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?

Our baby is nearly ten months old now and is a great eater. Three meals a day with a couple of healthy snacks too if she wants them. She hates to see any of us eating and not be offered a bit of what we're having, which has caused us to eat healthier too so we can always offer her a little taste of what we're having!
She was showing very clear signs of being interested in food from about five months but we followed NHS guidelines and did not begin weaning until she was six months old. Well, that's not completely true, we actually started a few days before she turned six months old, which I nonsensically felt very guilty about at the time as the health visitors had been so adamant about the six month starting point! Still, nobody has been around to arrest us yet and our baby is thriving so I think we got away with it!
My point is that guidelines are put in place for a reason, that is because people often find it easier to follow definite, concrete advice, specific timings and amounts rather than suggested parameters. however, I don't think this should mean that, if you think your baby is ready to begin weaning a little before they turn six months, you shouldn't start then. Just go with what your baby seems to want and be ready for.
I believe in much of Europe offering solid food to babies from four months is considered quite acceptable, so I am not sure you will be doing anything wrong to introduce your baby to food at five months.

thank you, im not sure I feel comfortable with entirely BLW so might combo it when hes 6 months so good to know making my own apple puree is fine

A cooked apple wedge is absolutely fine and small babies have a very sensitive gag reflex so less likely to choke than an older child who is running around while eating.

OP why are you rushing? It isn’t a competition (the superb head control was hilarious).

Very clear advice from the NHS - 6 months. If baby is healthy and happy then wait and follow guidelines.

My kids were showing interest in driving my car when they were 10, should I have let them?

Babies watch and copy, ‘showing interest in food’ is a precursor to being ready. You don’t have to introduce solids at bang on 6 months but you do have to use the proper signs.

Sitting up independently.

Able to pick food up and bring it to their mouth.

Loss of tongue thrust reflex.

there’s no need for puree, and it’s no longer advised to start with fruit or porridge, better to start with savoury veg & protein, soft foods they can chew with their gums, or flakes of fish, strips of meat they can chew and spit out.

Spoonfeeding puree overrides appetite control and tends to result in constipation, especially if feeding baby rice or porridge, a better option is broccoli or cauliflower florets, chunks of avocado, toast soldiers, etc. Don’t get caught up in the excitement, and spend ages blending special foods, just give your baby things that you’re eating.

https://www.nhs.uk/best-start-in-life/baby/weaning/how-to-start-weaning-your-baby/

https://www.babyledweaning.com/some-tips-to-get-you-started/

I wouldn't worry op. My kids are teenagers now and the recommendation was to feed from 16 weeks.(Ireland). My second daughter was extremely high needs and the health nurse advised me to wean her at 11 weeks. All started of with baby rice and then pureed vegetables. No allergies, all eat a very healthy diet and have a great relationship with food. My DD who was weaned at 11 weeks has the most varied diet I've ever seen. There is nothing she doesn't eat and is always the first to try new things.

That's my experience

I started weaning DS at 4 months because milk just wasn't filling him up. I noticed 2 things- his reflux vanished virtually overnight and his sleep improved.
He is now a strapping 19 year old...

I was a very hungry baby and my mum gave me a few spoonfuls of my 2 year old brothers mushed up farleys rusks at 4 months old as I was insatiable one evening. She said I slept right through the night for 10 hours and she gave me a few spoonfuls every night after that. I never woke up in the night again.
She breast fed me until I was 1 year old.

I can't see what harm it would do. I am very healthy and happy.

Making your own apple puree is fine, but unnecessary. Once your baby is nearer 6 months he can start feeding himself with soft finger foods. No need for mush or puree.

Until then all he needs is milk. His gut is not mature enough to digest anything except milk, and there’s evidence to suggest that the kidneys & liver are not developed enough to deal with the waste products of solids. So just take a breath.

Don’t rush, in 5 or 6 weeks you can start to think about giving him soft finger food to play with, it’s not dangerous, he’ll spit it out or gag on it, but is more likely to choke on puree due to the way they suck-swallow it off spoons.

@EarringsandLipstick This might shock you but not all babies develop equally! Some want food a bit earlier and some talk earlier. Some go to Oxbridge and some collect supermarket trolleys. Dc aren’t all the same and weaving at 5 months doesn’t harm a baby. All these ludicrous rules! Research might show trends for the research group but it’s not a blanket ban on food for under 6 month old babies. Go with their instincts and they will thrive. Who needs all this telling off?!

Really? I’m in Ireland, I have three teens (18, 16 and 14). The advice for all three was 6 months. What age teens have you that 16 weeks was recommended, as I can’t work out how that was possible here.

With my 3rd child, he started closer to 5 than 6 months; he was always a hungry baby & because he was the 3rd, he was used to seeing the other two eating and wanted the same. But I still made sure BF’ing happened before any food so he was still primarily BF till 6 months and really just playing / trying out the food.

Nonsense, sorry.

Weaning guidelines are not based on how developmentally advanced a baby is 🙄

It takes account of evidence-based research and longitudinal studies around health and makes appropriate recommendations. Yes, there can be exceptions obviously but starting weaning a still 4 month old is not advised and hasn’t been for decades.

it’s not telling off, it’s sharing best practice guidelines for a reason.

It’s not that apple puree has to be used instead of whole (sliced) apple, it’s that it can be used as part of a meal, combined as part of a breakfast for example, or as a healthy dessert.

It’s fine to have both texture types, depending on the need / meal

That's such an unhelpful attitude. Guidance is based on large scale studies not individual anecdotes. It aims to reduce risk for all babies.
Throwing out sarcastic comments doesn't help the OP or anyone else make rational decisions.

I survived many things in childhood that I didn't perpetuate as a parent. Likewise my dd is following current guidance not following blindly what I did with her.

No one knows which babies will be negatively impacted until the damage is done.

@EarringsandLipstick

I can't attach the link but Bord Bia advise weaning formula fed babies from 4 to 6 months and breast fed babies from 6 months.

Agree. I’m sure my two boys had baby rice at 3 months. Could be mistaken but I know it wasn’t 6 months

My son definitely had baby rice at 3 months. He went on to scrambled eggs, mashed potato and mashed up wheatabix at 5 months. After that he had whatever we were eating - roast dinners with lots of veg, fish, cottage pie. But that was 1977 and it wasn't considered outrageous. He's always loved his food and isn't at all fussy, or allergic to anything.

BLW is quite a new invention in the western world. It’s actually regarded with derision in many parts of the world. It really isn’t the be all and end all of weaning so if you are more comfortable with puréeing and mashing then you can absolutely do that (just not yet!) 😊

@KittyHigham "That's such an unhelpful attitude. Guidance is based on large scale studies not individual anecdotes. It aims to reduce risk for all babies."

Guidance that's left 1 in 5 kids (or something utterly ridiculous) unable to eat peanuts, eggs or dairy?

1. guidance inevitably changes over time and may vary for specific groups of children. The research around allergies is not conclusive but seems to be pointing to some benefits of earlier introduction of allergens (4-6 months) for children at greater risk of allergies. But that in itself doesn't mean that the overall benefits of weaning at 6 months don't remain.

2. My point was that hyperbolic posts talking about strapping lads surviving being weaned at 4 months are simply meaningless and unhelpful. Bring research to the discussion by all means. Not sarcastic anecdotes.

My second son was sat on my lap as I ate my lunch one day. He leant forward, grabbed a bloody chip and started eating it! I guess we’d started weaning. He was 5 months old! I was all for the wait until 6 months and one thing at a time.

I second this and in fact the HV had suggested that some rice might help with reflux - it did. Both of my children started the weaning process at 4 months and are now healthy adults with no allergies.

@KittyHigham No it’s not unhelpful! The idea that babies will somehow be hurt if they start weaning before 6 months is what’s unhelpful! It’s non recognition that not all babies are the same. Some just do things earlier and have different needs. Why do we have to slavishly follow studies? They are not always 100% right for every child. Basically if baby can sit or has good head control and shows an interest in food, don’t disappoint them. It’s like saying DC should not be taught reading sounds until they are 5 when some dc can read at 4. They develop differently and they won’t be harmed by simple foods to try at 5 months!

The NHS seems to think babies should feed themselves and fines this as a reason for deleting to 6 months. This leads to food being offered that’s a choking hazard. It’s perfectly reasonable to spoon feed a baby the purées you have made a bit earlier. Plus they seem to think all babies just want more milk if they seem hungry. Thats goes against what most people used to think and why not try food if baby seems hungry and wakes up hungry in the night? Nothing lost to try it. Just don’t tell the baby dictators!

You are so angry about being given guidance @OhDear111 that you are not responding to what I actually posted.
Research based guidance is helpful whether you choose to follow it or not.
Telling people to ignore guidance simply on the basis of individual anecdotes is meaningless and therefore not helpful. And phrasing it like the poster I originally quoted, was sarky and unhelpful. Weaning is a topic that is complex and can provoke anxiety as you've pointed out.
Offering an opinion as you have done in your post adds to the discussion. Smart arse responses don't.

I wouldn't his stomach isn't developed enough to digest it properly.
People used to warn earlier but research has shown that a baby doesn't need solids until around 6 months and weaning too soon isn't helpful for the digestive system