Caro - I tend to agree with what you are saying regarding the studies etc.... When the recommendation was 4 mths, all the mums would be like us thinking, well what if I wait a bit longer/shorter? My MIL was telling me that she gave my DH orange juice from 6 mths(OMG) with every meal because thats what the recommendation was! (He is fine BTW!) At mothers group yesterday we were saying how we will be like our mums now telling our kids to "delay solids til 6 mths" "start with rice cereal" "don't let them .....etc and you can almost hear them saying "MUM! - thats soooo old-fashioned, what an old wives tale, we now microchip them so they will sleep and feed when we want them to ROFL!!!" JK but I think you get my point that things change and strict rules can sometimes be bent(just slightly - give or take a few weeks , and we as new mums do what we have to do to get through and make the million little decisions every day for the well-being of our bubs, without needing to feel guilty about it.