The recommendation is 6 months for starting solids however there is also a school of thought that introducing the highly allergenic foods between 4 and 7 months reduces allergies. This threw me when Liz Hallam our pediatrician from Flourish Pediatrics told me about it. I think there might be info on her website.
We do BLW with some spoon feeding and follow DD's cues. She was interested early so we gave her a few tiny tastes. We introduces the top 8 highly allergenic foods between 6&7 months as recommended so we were covering all bases.
We also want DD to have a broad pallet so we have given her a huge range of foods- from goats cheese to cumin, lentils, rare beef, tofu... You name it if we've got it in the house( apart from honey) or on our plates at a restaurant we give her some.
It's important to wait until your LO is showing signs of being interested. And for ages it's more about tasting and learning than actually eating and swallowing.
The advice re allergies has changed in recent years, the general 6 month recommendation has been around for quite some time, however, though obviously some health professionals don't always pass on the official advice (though they're supposed to) and obviously individual parents can do whatever they wish in any case
The timing of the introduction of possible allergen foods is a tricky one, largely due to the lack of good data. In countries like Australia, most babies receive solids and/or formula before 6 months (and many before 4 months) so it's really hard to say one way or the other because we have so few babies who reach the 6 month mark exclusively breastfed, let alone any further than that.
We do know that introducing anything other than breastmilk before 4 months significantly increases the risks of allergies. We also know that weaning from the breast while introducing solids increases the risks of allergies - so continuing to breastfeed while you're introducing appears to offer some protection.
I had the same concern like you when my DD was about 4 month, because all my friends' baby introduced solid food from 4 month. I tried to introduced rice cereal since my DD was 4 month, but she obviously didn't ready by then because she started to cry every time i put the spoon into her mouth. Then we stopped, after few times attempts when she was five months, she loved rice cereal. now she is nine months and she loves solid food. so it's always up to your baby whenever they are ready.
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