Is this a sign that she is ready?

[NaeNae]

SHae is almost 5 months old, I know the recommendation is to exclusively breastfeed until she is 6 months so really that is not so far off.

Today she was glued on my chocky egg fix watching me without even blinking I have noticed her doing this a lot more especially at night she will stop feeding to watch me eat dinner then resume feeding when she gets bored.

SO anyway, I was taunting her a little with a bit of chocky egg thinking hahahahaha I can eat this and you can't (mean mummy I know) next thing she opens her outh to taste ... so I get a small bit of chocky and rub it a little bit on her tongue yes ok I am a BAD mummy but her reaction was something else ... seriously her whole face lit right up.

Ok so mine does too when I eat chocolate but she seriously was like ... oh yeah!!

SO then I tried a teeny tiny bit of crust and she was like bllerrrrk yuk mum (well wholemeal crust is pretty boring really)

Aside from the fact that it was a teeny chocky tongue taste is it a sign that she is ready to start trying other things? I was thinking I might try her on a little bit of Farex with some EBM but I don't want to rush her she doesn't hold a spoon or anything herself and her play sippy cup ends up usuallu in her eye but I cannot help but think she is starting to show an interest in food and I don't want to rush her but I don't want to hold her back either ITMS

I am yet to read the BLS thread as she really isn't even playing with toys let alone wanting to play with food and I would usually follow my gut but I wonder if my judgement is being slightly impaired by an inner desire to not let her grow up too fast

what do you reckon?

was it just a mad WOAH CHOCKY or a WOAH something different?

Nae x

[CrazyLady]

DD was showing signs early so I tried a steamed bit of broccoli. She went nuts and devoured it (well more mushed and squished). i think they're changing it back to 3 months but not sure. maybe someone else can elaborate

HTH

[briggsy's girl]

Nae, E was showing signs that she was ready earlier than 6 months but i wanted to hold off and avoid the "mush" aspect - i wanted to BLS so really wanted to exclusively BF til 6 months before starting her on normal food. at 5 ish months, i started giving her a spoon to play with while we ate meals. it allowed her to learn some hand eye coordination without introducing food til she seemed more ready. at 6 months i started giving her steamed carrot, brocolli etc, and she's never looked back. she never had farex as she is getting the iron she needs from BM still. don't think she'd have taken it anyway - she detests bland food!

i woudl guess the flavour hit was part of the reason Shae's eyes lit up - who wouldn't when given chocolate!

are you planning on going through BLS or spoon feeding? if you want to do BLS maybe start with the spoon being empty, then after a few days, add a bit of farex (if you want to feed her that) and let her guide it herself....

E has never been spoon fed anything - she eats almost anything, provided it isn't bland (mash has to have pepper and onion for her to eat it - plain gets spat!)

[Barb Glare]

Chocolate tends to have that effect on us!
Observe your little one over the next few days. Bet she really looks at you while you brsch your hair....or put on your lipstick on wipe the kitchen bench. At this age they are little sponges - soaking up everything that goes on around them.
give it time until her system is fully developed. She doesn't need anything other than your milk right now.
No-one suggests starting solids at 3 months. The recommendations are to start solids at 6mnths - and to my knowledge no-one is suggesting a change. The policy is well researched. Even the Allergist Association who are the most conservative absolutley state on their website - in bold print - not to introduce solids before 4 mnths.

[CrazyLady]

Thanks for the clarification Barb. Good to know!

[Jennifer13]

NaeNae, I second what Barb said. Particularly since she showed little interest in doing anything when she was actually holding the food herself.

No harm in waiting just a bit longer - and TBH my DD wasn't truly interested until after 7 mths, even though she tasted and tried before that.

[Miss E]

My DS was the same and showed a real interest quite early on. I started off giving him things to taste at around 5.5 months. It was summer and he was teething so I would peel a carrot and let him suck on that. I know some people would freak out and say that is a major choking hazard, but he didn't have teeth or any means of breaking a piece off, really it was just something nice and cool to suck on that had a little bit of flavour iykwim.