Nearly 5 month baby showing signs of wanting food

[mumtobe2025]

Just wanted to know if I was terrible to give my baby tastes here and there of the fruit purees and porridge.

I added apple puree to a frozen push thing for my babies gums and he loved it and has been showing interest in food, plus superb head control and can sit up unaided in his high chair.

I tried him on some porridge today with his formula and he absolutely loved it. Am I terrible? I dont want to make it a daily thing but if he is interested, is it so bad to try him out sometimes?

I know new Mums are always really keen for their child to be 'advanced' but really introducing solids and BFing is a faff on and best left as late as possible for your own benefit. That said if you have a child that is sitting up unaided and grabbing at food and is almost sixth months you won't be doing any harm by letting them play with some sticks of food and seeing what goes in.

Apple puree is largely sugar so I'm not surprised.

Of course you’re not terrible! I gave DD her first tastes around 5m as she was grabbing at food, could sit up unaided etc and my god she took to food like a duck to water, she was on 3 meals by 6m. Now DS is nearly 5m and he’s not quite ready, grabs at food a bit but nothing like DD and he can’t quite sit up unaided yet so I’m holding fire. You know your child better than anyone. Trust your gut x

What frozen push thing? You should never, ever put teethers in the freezer as you could cause a serious injury!

And of course you shouldn’t be giving your four month old anything other than milk.

@JaninaDuszejko OP’s baby is four months old.

“You know your child better than anyone.”

This is terrible advice. OP, read the NHS pages about weaning. Go to a group session that the nurses put on. Phone your health visitor. Do not give your four month old fruit purées and porridge. We know this is a bad idea. Do some reading from proper sources.

It is the frida mom push pop, its designed to go in the freezer as it is not a teether.

My HV actually said it was fine to offer him tastes, as he is a week away from 5 months and can be quite sicky and im not planning on weaning him until 6 months, just the odd taste here and there on days hes unsettled, and ive been doing reading but the guidance is mixed

Propped up in a high chair is not the same as sitting unaided.

Interest in food how? Watches you eat and reaches for food? I'd imagine he'd do the same with a cigarette or make up sponge going to your face.

Apple puree isnt great, its just sugar.

Age 30s/40s onset gut issues are increasing- potentially due to crappy 80s/90s weaning?

Your baby, your choice though.

Sorry, he can actually sit unaided, not for very long but that is a valid point and I appreciate it isnt the same.

I do actually want to make my own puree for ease when I wean him officially, im a bit confused tho, is making it myself going to make it healthier than a pre bought puree?

If fruit has sugar, wont this always be an issue?

im going to stop anyway I think and properly research BLW

I didn't do fruit for ages, started with everything else first so they got a taste for everything that wasn't sugary, that's how I got around that one
Like pps say I dont understand the rush. So much easier to stick with milk, I love the first six months for that

im going to stop anyway I think and properly research BLW

If you do BLW then you'd give him apple wedges rather than puree.

Please don’t encourage OP to give her four-month-old apple wedges, that’d be a huge choking risk.

At six months old the advice is to start with vegetables rather than fruit, to help them get used to food that isn’t very sweet.

Watch the bbc dispatches about pouch purées!

much better to make your own food if you can

honestly no rush and I would say to start with less sweet tastes so the baby doesn’t just want sweet stuff !

I did rush in a bit with first

with my second i waited as long as possible he was def over 6 months

it’s
a bit annoying when they do start eating as you then have an extra thing to prepare for days out and have to factor in meal times too -

I’d really wait to 6 months. And don’t start with sweet things like fruit and milk, best to start with vegetables so they get used to bitter flavours.

No, you wouldn't because that would be a massive choking hazard.

When doing finger foods, I’d use the Solid Starts app to check how to serve food for babies. The free tier is all you need and you get nice graphics like the one @Tippexy shared above and it highlights and foods like apples that are specific choking risk.

While my baby was showing signed of readiness at before five months we waited to six as there were no allergy risk factors for him, and I wanted to give his gut as long as possible to prepare and he’s taken to it with huge enthusiasm. We’ve done BLW with a mix of fruit and vegetables, toast, yogurt, and some cereals like Weetabix and Ready Brek, and meat once for my seven month old. We let him self feed the softer food with a spoon and it’s amazing how much his skills have developed over the last month.

Not at all. Some start at four months (Ireland) and others six months (NHS recommendation) but ultimately you can start from four. Both my babies started around five months - maybe slightly after. I was gentle and occasional in it to begin with - a meal a day sounds great. Congrats xx

I know ny child better than anyone but i havent conducted robust peer-reviewed studies into the effect of solid food on babies' guts and future allergies.

I bet if OP had given her baby honey it would have gone down very well but noone would say "trust your gut" to that.

Times have changed. When my DC were babies, a few decades ago, the advice was to start food at 4 months. One of mine was really ready, the other wasn't too interested for a couple of weeks.

Neither have health issues, both eat healthily and have perfect teeth.

But I guess we were just lucky.

He won’t be ready at 4 months. Take a look at the NHS pages on why you should wait.
www.nhs.uk/best-start-in-life/baby/weaning/how-to-start-weaning-your-baby/

@mumtobe2025Just to let you know, when my DDs were babies, (they are now 30 and 33) everyone started weaning at around 4-6 months! Guess what - we didn’t kill them. In those days very bland baby rice but mine didn’t like that. After that we tried pureed vegetables and yogurts. So easy to digest and healthy. Avoid choking hazzard foods! No baby I know had issues with tiny amounts of food before 6 months but I remember DD1 not agreeing with white fish at 6 months. And - a little taste of food WAS health advice at the time! Parents are just forced to conform now with tales of woe if you don’t. If baby is hungry, try a few age appropriate foods but no sugar and salt.

But what if she feels that offering sugary and salty foods is best for her baby? Why is that bit of advice good, but not the 6 months advice? There's plenty of evidence backing up both claims.

How on earth did my two strapping adult boys survive being fed food (baby rice) at 4 months? Advice and guidelines are not law, you will not kill your child by feed them a couple of weeks early.

recommendations change, it doesn’t mean you child would be harmed.

The amount of misinformation on this thread is frankly worrying.

Ireland does not ‘start at 4 months’! The guidance is 6 months, or close to it.

There is a very big developmental difference between a 4 month old and 6 month old baby, and OP should wait until her baby is closer to 6 months.

Regarding apple puree being ‘mostly sugar’, homemade apple puree made with apple alone is absolutely fine to give an appropriately aged weaning baby, as part of a balanced diet. Sugar occurring naturally in fruit is completely acceptable - as long as it’s part of a wider balanced and developmentally appropriate diet.

When my now 8 year old was a baby, half the people around me were saying you feed them at 4 months and the other half were saying 6 months.

So I did it at 5 months and he is and was completely fine

Recommendations change for reason. More research has been done, and there are good health-based reasons to change. It doesn’t have to be life or death!

There were no car seats for children when I was a baby and no car seats in rear passenger seats until I was in my teens. I didn’t die, but I assume you accept the evidence that car seats and seatbelts are advisable?

Front facing child seats were introduced much earlier when my children were small; now rear-facing for longer is advised - again, an evidence-based move.