is four months too young?

[sushee]

I don't mean to be alarmist but you often won't know if your baby has allergies until much later in life. I started Charlie on solids at 5.5 months and in hindsight, I mistook his natural curiosity for being ready for solids, because it wasn't until he was close to 7 months that he really enjoyed the extra food. Anyone who has seen a 7 month old eat compared to a 4 month old will know what I mean. At 7/8 months (or older for some kids), they're eating not for the novelty value, but the desire to actually eat.

It also wasn't until he was 8 months old though that he presented with asthma (heriditary from both sides of the family). He is prone to allergies, luckily no food ones yet, but had I known, I would have held off on solids for a few more months, just to be absolutely safe. He really wouldn't have missed it at all.

I too fed my 2 older kids solids at 4 months (as was the way 18 years ago) and they turned out fine. But you don't know just how fine they will turn out until later, so knowing what I know now, it hardly seems worth the risk when we're only talking about a teeniest difference of 8 weeks between 4 months and 6 months in nutritional terms, but potentially a vast difference in terms of allergies or their health.

I can't imagine how I'd feel had I started Charlie on solids at 3/4 months only to find out later he's asthmatic and prone to allergies.