BLW can you start just before 6 months if you think DC is ready?

[vnmum]

My DD is 23 weeks and i think she is ready to start solids. i want to do BLW and was wanting to wait till 6 months on the dot but she seems ready now.

she is grabbing at food when we're eating, is feeding more often, is having 2 boobs per feed and still seeming unsettled and is getting very frustrated, agitated and upset when she sees us eating, drinking or preparing food, which is actually making mealtimes stressful because she virtually screams through it all.

i have to confess to giving her a lick of apple and grape which she tried to grab and shove in her mouth, she definately liked the taste, so do you think i would be ok to start her now or should i persevere for another 3 weeks (which seems like a lifetime at the mo)? the other issue is that DS has food allergies, i wasnt going to give her anything other than fruit or veg till shes 6 months then intoduce common allergens slowly and abit later anyway.

bump

my DD is also 23 weeks and i've been giving her fruit and veg only purees for the past 2 or 3 weeks - however, have had no success with BLW. She doesn't know what is food and what is a toy and anything she picks up goes straight in her mouth anyway.

i wanted to wait until 6 months too, but she seemed ready too following a huge growth spurt (50th to 98th centile in 7 weeks )

the clincher with BLW is if they can pick up food, get it to their mouth, chew and swallow then they are ready
so offer and if she can do it she is ready, and if she can;t yet then she will be ready when she can!

It would be odd if all babies suddenly became ready for solids as the clock struck midnight on their 6 month birthday!

I like Mrs Badger's method a lot.

What MrsBadger said.

The point of BLW is if they can do it they're ready. Try her out with age appropriate finger foods and if she eats it she's answered your question better than any of us can.

Remember babies are used to different tastes and they do like a variety, so getting excited about tastes is not the same as getting excited about solids.

There is a good post on netmums about why wait till six months (it's a sticky/locked topic in the weaning section)

thanks everyone, i tried her with banana this morning and although most of it got mashed up in her hands she seemed to like that bit. also some went in her mouth, not sure if she swallowed it or just moved it around and then it came out but the big smile on her face when it went in was a picture .

if i want to give apple or carrot etc, does it have to be soft or can i give it raw or is that a choking hazard?

Lightly boiled so that it isn't squishy but not so hard that it can't be bitten through easily.

ok thanks. having read the netmums thread i am wondering wether to hold off till she is 26 weeks but then again its like mrsbadger says, if shes ready she will eat it. i suppose if she is not eating it then i could always give her some to play with at mealtimes then when it starts going in i know shes ready

The thing is it happens between 4 and 6 months, after it happens they start to get the other abilities to eat, so if they are able to feed themself then they're able to handle the food. Nature is brilliant, things happen in just the right order.