Information Overload, Help!

[Blueone]

I have had too much information on introducing solids to my son. He's nearly 5 months and has shown interest in solids, but I don't know if I should follow it or not. I gave him a bit of a banana mushed up today, and at first he seemed interested, but it was a bit green still so he didn't like it.

So my overload is, waiting till 6 months or not? Start with purees or do Baby Led Weaning, but then what about the bad side of baby led weaning? I've heard that babies want solids, but not all can self feed just right and get frustrated so need a bit of help. Then with the purees topic I hear that it can delay chewing and other self feeding development, that it can cause picky eaters, and that babies will have a hard time going to stage 2.

If I start sooner would I be hurting my son? Lots of other people say they start sooner and their kids are perfectly healthy. As for cues, he sits well with the exception of an occasional tip, tells me when he's full, can bring things to his mouth pretty decently, has really good head control, and watches people who eat like a hawk to where he'll stop his bottle and just watch. He's not breastfed if that helps at all, we weren't able to due to a medical condition I have.

Any information or experiences with this would be really really appreciated.

[Drummer's Wife]

Personally, I would do baby-led feeding with whole foods (instead of purees). It hasn't been my experience that they get frustrated by not being able to bring the food to their mouth - unless something was super slippery, my LO's did fine. The more they practice, the better they get. Just remember at this point (until about a yr), breastmilk is the main source of nutrition and anything else is for experimentation. Baby doesn't need to say, eat 3 jars of baby food in a day at 9 mos. Eating bits and pieces here and there of whatever the rest of the family is eating and nursing on demand, is plenty.

eta: and I would wait at least until 6 mos, but that's just me.

[dogmom327]

I would wait until at least 6 months and then only if the baby shows all the readiness signs (sitting up on his/her own, no gag reflex, etc.). Even at 6 months though, I think it should all be baby led. Purees are silly IMO. We did them with my son and I regret it. Ultimately he just wasn't ready. With DD (almost 6 mo), she'll get solid foods when she can eat them herself. She can play with food all she wants but I'm not the least bit concerned about her consuming any. I figure by the time she is a year old, she'll likely have the teeth, skills, etc. she needs to eat solids. Until then, there's just going to be a lot of BF. One issue in our situation too is that we already know she has lots of food sensitivities so we are on a Paleo-type diet (only meat, nuts, eggs, veggies and a little fruit).

My philosophy is that babies don't need solids--not before they are a year old unless there are some extreme circumstances.