unless there was a specific medical problem that required your DD to have solids, i wouldn't go for it just yet. we left it till DS was almost 6 months - he actually grabbed some bread & started sucking/eating it when he was a couple of weeks short of 6 months. we still didn't push it at this point & only offered a few times till he reached the 6 months & seemed ready as well (tongue thrust reflex etc)

my personal opinion (which is limited to just one baby!!) is that you really do know when they're ready.

we chose to do mostly BLS (and my council/health nurse promotes this as well) & it went pretty well. we did also incorporate some spoon feeding.