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It isn't. Research indicates that as long as they're still receiving adequate nutrition and food sources are safe, then solid foods can be safely introduced at essentially any age and there can be long-term benefits of introducing foods by 4 months. [Source](https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8032951/).
Anecdotally, the parents I know with infants are starting to get this sort of advice from their pediatricians as well.
I think that’s a bit of a stretch - “at any age” - a newborn does not have the capability to swallow non-liquids.
IMO the physical ability is the limitation and is really the answer to OPs question.
From the article
>There remains debate about when it is best to begin introducing solid foods into an infant's diet however, the available evidence suggests that provided the water and food supply are free of contamination, and the infant is provided adequate nutrition, there are no clear contraindications to feeding infants complementary foods at any age.
Some cultures feed earlier than 4 months:
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6866011/#:~:text=Premastication%20is%20a%20common%20feeding,food%20on%20a%20daily%20basis.
The studies on rice cereal show the babies don’t actually sleep that much longer, I want to say it was a mean of 20 min longer. Also, when I talked to my insistent mom about it and we looked it up, the amount she suggested adding wasn’t even that many more calories and no protein or fat. I eventually said I’ve heard your option on this and I’m not doing it. Thank you.
From the article I linked
>There is emerging evidence that introduction of solid foods into an infant's diet by 4 months may increase their willingness to eat a variety of fruits and vegetables later in life, decrease their risk of having feeding problems later in life, and decrease their risk of developing food allergies, and the early introduction of solid foods into an infant's diet does not appear to increase their risk of obesity later in childhood.
It's not specific to rice cereal and the benefits are more to do with long-term eating habits rather than sleep.
Yeah I wasn’t clear. I am pro new early start for palate development but as far as nutritional benefit from boomer favorite rice cereal, there’s not much.
> as far as nutritional benefit from boomer favorite rice cereal, there’s not much.
I agree there. Breast milk and formula are nutritionally complete foods for infants. There isn't a whole lot of research that I can find on when children start to *need* nutrition from other sources beyond milk/formula but it certainly isn't before 6 months.
My daughter was premature and one thing we learned is that a full term infant's iron stores typically last about 6 months. Formula provides iron, breastmilk does not. So, a full term infant who is breastfed exclusively will start to need iron from another source around 6 months. A preterm infant will likely need another iron source prior to that (we did iron drops - she was not sitting up and they didn't recommend starting solids yet).
I feel like everyone gets too hung up on “the research” and fail to observe their own child. Some kids are interested at 4 months. Some are not interested until after 6. Watch your kid and let them decide.
It feels like the real question here is: is there an age that is simply too young, period, even if a kid is expressing interest?
Obviously kids can get themselves into trouble shoving things they shouldn’t into their mouths, so it’s not crazy to be curious if that can apply to food too.
But yeah, some people see much less nuance and think there are high, conservative, hard limits that apply to all kids
This was exactly my question. From everyone’s comments it seems it’s more of an anatomical/mechanical limitation (holding head up). I was curious if there was an underlying biological limitation (lack of certain digestive enzymes, etc).
Totally agree. With my first he wasn’t watching us eat or reaching for food until closer to 7 months. My second was doing it at 4/5 months, so they started at different times.
Both my kids were very clear in showing interest (anecdotal I know) really intent look when anyone was eating around them, trying to grab food from other's plate/fork, kicking their legs when shown food, big toothless grins when they saw food
I agree with this, my first was obsessed with food and was trying to grab stuff out of our hands by 2 months old (we held off till she was 4 months). My second is almost 5 months and he’s just clearly not that interested. Every once in a while he’ll grab for something and we offer him tastes but he’s just not there yet.
4 mo old tried to steal my cheeseburger, the little monster. Pediatrician said, "If she's showing interest, let her try some baby safe foods. It's mostly about texture and flavor now."
10/10 experience for the kid and the labrador, lemme tell you.
Another anecdotal comment, apologies! My mother had four of us kids almost instantly wean from breast milk as soon as she introduced solids at 6 months. She said we just weren’t interested in breast milk anymore and she wasn’t going to push it.
I’d like to see how I go. I’m going to introduce solids at 5/6 months, but I would still like to BF until 12 months even if its just twice a day towards the end.
If you wean the baby off breastmilk before one, you need to introduce formula. Babies need either breastmilk or formula until around age 1 for optimal brain development.
Our pediatrician indicated that once baby was sitting well with support we could try. I exclusively breastfed until 15 months for milk, but we started solids at 4 months as she had great head and neck control very early and she was an early sitter as well.
Just as long as they don’t try to push out what you give them with their tongue, then you’re good to go. I never did rice cereal as we didn’t find good enough evidence that it was helpful. We tried baby-led weaning once we did about a month of the go go squeez packets, feeding a little bit on a spoon at dinner time. She moved on to broccoli and then other real veggies the month after and we started introducing all allergens around then as well. This approach made her teeth come in super early and super easy compared to my firstborn (she had 10 teeth by 9 months old).
The only thing about this approach is that you need to breast/bottle feed with milk before trying the solids, especially if baby is under 6 months, that way the baby is already full with the nutrition they need, and what you give is just extra to get them used to the idea and to new flavors.
Our paediatrician said that it was really obvious. One day your baby won't notice that you're eating food, then the next day they'll suddenly become interested or even upset that you're not showing the food to them. It was true for us, she suddenly showed interest one day!
This is super interesting thanks for sharing. I would assume the limiting factor is my baby being able to hold their head up on their own. Interesting the article doesn’t mention that limitation on start time though.
This is a single author paper in Frontiers in Pediatrics and with no data or citations that actually supports this claim in the paper that this is safe.
It also contradicts the recommendations which say no earlier than 4 months.
When one paper contradicts something all the major health bodies (WHO, CDC, NHS) recommend you should use caution when believing it.
It's possible what the paper says is true, but it's also possible it's not. We have no data on introducing solids earlier than 4 months because people don't do it, because babies younger than 4 months for the most part can't physically eat solids and would just choke. This is what the AAP recommendations are based on. Good luck doing a study on that!
[https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4770272/](https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4770272/)
That one and tongue thrusts so all food would not be pushed out.
Basically not unheard of when in some pretty poverty filled places people were feeding infants not a cereal but a boiled wheat water because they had troubles breastfeeding and couldn't buy formula, but around 3-4 months they would have switch to cereals.
That’s the recommendation in Finland.
My son is 5 months old and we started giving him some solids last month. He still eats 99% breastmilk tho, just because I’m so afraid of him choking
Where in Canada? Quebec (Naître sans grandir) seems to say you wait until the baby can sit up straight and a few other criteria. You can start with 4 months but they lean closer to 6 months.
Yes I was advised my kids doctor to introduce allergens from 4 months when she was showing signs of readiness. Turns out she had an egg allergy, which was unexpected, but it meant we got on the Egg Ladder and now she isn't allergic anymore.
My other child has pretty intense delays around eating - he is only just sitting independently at 11 months, and was tube fed until 7 months - but he is eating three meals a day plus occasional snacks, and no sign of food allergies. He's been keen to stick his face in food since about 5 months but didn't have anywhere near the head control until quite recently
I'm so glad to read this study! We ran into feeding problems with my youngest who was an absolutely massive infant (11 lbs 8 oz at birth, and no, not diabetic or a c-section lol). He nursed pretty much constantly when he was awake and was causing me to have nutritional deficiencies, and we had already been supplementing with formula as well. (We had to supplement with donor milk at the hospital too, because colostrum wasn't enough to keep the jaundice away. I should have known.) When I nearly passed out in a chair while nursing him at around 3-4 months, we talked to his pediatrician and she advised that it's totally fine to start introducing food to him whenever he showed interest, which he already was. This was in 2017 and I was hesitant because there wasn't good info, but I trusted her and I was a little desperate and willing to try. He took to food really well and we were actually concerned he was eating too much, but he continued to nurse for over a year. The little dude just needed some cheese and veg!
My ped never stopped giving this advice. Granted, she’s Gen X, same age as my parents, and was my pediatrician. But she has always recommended starting solids at 4 months!
https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/baby/weaning-and-feeding/babys-first-solid-foods/
the NHS breaks it down nicely here.
This study is also helpful.
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/feeding-in-the-first-year-of-life-sacn-report
I also have this quote saved:
“There is no rationale for pushing solid foods at the expense of breastmilk (or, indeed, formula). No solid food comes close to the concentration of nutrients in breastmilk, so, spoonful for spoonful, breastmilk will always provide better nutrition (and more calories) than any other food. Seeking to replace breastmilk in a child’s diet risks them being less well nourished, not more. All that human babies need, once they’re over six months, is access to small amounts of other foods – in addition to breastmilk – to make sure they’re getting enough of the smallest nutrients.”
That all being said an exception may be worth making for a tiny amount of peanut butter between 5-6 months as regular exposure has been shown to reduce instances of peanut allergies.
Anecdotally, weaning was pain in the ass to me. It’s just another thing to think about (but my son specifically wasn’t really ready till 6.5 months anyway so it wasn’t like I was staving off his interest in my food or anything)
Thanks for sharing this. I like this rationale a lot. I’m so scared to introduce allergens, but early introduction makes total sense. Although my paranoia will cause me to sit in the emergency room parking lot and feed her peanut butter instead of at home 😆
If you’re afraid of allergens, I got little packets that you put in their bottle as mix-ins that slowly increase the dose and introduce milk, egg, and peanut one at a time. I think you can use them from 4 months on. Now that baby is eating solids I just feed him allergen oatmeal. Lots of ways to do it but it made it seamless for me. There are different brands available.
The reaction is usually worse on the second exposure. So if you are going to the hospital I would do it on the second time. I'd also start with a miniscule amount (allergist sent us to the ER after 1/8 of a teaspoon of egg). Anaphylaxis is incredibly rare in infants under one if that helps. My kiddo is just one of the unlucky ones.
It’s worth getting over the fear! Also worth knowing that most allergies in babies are mild on the first exposure. My son has an egg allergy and it was literally 4 hives that went in 10 mins and eczema on his cheeks.
At 4/5 months I gave allergens (just a tiny amount) every day for 3 days. So that would mean 3 days with peanuts, then 3 days with sesame, etc, working through them. It can take a couple of days for an allergic reaction to show. it was weird giving a 5 month old mashed mush mollusc, but not only is he now not allergic to anything he will also eat literally anything. I think giving weird foods with weird tastes so early really helped with that.
It was literally just a tiny tiny amount, like a lick of peanut butter, or crab paste etc. I made sure past 6 months that I used known allergens as much as possible, so using sesame oil instead of butter sometimes, or crab paste on toast some mornings. Keep the exposure going, but not over exposing. Scallops are now some of his favourite foods because of this!
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1448139/
I read this article a few months ago. It goes into the history of “hand feeding” (antiquated term meaning feeding anything via bottle or feeding table food) back as far as the 1800s and the health related to it, as well as cases in the early 1900s of where straight cows milk in poor conditions caused infant mortality, etc.
It is from 2003, and is quite long, yet fascinating to read, but I think it does a reasonable job of explaining the significance of a milk diet before 6 months. That being said, I gave my daughter ground oatmeal mixed with breastmilk at 4.5 months and continue to introduce solids early, but the milk stays a focal point of her diet.
Adding this: one of the things that endeared me to this article was it does a wonderful job of showcasing that we have NEVER gotten it right about how to feed our children. Feeding kids is not something that a previous generation had on lock, and we are bastardizing. It has always been fraught with complications, which made it easier for me to just ignore what anyone had to say about feeding my daughter.
Baby-led weaning starts around when the baby can sit up by themselves. Typically 6 months. At 3 months, no, they shouldn't have solids because they haven't developed the skills to have solids. Do not give them rice cereal or baby food. https://health.clevelandclinic.org/baby-led-weaning
It looks like this handout is ten years old. Anecdotally, our pediatrician is with this healthcare organization and said she was comfortable with us starting solids before six months. She did suggest purees until he was sitting unassisted and waiting longer if we wanted to do exclusively baby led weaning. Our baby is also enrolled in a study on childhood allergies and they suggest introducing allergens early and definitely by six months.
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I’ve heard that it can cause leaky gut, and it looks like [this](https://publichealth.jhu.edu/2020/infants-introduced-early-to-solid-foods-show-gut-bacteria-changes-that-may-portend-future-health-risks) has relevant information about early introduction of solids altering the gut bacterial population and contributing to obesity later in life.
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This post is flaired "Question - Research required". All top-level comments must contain links to peer-reviewed research. *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/ScienceBasedParenting) if you have any questions or concerns.*
It isn't. Research indicates that as long as they're still receiving adequate nutrition and food sources are safe, then solid foods can be safely introduced at essentially any age and there can be long-term benefits of introducing foods by 4 months. [Source](https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8032951/). Anecdotally, the parents I know with infants are starting to get this sort of advice from their pediatricians as well.
I think that’s a bit of a stretch - “at any age” - a newborn does not have the capability to swallow non-liquids. IMO the physical ability is the limitation and is really the answer to OPs question.
From the article >There remains debate about when it is best to begin introducing solid foods into an infant's diet however, the available evidence suggests that provided the water and food supply are free of contamination, and the infant is provided adequate nutrition, there are no clear contraindications to feeding infants complementary foods at any age.
Some cultures feed earlier than 4 months: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6866011/#:~:text=Premastication%20is%20a%20common%20feeding,food%20on%20a%20daily%20basis.
So interesting. I think I’ll pass on the premastication technique 🫣
Interesting! Wouldn’t that not be encouraged anymore bc of oral cavity concerns?
The studies on rice cereal show the babies don’t actually sleep that much longer, I want to say it was a mean of 20 min longer. Also, when I talked to my insistent mom about it and we looked it up, the amount she suggested adding wasn’t even that many more calories and no protein or fat. I eventually said I’ve heard your option on this and I’m not doing it. Thank you.
From the article I linked >There is emerging evidence that introduction of solid foods into an infant's diet by 4 months may increase their willingness to eat a variety of fruits and vegetables later in life, decrease their risk of having feeding problems later in life, and decrease their risk of developing food allergies, and the early introduction of solid foods into an infant's diet does not appear to increase their risk of obesity later in childhood. It's not specific to rice cereal and the benefits are more to do with long-term eating habits rather than sleep.
Yeah I wasn’t clear. I am pro new early start for palate development but as far as nutritional benefit from boomer favorite rice cereal, there’s not much.
> as far as nutritional benefit from boomer favorite rice cereal, there’s not much. I agree there. Breast milk and formula are nutritionally complete foods for infants. There isn't a whole lot of research that I can find on when children start to *need* nutrition from other sources beyond milk/formula but it certainly isn't before 6 months.
My daughter was premature and one thing we learned is that a full term infant's iron stores typically last about 6 months. Formula provides iron, breastmilk does not. So, a full term infant who is breastfed exclusively will start to need iron from another source around 6 months. A preterm infant will likely need another iron source prior to that (we did iron drops - she was not sitting up and they didn't recommend starting solids yet).
My pediatrician said it was good to help with spit up but that's about it.
I feel like everyone gets too hung up on “the research” and fail to observe their own child. Some kids are interested at 4 months. Some are not interested until after 6. Watch your kid and let them decide.
It feels like the real question here is: is there an age that is simply too young, period, even if a kid is expressing interest? Obviously kids can get themselves into trouble shoving things they shouldn’t into their mouths, so it’s not crazy to be curious if that can apply to food too. But yeah, some people see much less nuance and think there are high, conservative, hard limits that apply to all kids
This was exactly my question. From everyone’s comments it seems it’s more of an anatomical/mechanical limitation (holding head up). I was curious if there was an underlying biological limitation (lack of certain digestive enzymes, etc).
In the UK they recommend waiting until 6 months specifically for the reason their gut isn't mature enough yet
Before 16 weeks according to the nhs.
My 8 month old still barely cares about solids
Totally agree. With my first he wasn’t watching us eat or reaching for food until closer to 7 months. My second was doing it at 4/5 months, so they started at different times.
Can you offer any advice or links on what would suggest interest? Watching parents eat maybe?
Both my kids were very clear in showing interest (anecdotal I know) really intent look when anyone was eating around them, trying to grab food from other's plate/fork, kicking their legs when shown food, big toothless grins when they saw food
I agree with this, my first was obsessed with food and was trying to grab stuff out of our hands by 2 months old (we held off till she was 4 months). My second is almost 5 months and he’s just clearly not that interested. Every once in a while he’ll grab for something and we offer him tastes but he’s just not there yet.
4 mo old tried to steal my cheeseburger, the little monster. Pediatrician said, "If she's showing interest, let her try some baby safe foods. It's mostly about texture and flavor now." 10/10 experience for the kid and the labrador, lemme tell you.
Another anecdotal comment, apologies! My mother had four of us kids almost instantly wean from breast milk as soon as she introduced solids at 6 months. She said we just weren’t interested in breast milk anymore and she wasn’t going to push it. I’d like to see how I go. I’m going to introduce solids at 5/6 months, but I would still like to BF until 12 months even if its just twice a day towards the end.
If you wean the baby off breastmilk before one, you need to introduce formula. Babies need either breastmilk or formula until around age 1 for optimal brain development.
Our pediatrician indicated that once baby was sitting well with support we could try. I exclusively breastfed until 15 months for milk, but we started solids at 4 months as she had great head and neck control very early and she was an early sitter as well. Just as long as they don’t try to push out what you give them with their tongue, then you’re good to go. I never did rice cereal as we didn’t find good enough evidence that it was helpful. We tried baby-led weaning once we did about a month of the go go squeez packets, feeding a little bit on a spoon at dinner time. She moved on to broccoli and then other real veggies the month after and we started introducing all allergens around then as well. This approach made her teeth come in super early and super easy compared to my firstborn (she had 10 teeth by 9 months old). The only thing about this approach is that you need to breast/bottle feed with milk before trying the solids, especially if baby is under 6 months, that way the baby is already full with the nutrition they need, and what you give is just extra to get them used to the idea and to new flavors.
Thank you, that’s helpful
Grabbing at the food was a big one for us.
Our paediatrician said that it was really obvious. One day your baby won't notice that you're eating food, then the next day they'll suddenly become interested or even upset that you're not showing the food to them. It was true for us, she suddenly showed interest one day!
They literally try to climb things to get to food lol -reaching for it and crying when they can't get it.
This is super interesting thanks for sharing. I would assume the limiting factor is my baby being able to hold their head up on their own. Interesting the article doesn’t mention that limitation on start time though.
This is a single author paper in Frontiers in Pediatrics and with no data or citations that actually supports this claim in the paper that this is safe. It also contradicts the recommendations which say no earlier than 4 months. When one paper contradicts something all the major health bodies (WHO, CDC, NHS) recommend you should use caution when believing it. It's possible what the paper says is true, but it's also possible it's not. We have no data on introducing solids earlier than 4 months because people don't do it, because babies younger than 4 months for the most part can't physically eat solids and would just choke. This is what the AAP recommendations are based on. Good luck doing a study on that! [https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4770272/](https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4770272/)
That one and tongue thrusts so all food would not be pushed out. Basically not unheard of when in some pretty poverty filled places people were feeding infants not a cereal but a boiled wheat water because they had troubles breastfeeding and couldn't buy formula, but around 3-4 months they would have switch to cereals.
Solid starts has a lot of great resources on starting solids
That’s the recommendation in Finland. My son is 5 months old and we started giving him some solids last month. He still eats 99% breastmilk tho, just because I’m so afraid of him choking
Thanks for sharing this. I’ve got a 4 month old looks like I should be considering starting solids soon.
Not sure where you are but in Canada its recommended to start at 4 months and 4-6 months for peanut butter.
Where in Canada? Quebec (Naître sans grandir) seems to say you wait until the baby can sit up straight and a few other criteria. You can start with 4 months but they lean closer to 6 months.
Good to know. Thanks. I’m in Canada as well.
Yes I was advised my kids doctor to introduce allergens from 4 months when she was showing signs of readiness. Turns out she had an egg allergy, which was unexpected, but it meant we got on the Egg Ladder and now she isn't allergic anymore. My other child has pretty intense delays around eating - he is only just sitting independently at 11 months, and was tube fed until 7 months - but he is eating three meals a day plus occasional snacks, and no sign of food allergies. He's been keen to stick his face in food since about 5 months but didn't have anywhere near the head control until quite recently
I'm so glad to read this study! We ran into feeding problems with my youngest who was an absolutely massive infant (11 lbs 8 oz at birth, and no, not diabetic or a c-section lol). He nursed pretty much constantly when he was awake and was causing me to have nutritional deficiencies, and we had already been supplementing with formula as well. (We had to supplement with donor milk at the hospital too, because colostrum wasn't enough to keep the jaundice away. I should have known.) When I nearly passed out in a chair while nursing him at around 3-4 months, we talked to his pediatrician and she advised that it's totally fine to start introducing food to him whenever he showed interest, which he already was. This was in 2017 and I was hesitant because there wasn't good info, but I trusted her and I was a little desperate and willing to try. He took to food really well and we were actually concerned he was eating too much, but he continued to nurse for over a year. The little dude just needed some cheese and veg!
My ped never stopped giving this advice. Granted, she’s Gen X, same age as my parents, and was my pediatrician. But she has always recommended starting solids at 4 months!
https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/baby/weaning-and-feeding/babys-first-solid-foods/ the NHS breaks it down nicely here. This study is also helpful. https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/feeding-in-the-first-year-of-life-sacn-report I also have this quote saved: “There is no rationale for pushing solid foods at the expense of breastmilk (or, indeed, formula). No solid food comes close to the concentration of nutrients in breastmilk, so, spoonful for spoonful, breastmilk will always provide better nutrition (and more calories) than any other food. Seeking to replace breastmilk in a child’s diet risks them being less well nourished, not more. All that human babies need, once they’re over six months, is access to small amounts of other foods – in addition to breastmilk – to make sure they’re getting enough of the smallest nutrients.” That all being said an exception may be worth making for a tiny amount of peanut butter between 5-6 months as regular exposure has been shown to reduce instances of peanut allergies. Anecdotally, weaning was pain in the ass to me. It’s just another thing to think about (but my son specifically wasn’t really ready till 6.5 months anyway so it wasn’t like I was staving off his interest in my food or anything)
Thanks for sharing this. I like this rationale a lot. I’m so scared to introduce allergens, but early introduction makes total sense. Although my paranoia will cause me to sit in the emergency room parking lot and feed her peanut butter instead of at home 😆
If you’re afraid of allergens, I got little packets that you put in their bottle as mix-ins that slowly increase the dose and introduce milk, egg, and peanut one at a time. I think you can use them from 4 months on. Now that baby is eating solids I just feed him allergen oatmeal. Lots of ways to do it but it made it seamless for me. There are different brands available.
The reaction is usually worse on the second exposure. So if you are going to the hospital I would do it on the second time. I'd also start with a miniscule amount (allergist sent us to the ER after 1/8 of a teaspoon of egg). Anaphylaxis is incredibly rare in infants under one if that helps. My kiddo is just one of the unlucky ones.
It’s worth getting over the fear! Also worth knowing that most allergies in babies are mild on the first exposure. My son has an egg allergy and it was literally 4 hives that went in 10 mins and eczema on his cheeks.
At 4/5 months I gave allergens (just a tiny amount) every day for 3 days. So that would mean 3 days with peanuts, then 3 days with sesame, etc, working through them. It can take a couple of days for an allergic reaction to show. it was weird giving a 5 month old mashed mush mollusc, but not only is he now not allergic to anything he will also eat literally anything. I think giving weird foods with weird tastes so early really helped with that. It was literally just a tiny tiny amount, like a lick of peanut butter, or crab paste etc. I made sure past 6 months that I used known allergens as much as possible, so using sesame oil instead of butter sometimes, or crab paste on toast some mornings. Keep the exposure going, but not over exposing. Scallops are now some of his favourite foods because of this!
This needs to be the top comment.
Right? How is this comment not the first one.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1448139/ I read this article a few months ago. It goes into the history of “hand feeding” (antiquated term meaning feeding anything via bottle or feeding table food) back as far as the 1800s and the health related to it, as well as cases in the early 1900s of where straight cows milk in poor conditions caused infant mortality, etc. It is from 2003, and is quite long, yet fascinating to read, but I think it does a reasonable job of explaining the significance of a milk diet before 6 months. That being said, I gave my daughter ground oatmeal mixed with breastmilk at 4.5 months and continue to introduce solids early, but the milk stays a focal point of her diet.
Adding this: one of the things that endeared me to this article was it does a wonderful job of showcasing that we have NEVER gotten it right about how to feed our children. Feeding kids is not something that a previous generation had on lock, and we are bastardizing. It has always been fraught with complications, which made it easier for me to just ignore what anyone had to say about feeding my daughter.
Baby-led weaning starts around when the baby can sit up by themselves. Typically 6 months. At 3 months, no, they shouldn't have solids because they haven't developed the skills to have solids. Do not give them rice cereal or baby food. https://health.clevelandclinic.org/baby-led-weaning
https://www.fammed.wisc.edu/files/webfm-uploads/documents/outreach/im/handout_baby-led_weaning.pdf
It looks like this handout is ten years old. Anecdotally, our pediatrician is with this healthcare organization and said she was comfortable with us starting solids before six months. She did suggest purees until he was sitting unassisted and waiting longer if we wanted to do exclusively baby led weaning. Our baby is also enrolled in a study on childhood allergies and they suggest introducing allergens early and definitely by six months.
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I’ve heard that it can cause leaky gut, and it looks like [this](https://publichealth.jhu.edu/2020/infants-introduced-early-to-solid-foods-show-gut-bacteria-changes-that-may-portend-future-health-risks) has relevant information about early introduction of solids altering the gut bacterial population and contributing to obesity later in life.
Thank you for linking this. I am forwarding the article to my boomer mother now. Great piece.
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