What age did you start your child on solid or table food?

Sharon - posted on 02/03/2010

6 months is the absolute minimum age to start solids according to the World Health Organisation and they even suggest to wait longer than that if possible. Even then it should be as bland and simple as possible and most people suggest avoiding foods that are known as allergy foods until 2, 3 or even 4 years of age (depending on the child and the food) such as seafood (probably just shellfish I think), nuts, eggs, strawberries and I can't think of any more right now. The idea is to avoid causing the allergies later in life I think but my kids don't have allergies and I pretty much fed them everything (through ignorance) except shellfish and peanut butter. If your child seems to want more he might be ready, otherwise wait as long as possible. Unlike the last post, I would definitely NOT feed them juice until they are old enough to ask for it. I don't even give my kids (12, 5 and 4) juice now except as a treat or a small quantity in with fresh veggie juice just to make it more palatable: it has far too much sugar (fructose) in it and they get as many nutrients and more fibre by eating whole fruit and drinking water.

Stacey - posted on 02/03/2010

6mnths by the age of 8mnths she was eating what we were having for dinner. And she has water in a cup at each meal. She has 3 main meals. ... and usually a snack or two through out the day depending on sleeps and what we are up to throughout the day :)

Kara - posted on 02/03/2010

i started feeding my son table food at three months he did just fine we had to mash it to begin with but after a month he was doing good on his own but he also had teeth by then so could chew good enough

Crystal - posted on 02/03/2010

I wouldn't feed him table foods yet, but I would offer him tastes of regular food. I know kids always want what their parents' have, even at that young age. All of my kids did, and still do. It is better for him to stick with baby food until he is older and his body is able to digest regular food better.

Lori - posted on 02/02/2010

my son is going to be 10 mths on the tenth, he started eating food at three mths, so I would do what you think is best for your child, if your son shows interest in food when you are eating then give some to him. childern learn from watching thier parents.

Sheree - posted on 02/02/2010

I started my little girl at about 5.5 months. She is now eating everything we eat. She loves it all. I can put together a list of everything we feed her if it helps?

Jaz - posted on 02/02/2010

my daughter was fairly unsatisfied early on and she did not feed well, so i started her off at around 4 months, firstly giving her small bites of the steamed veg from my plate and sometimes rice cereal, progressing on to full mini meals & sometimes prepacked comercial baby food after six months. However i didn't actually give her any meat or fish until she was around 8 months. but now she likes nothing more than a piece of steak or lamb chop about 5cm or more in diameter (to big to fit in her mouth & choke on) to chew on and suck the juice out of. This provides her with all of the things she would get from eating meat, such as iron & sufficient animal fat without risking her choking on it because she doesnt like to chew yet lol

Tammy - posted on 02/02/2010

I think you will get alot of conflicting advice on when to start feeding your child solids, but i'm pretty sure its recommended that you start feeding your child solids at 6 months of age as the iron levels that they had built up begin to decrease. I started feeding my son single pureed food at the age of four months at dinner, mainly due to poor weight gain. At six months of age he started having lunch, Now at seven months of age he has just started to have breakfast, lunch and dinner, with about 6 bf per day. He has yoghurt for breakfast, fruit for lunch and vege for dinner. I make his own food except for the yoghurt. I haven't really started him on 'our food' but because of all the additives like salt, preservatives etc. My son reeeally enjoys his food, he will cry when the jar is gone!

Marie - posted on 02/02/2010

I started my daughter around six and a half months. It's really up to the baby. When the baby starts showing interest in your food, you should start sharing. Obviously make sure it's soft stuff so they don't choke, but as soon as he shows interest you should start trying. And they won't like everything right away, it takes a few times for a little one to figure out if they like it or not. Remember, picky eaters aren't born, they're taught!
If you have any other questions, just ask! Love to help!
Good luck!

Dana - posted on 02/02/2010

8 months we began tasting but they didn't get that one solid food meal per day until after age one. I did start juice early, watered down. I think I started that around 8 months. I personally believe that breastmilk is all they need until they begin to act unsatisfied, then begin adding the *tasty* stuff and see how it goes. Have fun with it!