Weaning age dilemma

[TeenyTinyToria]

Before I start, let me just say that I wholeheartedly agree with the recommendation to wean at 6 months, I just think that there has to be some room for individual variation between children.

I'm having a bit of a dilemma. Basically, ds started to wean himself at 19 weeks (I know!) when he stole banana from my plate and ate it. I was helping another child with their food while he sat on my lap, and didn't notice until it was too late. He was sitting up with minimal support, had no tongue thrust reflex, had more than doubled his birth weight and was chewing everything in sight. From that point on I decided to wean him as he was clearly ready, although I took things very slowly.

Dd is now 20 weeks, and is also sitting with minimal support, as well as standing against the sofa and trying to cruise (I'm quite scared that I have an early walker on my hands!) She has lost the tongue thrust reflex, also shows a keen interest in food, is close to getting her first tooth and has doubled her birth weight and then some! Currently she is formula fed, and sometimes struggles to last 2 hours between feeds. Should I try her with some solid food (I read today that the DOH recommends weaning from 20 weeks but preferably 6 months) or should I wait until the magical 6 month mark?

Not quite sure what to do, does anyone have any advice?

IMVH(non-medically trained)O if you are going down the BLW route it's unlikely to be harmful to let her have some food to play with and see what she does. If she is capable of picking up, chewing and swalling food (with NO help) it is likley that her gut has developed to a point were it will be able to deal with digesting food.

I'd still want to avoid all potential allergens and take things very slowly until 26 weeks though.

But, when all is said and done milk has more calories than fruit/veg/rice cakes so if it's a calorie boost you think she needs milk is the most efficient way of providing it.

She can pick up small toys and take them to her mouth and chew, so I'm guessing she could probably do the same with food. Hmmm...

My DS is 23 weeks and has been able to pick up and chew toys for a few weeks too. He'd doubled his birth weight at 12 weeks, has lost tongue thrust reflex, etc. I've been resisting the a semi-conscious urge to hand him a bit of what I'm eating for a couple of weeks now.

This evening I let him have a rice cake and a bit of pear to play with while the rest of us had dinner. He dissolved the rice cake into a delightful mush with liters of dribble and a great deal of pleasure. No idea if he ate any of it. I'm pretty sure he swallowed a some pear though. Tomorrows nappies will tell

I think I'll let him try to try (IYSWIM) a little bit of something once every day or two and see how he gets on.

TBH this is more or less what I did with DD too, I'd certainly never spoon food into a baby of this age though.