Did you delay solids past 6 months? Why?

My DS is 8 months old today, and while I've attempted to get him to eat some solids a few times in the last couple months, no attempts have gone well. I waited till 6 months for my daughter, both for a family history of allergies on my husband's side, and to give her digestive system a chance to develop more fully. I was planning on starting at 6 months with DS, too, if very slowly, but he seems to have a super gag reflex. He still won't take a bottle ever (which isn't hard for me, but sure gets a lot of sympathy from my mainstream friends), and I tried a several times in the past to get him to take a pacifier to help him nod off to sleep when I felt like he had sucked me raw. None of that ever worked, either. He just doesn't like anything in his mouth, I guess. Anyway, when I try solids with him, he tends to kind of gag and choke on it more than I'm comfortable with. And he's a nice chunky baby still, and growing fine, so I'm not going to push it. Obviously he's not quite ready still. Although he's definitely interested in drinking from a cup...gets very excited if I offer to share my water glass with him But will hardly open his mouth at all for a spoon. So, we continue to wait.

We started around 7.5 months and waited a bit since I didn't want to give up my exclusive breastfeeding relationship, we wanted to protect her from allergens a little longer, and we wanted to be sure she was ready. In my opinion, a baby should be able to feed themselves from the start...giving them a little taste on your finger is one thing, but at the least the babe should be able to get the food into their mouth on their own and they should WANT to do it more than once! When we started, DD was sitting and standing easily, she had 4 teeth, and she was obviously interested.

We never used store bought baby food...we bought a little food mill and smooshed up a few "single ingredient" things (avocado, banana, apple, pear, plums, peach, sweet potato, carrot, squash, etc) and she had a new "smoosh" to play with every few days. We just put a little on a plate and let her feed herself. Since she was still getting most of her nutrition from breastmilk there was no need to make sure she ate a certain amount of solids and I didn't have to stress...she could eat or not, it wasn't a big deal.

After a few weeks of "smoosh" we started fork mashing the food and leaving bigger chunks. Within a month or so she was eating tiny portions of whatever we eat. We just cut the food into small bites and let her feed herself. She's a year now and still nursing happily and a master of the spoon (though fingers are still her favorite dining tool).

(her current favorites are whole wheat waffles with plain yogurt, steamed ginger carrots, apple/pear sauce with vanilla, and chunks of avocado served straight up)

My 10.5 month old only recently started eating solids. I had delayed starting them until he was about 7.5 months old, because of my own food allergies (I'm allergic to all raw fruits and veggies, I suspect because I was introduced to them waaay too early, so I'm a bit paranoid). But when we started the homemade purees, I could tell that he was having a hard time digesting them. He cried when having a bowel movement, and his poop looked like grass. I just wasn't comfortable about it, so we held off for a bit longer. We introduced them again when he showed a TRUE interest in them. And we ended up just going with soft fruits and veggies that he could feed to himself. He won't let me feed him. So we kind of skipped the puree stage, and he's doing great.

DS did not start until 12 months.

WHY? Because that's when he told us he was ready. He had NO interest and so we did not push. Your babe will tell YOU when he/she wants to try food.

He would not even entertain a drop of avocado or banana on his lips. He went from 100% breast milk to black beans and chicken
He has JUST started becoming a regular eater now at 21 months, but still not "into" food like his little buddies.

I always figured, he'll eat when he's hungry, and I try to always have something on hand and try not to worry about it.

we introduced solids at 6 months and our daughter spit out or gagged on everything! We gave her a chance to try something every couple of weeks but we didn't push really, just offered and at the first hint of gagging or head turning we took the food away. No worries, she wasn't ready.

She'll be 1 on the 21st and she has just in the past month been starting to really get interested in solids. She won't touch purees at all even if she likes the food in whole form the second you turn it into a puree we get a turned head and a closed mouth! We let her self feed for the most part because then we know she's interested in what she's eating and we're not forcing her. She'll eat puffed brown rice like it's the best food in the world and also likes cut up grapes and chunks of steamed carrots and broccoli (new this week! It's so cute to watch her chew the top off a florette!) she also really likes beans and chick peas, chicken, potato, apple and pear. A good meal for her though is about 10 rice puffs and 1 cut up grape or 1 small broccoli and a 16th of an apple. So quantity isn't really there but she's getting used to manipulating food in her mouth and moving it there herself.

We noticed a HUGE change in her interest and her ability to manage her food when her teeth started to come in (she got her first tooth at 10.5 months) since then she's been trying everything.

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Hummus?! Like, a plain version with just the garbanzos, or garlic and all? I can't immagine a baby eating that... But, then again, I eat the spicy kind.

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My dd scarfs down the spicy salsa my dh makes (it's actually too spicy for me to eat so it's pretty clear who'se genetic flavor preferences she's demonstrating there!). I have to admit, I didn't offer her the salsa but she grabbed a handful and popped it into her mouth...and reached for more! It's really amazing to me what little ones will eat (and WANT to eat) when you don't restrict them to "baby" foods.