Getting Ready for Solids

Lily is really showing an interest in food.  She is so excited about watching us eat and drink different things.  For the past several weeks, she's been nursing constantly, and it was mentioned that she'd start to sleep through the night a little more once she started solids, if we fed her solids before bedtime.  I thought I would try to breastfeed her exclusively for as long as possible, but I feel like I'm dying here some days.  I was really gunning to start them this week, but she's only 5.5 months old.  She has 2.5 weeks to go before the recommended 6 months.  A recent news article on starting solids too early made us rethink jumping the gun. 

There is a lot of contradicting advice out there. It was said not to start solids before 4 months.  Doctors have been known to recommend rice cereal or other foods for combating different situations to babies younger than 4 months.  The main difference in the advice we considered on a quick-and-dirty, desperate internet search was sitting supported versus unsupported.  Babycenter.com suggested a baby was ready for solids when he/she had good head control and could sit up well while supported.  Kellymom.com said that a baby should be able to sit up well without support. 

The checklist from Kellymom.com: 

• Baby can sit up well without support.
• Baby has lost the tongue-thrust reflex and does not automatically push solids out of his mouth with his tongue.
• Baby is ready and willing to chew.
• Baby is developing a “pincer” grasp, where he picks up food or other objects between thumb and forefinger. Using the fingers and scraping the food into the palm of the hand (palmar grasp) does not substitute for pincer grasp development.
• Baby is eager to participate in mealtime and may try to grab food and put it in his mouth.

Lily is definitely NOT sitting up well without support.  She's very good with support, and she is getting better at sitting up on her own.  I have watched her start to really loose the tongue-thrust reflex, but I think this might still be there a little bit.  She is certainly experimenting with her ability to chew.  She chews on our fingers, on teethers, on clothes, and on my nipple!  She is not using her pincer grasp, but I wouldn't count her out of solids if she was working on this.  She is most certainly curious about mealtime, and she really enjoys watching us eat.  I do expect her to start trying to grab for food and put it into her mouth.  We keep hot things away from her, but is is grabbing for cups and bottles.

In reading about why it's good to wait, the reasons that jumped out at us were:

1. Possibility that her digestive tract isn't ready to handle them.  We won't know when exactly Lily's body is ready for something other than breastmilk, so the recommended 6 month marker is meant to ensure that a baby is ready. 
2. Increased potential of developing food-related allergies.  We've seen how these can affect a person, so it would be great if we could spare Lily from that experience.
3. Increased opportunities for illness once solids start.  One of the main reasons I was so gung-ho to breastfeed was to prevent illness as long as possible.  So, that's one of the reasons to delay solids now.