Puree stages with a premie

[TJWilliams]

Hiya!
So my LO was born premature in January and, age adjusted, is just over 4 months. She’s doing great and her doctor said she could start solids at 3 months! I tried her once or twice on some baby porridge but honestly didn’t bother continuing because she wasn’t that interested. She had another visit with the Dr recently and he repeated it again, that I could start her on solids so I thought in for a penny, in for a pound!

I’ve been making her purées for a week and she’s absolutely killing it. One at dinner every day, single ingredient and quite thin consistency. I’ve been reading all these 10000000 articles and advice pieces about recommendations etc but I personally don’t think my LO is moving at those paces.

For example, I decided to try her on two solid meals this week now because she was doing so well, having about 60ml of solids at a time and still BF as usual. Then this morning I gave her breakfast of baby porridge but because I’m not feeling so well, I didn’t spend a lot of time preparing it and it was actually a lot thicker than usual. She ate it up like crazy! No spills, no gagging or hesitations. In fact, she wanted more (I didn’t increase the amount).

Now that you have the background, my question is this: has anyone else soared through the ‘recommended process’ with their LO? I’m especially interested in hearing from parents of premies, to see if my LO is being a weirdo with her seemingly advanced love of food. I’d also love to know if other people have had bad experiences with moving on very quickly from stage 1? Am I causing damage down the line by allowing her to progress like this? I’m following her lead and observing her reactions very closely, and if she was struggling I wouldn’t even attempt to move on but she’s not ! In fact, she’s loving it.

I had planned to add in BLW when she’s ~ 6months (because of obvious choking risk I absolutely wanted to follow the recommendations here) and do a hybrid feeding day but now I’m not sure I’ll even have to wait that long. Lots of questions, please tell me your experiences!

My dd was born at 33 weeks, 30 years ago..
Was never given much advice at all really, except not to worry about her being little. At the time, most of us started them on solids at 3-4 months, and i think I waited till 4mo as she was small. Beyond that I did everything the same as my others, she ate pureed food till 7 months I think (actual age) No problems at all, she's fit and healthy. And taller than me - but not quite as wide!
Congratulations on your little one it sounds like you are doing great!

My little girl was born at 34 weeks and we started her on purées at 6 months actual age. She hated them to start with and would cry and scream so we stopped for a couple of weeks then tried again. One of the first foods she enjoyed was some raw pepper which she saw her grandma eating and wanted to yet involved. Now she is 9 months actual and happily eats two meals a day, purées and chunky mashed foods including pasta, rice, chicken, fish, vegetables. She loves porridge and weetabix.

In my opinion she has sailed through the process like your baby has and is going from strength to strength! Maybe it’s the universe giving us an easy time with weaning to make up for a difficult time with the prematurity?

Enjoy it! You both deserve it after a rocky start to her life 🩷