Do you remember your first time?

[schoonersam]

How will I know if it's right?  What are the signs? What if it's too soon?

This is, of course, in regards to feeding solids to your LO that is ;).

"They" say around 6 months, when they can hold their head up, when they're reaching for your food, when they can swallow (not sure how you know this beforehand), etc.

Well my DD is 5.5 months old, has been holding her head up for a few months now (can even sit on her own for very short periods of time)  and definitely reaches out when sitting on my lap at meals.  But mostly I think she's reaching for the shiny fork and, given that she's teething (none yet, but there's lots of drool, random fits and lots of chomping on everything she can get her hands on - the iphone is a particular fave), I imagine the cold, hard silverware feels good in her mouth.  And I have been cautioned not to be fooled by this reaching out as it may have more to do with going after the utensils or glasses than the actual food.

So I have some whole grain oatmeal baby cereal and some mushed up sweet potato and squash.  The cereal I can mix with breastmilk and the veggies I assume just go straight in.  Should I just bust either/or out any day now?  How do you know when the time is right?!?

[TheDivineMrsM]

Originally Posted by schoonersam 

Well my DD is 5.5 months old, has been holding her head up for a few months now (can even sit on her own for very short periods of time)  and definitely reaches out when sitting on my lap at meals.  But mostly I think she's reaching for the shiny fork and, given that she's teething (none yet, but there's lots of drool, random fits and lots of chomping on everything she can get her hands on - the iphone is a particular fave), I imagine the cold, hard silverware feels good in her mouth.  And I have been cautioned not to be fooled by this reaching out as it may have more to do with going after the utensils or glasses than the actual food.

I looked for a few things: good head control, interest in food, doubled birth weight, no longer had the tongue-thrust reflex. DD was five months old. We started with cereals at the advice of my ped. She HATED the cereals. I was wracked with guilt at giving her solids too soon... and then my mother gave her a piece of banana. She gobbled it down, and has been eating ever since.  I pureed most of her food initially and  spoon-fed her, but she only wanted to feed herself. Now she's an eating champion. 

[Megan73]

There's no rush. It's not like some alarm goes off at 6 months at they MUST have solids. I agree with you that people confuse interest in the spoon in interest in food.
It's true that babies do need iron rich foods in the second half of the first year but anemia is really rare in BF babies and they absorb more of it from BM if it's not in contact with other foods in the gut.
What I've done is - starting sometime around six months, DS2 was more like seven months - is spoonfeed some iron-rich food (such very soft cooked organic beef) and let baby play with other stuff, like banana, bagels and chunks of sweet potato, under close supervision.
Neither of my babies really started eating a lot of food until they could feed themselves. DS2 is now 9.5 months and he's self-feeding everything except spoon foods like oatmeal and soup. He feeds himself cubes of meat, cheese, potatoes - anything.

[BabySmurf]

i'm sure you'll get a bunch of responses on this and knowing when the right time is - i just want to say that you should be careful of commercially prepared "baby oatmeal" as it often has milk proteins in it - my son reacted horribly to it! if you want to skip the rice cereal (i would :) ) , you could go straight for mushy fruit/veggie/etc.  hth!

[tooraloora]

I knew DS was ready when he was 5 (almost 6) months and he grabbed a piece of steamed broccoli off my plate, proceeded to stuff it in his mouth and chowed down. He'd been sitting unassisted for awhile, had good head control, and was clearly interested in my food, but I really wanted to wait until at least the 6 month mark. He had other ideas. After the broccoli, I started making foods available to him during meals and he ate whatever he was able to feed himself, which mostly consisted of steamed veggies and avocado to begin with.

[sosurreal09]

My DD started solids on her own at 11 m/o She eats like a champ too! I can't believe how much this kid eats! Still nursing as well and she is 25 m/o. Her diet is very healthy too, her fave foods are veggies.