because there have been so many iterations).

Everyone is an expert in how you should raise your child, but they are just that - your child. Go with what you feel comfortable with and if anyone questions say 'isn't it funny how fads in feeding change'!

Thanks everyone. That's really reassuring. There are so many guidelines and rules and really no one to go through and explain the reasons behind them - the facts. So how can we make any informed decisions? We just end up feeling guilty. So yes thanks so much for your tips and votes of confidence. It really means lot. Maybe he is ready after all.

The DoH guidelines are quite good actually here. They explain that you should enjoy it, don't force it, but encourage it to happen at its own pace. They aren't prescriptive ('around' 6 months and 'about' 6 months). They mention the signs- sitting up, reaching, grabbing, able to put food into mouth unaided- and talk about foods to avoid before 6 months if you start earlier.

I think following your baby is the absolute right thing to do, the theory being that if they are able to do it, then they are ready.

ANTagony, just in the interests of info, 7 years ago the guidelines changed to 6 months. Before this they were 4-6 months and had been for 20 years.

Thanks for that showofhands. Those doh guidelines look really useful. I wonder why all the HV round here have been so unhelpfully robotic about the 6 month rule then? Must be my bad luck. Thanks again.