5 months really too early for solids??

Hi there everyone. Just looking for a little advice. I really think my DS is almost ready for solids. In 5 days he will be 5 months old. At the moment he is on Inner Health Plus Infant Probiotics as he is on antibiotics, this comes in a powder form (similiar to farex) and is mixed with EBM to form a solid. Jack takes this from the spoon, probably about 3 small baby spoons full. He has been on this for about 2 weeks once a day. I have noticed the last week that he does not push it out with his tongue at all, I don't even have to wipe his mouth. When he sees the spoon he just goes crazy kicking and laughing...and grabs at the spoon with both hands and tries to shove it in his mouth, LOL, I have to hang on tight or his probiotics will go everywhere. He then screams blue murder when its all gone, it has no flavour, but i think he just really enjoys eating.

My question is do you think if I wait about a week till 5 months it would be too early to start giving him a little bit of solids once a day? (My older kids all started at 3 or 4 months, but, that was just the done thing in those days, LOL, and they are all very healthy) I really wanted to do the whole finger food, BLS thing, but I'm thinking that 5 months may be too early to do that. I don't want to give Farex (maybe just use as a thickener for other foods if needed). What are the best foods to start with?

I'm really just looking for some opinions and am happy to hear what you have done or are planning to do with your baby.

ETA: Also, Jack has been waking up a lot more frequently at night for feeds and thought maybe some solids will help with this. (The other night was 2 hourly...grrrrrr) he is exclusively BF.

Hun, my personal opinion is that I would wait, jic. Some babies are ready earlier, but it does no harm to wait, even if they are ready. Certainly losing the tongue-thrust reflex is one sign that he is ready, but it is just one sign. Does he have any teeth yet? That can also be a sign that they are ready. The risk is that if his digestive system isn't ready, you might cause a problem now, or down the track.

I highly recommend travelling the BLS path. I didn't do it with DS1 and did with DS2, and DS2 is by far a better eater. That might not be soley due to BLS, but I am sure it at least contributed. Also, the amount of time and mess that is saved by not pureeing foods, and also the fact that they get so much more nutrition from finger foods than from farex are enough to make waiting until 6 months worthwhile IMO.

GL with your decision hun. I know this age is a tricky one - they seem to grow up so much around the 5 - 6 month mark.

Yeah, I know deep down that you are right, LOL. I really do want to go the BLS path.
DH told MIL that Jack is not sleeping that well at night and I have pressure from her (thank godness she lives 7 hours away and it's only over the phone) to start him on solids, and she is coming down next weekend so I will have to put up with her "advice" all weekend.:rolleyes:

It is a very hard age, sometimes he seems like such a little baby and then the next minute he's such a big boy. I can't even leave him on the floor unsupervised for a minute anymore as he does the "back shuffle" and can be across the room in a matter of seconds. Our whole house is tiled, with only one rug for him to play on.

By the way, he doesn't have any teeth yet, but is definently teething.

What is BLS?

I would say go with whatever feels right. I think Bug started eating solids about five months. While I was at a sleep school, I saw the feeding guide which said from four months, but everyone ('experts') at that point were telling me from six months. Apparently the guidelines had changed (and babies too) that they weren't ready to eat solids until six. Whatever. I gave Steph tastes of everything, and she would be excited to see us eating or to see the spoon too, so we just started giving her solids. She actually settled down 100% after started giving her lots of solids (would scream ALL day long, but wasn't hungry).

Good luck.

There's an article in TheAge today that suggests that Dr's will be asking the NHMRC to change the guidelines for introducing solids to reduce allergies - but it's not clear what the new guidelines will be, other than earlier introduction of some foods and not waiting to introduce potential allergens.

It's very annoying when you have a just-starting-solids baby and the rules get all broken :(

ofcourse its not too early. U know ur son better than ANYONE else. If YOU think hes ready then go for it.

Food allergies isn't about mum knowing her baby - how is she supposed to know whether her child will have allergies prior to introducing solids? I don't know about the rest of you, but I'm not psychic! There is current advice (not possible future advice) that says there is a significant benefit to waiting until your child is 6 months. If you decide to feed your baby earlier than that, that's great but I would be wary of advising people that it's something they should be doing. Babies are not all the same, allergies are a very real and difficult issue to deal with, and pretending that there aren't any potential health issues related to started early, IMO, is irresponsible.

Any mother who has a child with food allergies would be advising you to wait. And as a mum who has an asthmatic child I too keep saying the same thing. In fact if your family has a history of eczema, migraine, asthma or hayfever, your child's risk of developing food allgeries increase. You should know these things and be armed with that information before making your decision. So it's a lot more than just 'knowing your baby'.

nah i dont think it is too early. i just started my DD this week and she is loving it and there is no sign of any prob. bit harder poo's but thats all.

Just wanted to point out too that while many children won't have any problems, there are also many children who do. Lucky if you're the mother who has a child with no probelms. Hopefully you aren't the one whose child does develop allergies.

And yes, sometimes you don't find out about their allergies until they are much older, because reactions to allergans can be a cumulative thing. There are loads of threads about it here on BB, if anyone cares to read them.

Hi Marlene,
We are doing the baby led solids thing & I would have started DS about 5 mnths 2 weeks but it was really really slowly. I would give him something to eat every couple of days, until building it slowly up to every day & now I am building upto twice a day. He was also sitting really well for at least 5 mins unassisted. I started with a cruskit cause he was teething & he really like the hardness, I gave him a whole one at first but now I cut then in half so I have 2 shorter halves IYKWIM? Then it was a brocoli floret - which he loves, banana was also an early food & strawberry too, he has tried pumpkin, sweet potatoe, cauliflower, & loves zuchini. I have been giving him pear for the last week or so which he loves, I also give him some bread with avocado & toast etc...

Now don't get me wrong he doesn't 'eat' all of it, most of it is squashed but I am not worried by the amount he does or doesn't eat, for me it is about him learning how to put it to his mouth & gum/chew (now he has 2 teeth) & swallow.

A thing about the swallowing you will find he gags at first, I put this down to them not being used to the weight of the food, he will also swallow bits that are to big & will gag it back up. DS still has to bring bits back up but doesn't gag so much, if his eyes weren't watering you wouldn't even know.
Here are some threads that have been started here recently, the first one has links to videos of first foods on youtube, really interesting & this is what encouraged us & the 2nd one is the current link.
Starting solids? - baby led solids chatter
Starting solids? - Baby Led Solids Chatter #2

BTW I was also under pressure from dp because his friends had started thier baby on solids & baby is now sleeping through. I did not start for this reason I genuinely believed my ds was ready & it has definitely NOT helped his sleeping, he is still waking up very regularly for his boob.

HTH & GL with whatever you decide, 4 weeks seems like a long time but isn't really. If you have any hesitation I would wait for as long as you can.

Thanks everyone for your opinions and advice.

I have been watching the you tube videos and definently want to go the way of BLS...if i can handle the gagging, LOL, it just might freak me out a bit too much. So i will most likely wait till at least 6 months, otherwise i think I would have to start him on purees, which I don't really want to do.

Hmmmm...it's such a confusing time, still undecided.

Any other advice or experiences are very welcome.

njd...thanks for the links will check them out now.

I know that the Age and some news reports today, but the thing is it is an early research, so it would be something to keep an ear close too. But having said that, I would try and keep with the World Health Organisation's recommendations that solids start after the 6 month age.

I waited until Jovie was 6 months to start anything because she had food intolerances through breastmilk and I was freaked out. I read some pretty scary stuff at the allergist and there was no way I was going to introduce things early.

Waking at around 4.5 to 5 months is a developmental phase 90% of babies go through, starting solids won't help that at all. In fact, starting solids can hurt their tums no matter the ages as they get used to things and if they are already waking in the night, I personally wouldn't want things to get worse. With Jovie she had a hard time the first few weeks with her tum, we had to take it one day at a time. After 2 weeks she was ready to go.

Marlene, not all babies gag at first with finger food. My DS didn't at all. So while it could happen, don't worry too much about it or let it put you off. FWIW I think you will be glad you decided to go with BLS. I certainly was (although TBH I didn't know that was what I was doing at the time LOL!).

And I also want to reiterate that allergies do not necessarily show up the first time the food exposure occurs. It can take an increased exposure. In the case of DS1, one of his allergies showed up the first time, the other one only after a few weeks. And I have heard of it taking years to show up.

A few weeks ago when I was at my hospital follow up for DS, the speech path & plastic surgeon told me that the WHO (World Health Organisation) are currently reviewing it's recommendation of solids at 6 months. They told me that it's likely the will be recommending from 5 months from next year.

Hence, these specialist said if I wanted to try solids for DS from 5 months (and I felt he was ready) - to go for it.

We are introducing rice cereal slowly (DS has a cleft palate which makes everything trickier) via his bottle. Apart from a few tummy aches (nothing Brauer Stomach Calm doesn't fix) - we've had no issues so far.

Basically, I think you should do whatever YOU feel is right. Just go slow and watch for any problems...

Good luck!

I'm pretty sure that the signs of readiness are not age dependant but baby dependant. These are:

Can sit unassisted.
Can grab and hold food.
Can get food into mouth.
Does not tongue-thrust food out of mouth.
Can gum/chew food (having teeth is a good sign, but this is less relevant after 6 months, since a 4 month old who cannot sit and has no teeth probably isn't ready, whereas an 11month old who can WALK but has no teeth certainly will be!) and swallow.

Research indicates spoon-feeding isn't the most useful way to begin for most babies, and really with #2 i'm not going to worry about any of it. I'm going to eat wholesome foods and let #2 be in reach of them from whenever it's necessary (like i'm not going to try to eat stood up away from DD while she moaned for the boob like i did first time around - i don't think she saw food that wasn't toast for the first 7 months of life!) and if they are showing the signs of being ready, and grab and try some, WHATEVER age they are, that's ok with me. At the point when mummy's belly is still rumbling after meals because bubs has half-inched a decent portion, bubs will be getting their own portion.

I am leaning quite strongly towards being baby-led in all things. I have personally never seen a 4 month old who could sit unaided and use a pincer grasp to manipulate food and eat, but no doubt they exist occasionally. MOST babies will not have the signs of readiness much before 6 months, but some might, just as some will have no interest before 7 or even 8 months. Pay attention to your baby.

For those who KNOW there are allergies in the family history waiting until 6 months, regardless of readiness, isn't going to do baby any harm. Most babies will not be displaying the above signs before about 5-5.5 months and a few weeks is nothing. For those who aren't sure about their family history i suggest you read not only the guidelines, but the studies behind them. When you read a guideline you are reading an opinion of an individual or team of individuals, based on their understanding of the study and their own experiences. As a parent YOU will be responsible for whatever outcomes your actions have for your kids, so it's perfectly ok if, upon reading the study, you come to a different conclusion.

Bx