Ds is 7 and half a months and on no kind of solids at all, should he be?? Others making me question my instinct.

[flubdub]

I didnt want to start pureeing food as I don think it should be done this way. Hes only recently started having full bottles.
Iv tried him with baby rice numerous times, and hes not interested. Hes had baby rice pudding, had about four spoons, then refused, and wouldnt even entertain the idea of cheesy vegetables.
My mother thinks he should be on solids, as hes waking more in the night now than he ever has (about five times, and gets through two full bottles) but I think this is because hes been quite ill recently for a long time, and its disrupted his sleep pattern.
Hes by no means starving, hes a real fatty!!
I wanted to do this my own way, and follow my instinct. My instinct says hes doing just fine, but other people are making me doubt this.
Should I be oushing solids? And in what way?

^pushing

Whyever no puree? It's a perfectly natural approach, except that pre-kitchens you'd've done it in your own mouth...

I just didnt think it was a natural way to do it. I couldnt imagine cave women mashing up food, but I never thought of them chewing it themselves. Wow!!

is that that blw thing where you put bits of toast and stuff out for them? there are quite a few very knowledgable mners about that. not me though i did jars in my defence, I did not know about mn then and took my advice from less enlightened people!

If you're not giving him purees and he doesn't like baby rice, are you offering him anything else (finger foods)?

Don't worry at all. Plonk food in front of him when you're eating and let him decide. No rush.

Hand him an (unsalted) rice cake. If he likes it, you can move onto other stuff.

Iv given him bits of carrot and something else but I cant remember, but hes not interested.
Also, whenever theres puree in his mouth, he gags on it, and usually brings it back up, even if its the tiniest amount of the softest puree. Is this normal?

Agree with ShowOfHands, don't worry, but do offer stuff off your plate and let him try, baby rice is rank.

I believe a bit of gagging is normal to start with, they have to learn how to swallow in a totally different way.

You could try spoonfuls of long-cooked porridge -- he can feed himself (big mess!!) or you can spoon it to him.

Mine all liked bread at this age, just smear butter on and hand over small pieces.

Rice cakes are good, they feel nice to chew on and they just kind of dissolve in the mouth.

Re the cavewoman chewing thing - yes. Every time I've heard someone on Women's Hour or whatever saying it's unnatural to cook foods and so babies shouldn't have solids till they can chew (what - hard carrots?) themselves I want to throw things at the radio. Cooking and pureeing has the same effect as chewing - saliva starts the breakdown of the food to release nutrients more easily, and chewing creates a puree/mash which makes it easier to swallow without choking. But offer a mix of tastes and textures and let your DS decide. Make it a mix of colours too so he doesn't grow up thinking food should be beige

the gagging thing is normal, they have to learn how to swallow non-liquids

but if you think he's fine without solids at 7 months, you're probably right - you should trust your instincts

here is my thread on this very same thing, posted this week

Thanks guys! So i can tell everyone else to bugger off then! This is number two, so im not a newbie at this!

Absolutely.
And when you do, come back and tell us what they said

My friend asked me today if he could eat crisps!!!

Eh? You mean salt-loaded junk food?
Well... I have them occasionally - but a 7-month-old??
My DH bought vanilla-flavoured teething biscuits for DS yesterday and my not-interested-in-much little man chowed down on three of them!!! Cheers!!