Our twinkle is about the same age as Willa and we started feeding her solids right about the time she hit five months. Before that I'd given her a couple of tastes of things I was eating and she was really into it, so I figured she was ready. She is eating like it's going out of fashion (which it is in some fashion circles I suppose) and is now having six breast feeds and three mushy vegetable feeds a day. I understand why the guidelines say six months, but all kids are individuals so we can't all sit around waiting for the exact day they turn six months. Enjoy the feeding - I'm finding it very amusing with the twinkle.

Honestly, I can't remember; probably 6mo. She has no food allergies that I know of, but neither do I or her father. Her main problem is that she's the pickiest eater EVER.
You're Willa's mother; go with your gut; I'm sure she'll do fine. Most kids are like, "OMIG This is what life tastes like?! Fabulous!"

We started our daughter on solids at around 5 and a half months. I was breastfeeding, and all the sudden she was waking up 3 or 4 times a night to eat, so I called the doctor, and he said it was time for solids.

No allergies that I am aware of, but she did have some sensitivities, (like apple and citrus) but we just avoided them for a while, and she's fine now.

Good luck! Solids is a really fun time. :-)

I think it was around 5 months for my daughter, but tastes of things before that.
No food allergies in my family and now none for her.

The "recommendations" are guidelines based on averaging a lot of information and erring on the side of caution. You're the parents...you know your daughter best. Don't feel even remotely worried about this!

She is so gorgeous! As a parent you listened to your instincts and it worked out well, It may not always but thats the joy of kid #1 - they get to be the guinea pig. :0P

My oldest started on solids at 4 months. He is now a tall, slim 5 year old.
My youngest at 2 months. He's almost 6 months and is in the 90th percentile for height and weight.
Neither has any food allergies.
Always go with mama instinct!

John was about 4.5 months old...and he does not have food allergies now. He's allergic to other stuff but nothing food-related, thank goodness. He was also large, although he never looked it, he's just a solid kid and the solids certainly helped keep his tummy full a little longer - otherwise he was non-stop feeding.

My first was getting really watery cereal at 3 mos. and baby food by 4-5 mos. He's fine. So's the second who started mushy cereal at 3 mos. #1 was 8lb 11oz at birth, #2 9lb 14oz, so they were already humongous to start. #1 was teething at 2 mos. Neither has allergies. #1 is 19 & #2 is 12 now.

We started our little guy on solids around 4 months. He was also very big and neither of us or our families have food allergies. Our doctor told us to start him at 4 months even though all the books and public health nurses say 6. Again, mother intuition ruled! He's now 2 and is pickier than hell! It's less fun when they can protest! lol

We started Zoe on really watery cereal right after her 4 month check up because she was so under weight. Poor thing looks chubby but is really a skinny mini. No allergies yet, and we're going to start introducing fruits and veggies soon.

My oldest, now nine was started on solids at 3.5 months... back then they said you could at 4 months. My 7 year old we started at 5 months as he wasn't interested at 4 months. My baby is now 18months old and 'they' said not to start her until 6 months but I think it was about 5 months with her too!
None of them are allergic to anything, which is interesting because my husband is allergic to EVERYTHING! GO figure!

We waited until 6 months and even then she wasn't really into it. It took quite awhile to get her into more complicated textures. She didn't really have interest in our food until she got into her own food. Our doctor recommended beginning with vegetables and then moving to fruit and cereal; that seemed to work well for us.
We avoided dairy because my husband has asthma and other allergies...and then my daughter turned out to have a severe dairy protein allergy (which we discovered after we gave her a small amount of gelato at around 12 months). Sigh. She's also allergic to wheat, bananas and avocados (and probably latex). And she has asthma. All of the food allergies were discovered with blood tests.
I certainly hope that you don't have to deal with these allergies. I'm not sure feeding your child when they are showing signs of readiness (even if it's a bit early) is going to cause an allergy. I think the concern lies with those parents who shovel in the pre-masticated rice krispy treats when their babies are 3 months old.
Best of luck! I'm positive you are doing what's right for your uber-cute baby.

It's hard for me to remember, since mine are 13, 10, 6, and 4. But I wish that there had been more recommendations to go by, so that at least you can make an informed decision like you have.

My suggestion as a mom is to feed her what she is ready for. If it's solids she wants, solids she gets! But.
Stay away from the things that are more likely to trigger allergies...eggs, peanut buttery things, strawberry (like yogurt), etc.

My second was the one who loved scrambled eggs. One of his first foods since he rejected baby foods for the most part. I'd have to look at his baby book to see when we first started him on rice cereals and he VERY QUICKLY (he was a big boy) moved on to bigger and better things. Developed an egg allergy. When he was 18 months, I was letting him chomp on some dry cereal in his high chair and he had a reaction to Capn' Crunch cereal. Who knew they actually put peanut butter in it?!? Yup. Peanut allergy.

Some kids are more susceptible, but I definitely blame myself for giving him the eggs too early and possibly setting off this chain reaction of allergies.

Good thing -- since he was so young and we were diligent about his allergies, he has since lost all food allergies. He has environmental and cat allergies, but the foods are gone, per the blood tests and food challenges.

Sorry to hog the comment box, but my synopsis is:
do what you feel is right for her eating (solids), just stay away from common allergens.

Boy, I'm talky this morning.

I started all my kids on solids at 5 mo. With no regard for food allergies, i was interested in getting them to SLEEP THROUGH THE NIGHT. The first solid meals were given an hour or 2 before bed-time, & it worked like a charm.

wow.

how is your child so completely flawless??????

Go with your gut. The diaper will tell you all you need to know about who is ready for what.

Neither of my kids had food allergies of any kind - and both had only a few weeks on the breast before circumstances forced the bottle on us. They grew up just fine ... as will Willa.

We started P at 6 months and I cried... he didn't need his mama anymore! He was good initially but since he was sick, it's become an uphill battle, and we're lucky to get one meal a day out of him. The one thing we can normally get into him is mashed sweet potato.

Neither of us have food allergies. Well, actually my mouth goes all tingly and 'prickly' when I eat mangoes but I *love* those suckers and I'm not about to give up. Anaphylaxis? We live next door to an outpatient clinic, I'm sure they have some adrenaline/epinephrine...

my daughter Allie was about 5 months old when we started feeding her solids. She hated cereal; in fact, she rejected most foods with the exception of sweet potatoes. She would only eat the sweet potato baby food. Now, she will eat anything but sweet potatoes. haha.

We started rice at 4 months and vegetables at 5 months then fruits at 6 months. Please try to listen to the doctor-they have reasons for waiting.

Nola turns 2 months tomorrow and she has already tried ice cream, italian ice and at Thanksgiving WILL have pumpkin pie. I haven't technically "started" her on solid food, but I'm sure it will be early.

I have three children and they all started at different ages. You did the right thing. You know your child better than anyone else. The guidelines are just suggestions. Every child is different and all children develop at different rates. Keep listening to your inner voice and everything will turn out just fine.

I'm having the same dilemma at the moment. Our 'little guy' (he's 20 pounds at a few days over 5 months!!! 97 percentile for height and weight!!!) all of a sudden wants to eat every three hours again. I'm thinking that it might be time to transition him, and am taking him to the doc to see what she says. I've had friends that started their babes on cereal around this time though.

I think having a hard-set date cutoff for those things is silly. Every baby is SO different, it's impossible to say 'absolutely no solids' until 6 months... or 'absolutely no cow's milk' until 12 months. I have friends who have given their babies cow's milk at 9, 10, 11 months.. they're fine. But some babies just aren't ready for it, or the parents aren't. I appreciate the guidelines given to me by the pediatrician, but ultimately I try to research things on my own and read Maggie's clues to see where she leads us :)

I started both my children on solids at around 4 months and neither child has any food allergies, although the youngest is only 9 months old :-)

At around 3 and a half months both children started paying great attention to what we were doing at mealtimes, tracking the fork from the time it left the plate until it entered our mouths - and then my daughter started reaching for our food. I took this as the cue to start solids.

My daughter took to rice cereal straight away and had no problems swallowing it, but my son initially kept spitting it out. So we waited a few weeks before trying again with him, and the second time round he had no troubles.

In my experience motherhood features neverending worry and guilt about whether you are doing the right thing! Your child is the best judge in the end.

Good luck with it!

My first was 4 months - he has no allergies. My second was 13 months and she also has no allergies.

Hi, kind of a lurker here, found you through Dooce...

I'm a nanny to two twin 7-month old boys, and their mother started them on rice cereal mixed with breastmilk right at 4-months with the doctor's okay. They began to eat baby food (veggies first) at 5 months. They both actually prefer oatmeal cereal now, and won't eat rice cereal. We mix it with water and fruit. They are small for their age as they were born premature and at 7 months only weigh 14 and 16 pounds. They were showing the signs and picked it up really quickly, so like what everyone else said, only you know what's best. Just be sure to wait at least four days before introducing something new, so if an allergic reaction does occur, you'll know what caused it.

My lil man was a big chunky baby and we started with rice cereal mixed w/breastmilk at 3 months and then started single veggies and fruit. However, we made our own.. we didn't use the store bought kind, we put plain veggies and/or fruit in a blender and made our own.

Every baby is different and if you feel you did the right thing, then you did.

My doc was a quack, he insisted I stop breastfeeding when my son was 9 months old becuase he said it wasn't "nescessary". So I didn't put too much faith in what he had to say.

I've been a lurker for months and months! My daughter is 4 months old and breast fed as well. My pediatrician told me at 4 months to start solids. As of yet I've only given her runny runny rice with breast milk and she loved the spoon!!! Good for you for going with your mommy instincts!!!

Oddly enough, my oldest daughter didn't start eating solid foods until she was a year old. She simply wasn't interested. She weighed 23 pounds at six months old, so she wasn't exactly starving to death. lol! Had she exhibited interest in eating solids, we would have gladly given them to her -- it would have given me a break from being a dairy cow.

With my youngest, I can't even remember when she started solids...though I suspect it was much earlier because she was more interested in food, in general. She was also interested in whatever anyone else was doing -- especially her big sister.

Whatever works, works. I can remember horror stories of mothers putting rice cereal in their baby's formula at 2 days old. I wouldn't go so far as to recommend that, but if your baby is snatching the banana out of your hand, chances are, she's ready to eat!

Those same pediatricians, by the way, are responsible for ridiculous weight charts that are completely arbitrary, as far as I can tell. My oldest was a tank. My youngest was very petite. They both drank milk from the same boobs.

And today, they're healthy weights and heights. In fact, my oldest (the tank) is actually short for her age. So much for being off the charts!

Baby Number 1) About 6 weeks she started getting rice cereal and peaches or pears... I think some KFC mashed potatoes too!

Baby Number 2) Rice cereal and fruit about 5-6 weeks and he was STILL hungry. Voracious little eater but has the metabolism of an Olympian.

Baby Number 3) Gosh - do I even remember? By the time you have baby number three you are pretty laid back and relaxed and you don't even bother asking the doctor when you should or shouldn't do things. I image she was probably about 6 weeks as well.

Nope, no allergies. All healthy happy little buggers.

Mommy knows best