Solids at 6 months...??

[Saffi]

I understood 6 months was the general recommendation as the iron stores that bub was born with are depleted by that time and need to be replenished through food. Also their intestines are more mature to be able to cope with solids.

That said if they aren't interested or have still got the tongue thrusting then they may not be ready.

In either case milk is their primary food for the first 12 months.

DS turns 6 months on Sunday and we intend to start him on farex.

[Trillian]

Bubs wont be affected at all if you don't start them right away, and solids at first isnt' about a 'meal' anyway - its about learning the different tastes and textures and getting used to eating. Alister is 7mths old now and only been on solids for 4 wks and its only in the last week that he is recognising it as a 'meal' and gets excited about eating it. he is still only on one meal a day though.

[LimeSlice]

Thanks girls!
I am not too fusses if she doesn't start at 6 months...I think she will let me know. and for the time being she just seems interested in everything in general, like you said Tan.
I just want to make sure that starting her later isn't going to effect how well she takes to different or unusual tastes, iykwim?
I would like her to have a varied taste from a young age (all my brother ate was cheese lol) like DF and I do, sothat its not a battle when she gets older.

Thanks again

[MantaRay]

Saffi - wrt to iron stores, there is no magic age at which they are depleted. It is generally at some time between 6 and 12 months, and depends on a number of factors including bfing vs ffing (more iron is absorbed from bm than from any other source) and amount of cord blood received (ie if the cord is clamped immediately then baby gets less cord blood and less iron stores). If a baby is running low on iron and needing food, then they will start showing the signs of being ready. If they are not showing the signs then they don't need it.

LS - IKWYM about eating a variety of foods. But IMO exposing them to a good variety of different foods in the first year or so of eating is far more likely to achieve a good eater, than starting earlier. Jack didn't really eat well until nearly 12 months, I tried him but he wasn't interested. Tom started at 6 months and was quickly on 3 meals a day. Both eat a huge variety of foods and I think that's due to the fact that we introduced them to that, and had them eating the same foods as us soon in their eating journeys.

Also, it is about repetition, giving them the same food lots of times, even if they don't like it at first, because often they need to get used to a food before they like it. I have heard the saying that it can take 99 refusals before they eat something, well you'd better believe it. Jack would never eat tomatoes, I lost count of the number of times he flat out refused to try them. Then one day he asked for salad. After I picked myself off the floor I gave him some, he ate it and asked for more. Now tomatoes are one of his favourite foods. If I had have just given him his favourites all the time - yoghurt, cheese and vegemite sandwiches - that's probably all he'd eat now.