DS started himself around 5m old. I was VERY slow with it though because I wasn't comfortable with that, I was aiming for maybe 8-9m if possible. He was breastfed before every meal until 7m too, then he had a feed an hour before breakfast and dinner, then by 12m just 2 feeds a day. At about 9m I let him eat without a feed first and introduced more finger foods as snacks - he had started walking alone at this point and wasn't keen on sitting still for me.