What age did you start your child on solids?

[megsgr]

Just curious. I know the books say 6 months, but she is just so interested in food and seems so eager. Madeline is 5 months old. Is it wrong to start solids now? I really don't want to do the wrong thing and am scared that maybe she is too young and her body won't cope. Also did you start your child off on rice cereal first?
Thanks

[Karina]

We strted just before 6 months. Plenty of mums in my mums group started at 4 - 5 months, and I'm sure plenty on BB also did the same. At 7 months, my daughter is still not all that keen on solids. The first food we gave her was rice cereal. We just got some Farex but she is rather unimpressed by it. We're now giving her stuff like pumpkin, apple, pear, banana.

[krysalyss]

We started two weeks ago when DS was just over 5 months but was recommended to start because DS is so big and is likely to be needing more iron and zinc now. Behaviourally he also seemed very ready (once he even grabbed DH face so he could try and get the food that had just gone into DH's mouth!). From what I understand the reason the age is set at 6 months is because starting early may increase the risk of food allergies. We are being very careful to not allow contact with any usual suspects (wheat, milk, honey etc) and don't have food allergies in the family. Perhaps check with your Dr or Child Health Nurse about what they recommend specifically for you.
HTH.

[*Shell*]

I started Emily at 5 months, the main reason was that she was always watching us eat and showing alot of interest in food so i gave her a try and she loved it! We started with sweet potato, pumkin etc. She's the best little eater!
I think if they're ready they'll be happy to take it, for me if she hadnt taken to it very well or not showed much interest i would have left it for longer.

[krisp]

We started when our DS was about 5 months. He was showing lots of interest and grabbing for the spoon so we gave him some rice cereal. Wasn't very impressed at first and it took quite a few weeks for him to get the hang of it.

[Trillian]

I started my first two on solids at 4 months as that was the recommendation at the time for formula fed babies. My first baby took to solids really quickly but my second one was a bit slower so she would have been nearly 6 months before solids became a proper meal for her. My third baby was nearly 6 months before I started her as she wasn't ready earlier and also the recommendations had changed to 6 months for FF bbaies by then too. My newest baby is also FF but I will wait until 6mths before we start solids.

I did start them all on farex, but they didn't like it so I just used pureed fruits and custards as a first food mostly.

[MantaRay]

My boys both started at 6 months, although Jack didn't really start eating them until 8 months, and was a fussy eater until about 18 months. He clearly wasn't ready at 6 months and could have gone longer. Tom loved solids from day 1 is a great eater still.

The recommendation for 6 months is based on the fact that most babies' digestive tracts are ready by that age. But some will be ready earlier, and some later. The best way to know is to watch for the signs - losing the tongue-thrust reflux, getting a tooth, AND showing interest (the last one on it's own is not considered enough to show that they are ready, as they want to put everything in their mouth at that age).

Also, they all need more iron etc at different ages, depending on a variety of things including whether they are bf or ff, and how long the cord pulsated for before being clamped (or if it wan't clamped at all). The more cord blood they get the longer their iron stores last. BM doesn't contain as much iron as iron-enriched baby cereals, but it is more readily absorbed, so the baby actually gets more iron from bm than from something like Farex.

[MrsFabuloso]

We just started about two weeks ago properly. I had tried a few times a week or two before that but DD just didn't get it at that time. So I waited another few weeks. She's still not eating much and it is only one meal so far, she still has the same amount of bottles/booby. She's starting to love it though and gets excited to see the bowl and spoon. I started with farex but she hated it. We now have tried avocado, pear, apple, pumpkin and potatoes. I don't think the few weeks until your DD is six months will make that much difference. Maybe you could just try and see what she does? If he doesn't get it, try in a few weeks.

[megsgr]

Thanks everyone. That gives me a good idea. I see a few started around 5 months. May wait 2 weeks and then start. I can't believe how time flies, solids. How exciting for her.

[Trillian]

Just remember that at first, solids is all about getting them used to tastes and textures and not as an actual meal. Always offer milk feeds first as that is still their most important diet staple for quite a while yet. And don't panic if she does't like it - it can take a while for them to get the hang of feeding from a spoon.

ETA - here is a thread you might find helpful too https://www.bellybelly.com.au/forums...ad.php?t=14155

[{sarah}]

Zander started 2 days before he turned six months. He had been showing interest for long before but there wasn't any way I was going to risk him getting allergies when he already had eczema and was on formula not BM.

For those that say it's only a few weeks what's the big deal, the way I see it is the difference between a full term baby to one that's born a month earlier..... It's only a few weeks but what a huge difference those few weeks make.

[megsgr]

Thanks Sherie, yeah DD is BF and it will only be introduced as a taste not a meal. She definitely loves the boob.
Even though my mother in law says she must be starving and that i should give her solids. She talks to her and says no wonder why you are crying you must be so hungry just after i have fed her.
She gets all she needs from my milk i have no doubt about that at this age.

[Tobily]

I started my DD at four months because she was on formula and having major constipation issues that weren't resolved by trying different formulas. She only had pureed fruit though for the first couple of months and this solved her butt problem.

I didn't start DS until six months and even then it was a very slow start. He was probably 8 months before he was really interested and eating regularly. He was breastfed and didn't have much interest in anything else until that point.

[aussienic]

first son we started at 3 mnths 3 weeks ( recommended age back in 1999 was 4 mnths)
Second son we started at 6.5 mnths
third son we tried at 6.5 mnths but no real interest till 7.5 mnths and not really eating till after 8 mnths. now a eating machine

[supa_star323]

We started trying to give our DS solids from about 5 - 6 months, but he wouldn't eat till about 11 months. He just had no interest, but still now at 15 months, it can be hard to get him to eat...

Having said this, most of my friends started their kids about 5 months, and they have had no problems.

[Nadine]

You have gotten alot of responses but I thought I would share my experience with you

I started DD close to 6months of age, but she wasn't very interested. I still kept trying her every day. She was 7.5 months old and still not eating any solids (and looked a little slimmer), so I took her to a clinic nurse. She asked me how many bottles of formula she was having. At that stage it was 4 during the day and 2 at night. That was the problem. She was having too much milk and so wasn't hungry enough for solids. So we slowly cut out her night time bottles (one at a time), and at 8months old she finally took to solids.

My DD also hated farex or any sort of rice cereal (don't blame her actually), so we gave her pumpkin to start with and went from there.

Good Luck with it