I just want to elaborate a little on my first post. I started my DD "early" because she seemed to want to. If I have another baby, I will start when they seem ready too - whether that's 5, 6, 9 or 10 months. If my baby wasn't ready at 6 months, there's no way I'd push it for the sake of it just because I thought she was behind what the guidelines said. I believe babies are clever creatures and they know when they're ready for something new.

BTW Astrid, I've been thinking about your post and what people would have done hundreds of years ago without spoons/other implements. And as I was feeding my DD and thought back to when I first started feeding her and how she would stare intently at me chewing, the first thing that occurred to me is that if I was a Viking woman, I probably would have chewed something up quite well and then given it to her. Sounds a bit gross by our standards but that's what I would have instinctively done. Kind of like what birds do with their young.