20 week old showing signs he's ready for weaning but I want to wait!

[arolf]

my 20 week old DS is sitting unaided, putting stuff in his mouth, and if allowed to sit on our laps at meal times, he grabs food and tries to eat it. We're trying to hold off until at least 24 weeks, and do BLW, so not long now, but he's getting very frustrated at mealtimes - screaming until we put something on his highchair tray (raw carrot sticks at the moment for him to gum on, although he grabbed some cooked carrot from my plate yesterday and managed to eat half of it before I liberated it from his grasp).

he's ebf, putting weight on beautifully, has never slept well, so apart from his sheer frustration at dinner times, I'd rather wait. what would others do in this situation?

In that situation I let DS play with soft fruits and veg and he did eat a bit, but not much.

I think you could go either way. You would not be unreasonable to wait - but I don't think it's a bad reason to start, slowly, anyway.

DS is still very vocal and not easily distracted when he wants something!

I would probably start fairly soon if I were you, rather than wait for a magical date in a few weeks time. Remember he might not get the hang of it straight away, so you don't want to be dealing with a starving baby who's not satisfied with milk but not mastered eating.

well, we tried a wee bit of carrot and banana yesterday as we were having it too, and he definitely got some down him. we thought if he couldn't pick it up and get it to his mouth, we'd wait another week, but (sadly) he managed. doubt he'll 'eat' much, but we're going to do what you did bertie, and let him play with it. he's managing to drink from his doidy cup now too (well, a bit anyway! he got annoyed at lunchtime when the water was gone, and banged the cup on his tray until he got more!), so hopefully the combo of bland fruit and veg and a small cup of water will keep him occupied for a few more weeks!