I hear it's ok to start feeding some solid foods at 6 month's. Is this true? If so, what kind of solid foods should we stay away from (not just at 6 months but until they can eat food on their own, any food).

solid foods like what? we gave lots of mushy fruits at 6mos and rice cereal. some Gerber baby goods that are considered *solid* i suppose...

As for what they can eat, mostly you just have to watch for smaller chunks of stuff that they wont chew because its just too small for them to care. They will think they can just swallow it and then choke.

I would start off with some mushier things and work your way more solid.

But each child is on its own time table, she/he may not care for the food. And remember to only introduce one new food every few days so if there is an allergic reaction its easier to figure out what it is.

Great reply there Giggler about introducing one new food every few days. In addition to be able to know any food allergies, the baby will start knowing how choose for what he/she likes to eat.

I think smashed foods must be given to babies 6 months old for their stomach is still adjusting to digesting food and also their esophagus is too small for even bits of food.

When my kids were babies (16+ years ago), doctors were saying not to give “real” food till 1 yr. Before that only baby foods were to be given. Baby cereals at 6 mo. And then working up to other types of baby foods. By “real food” I mean what you as an adult eat. This was supposed to prevent a lot of food allergies. Is this still the practice?

For the most part, yes donna it is. Our girl is 10mo 2wk now, and we started her on cereal in Jan. moved up, and now eats 3x a day with cereal/food mixed. :) But we also knew she did not have any allergies. I still agree one new food every few days.

We started introducing mushy baby foods at 6 months, but it was all pureed. You should only start new foods 1 at a time, so if there's any reaction, you know what it's to.

You don't do this only because s/he MIGHT have allergies, you do it because s/he could develop allergies. So starting a bunch of foods because you know she doesn't have allergies is a risky way to reason.

I am so allergic to life in general it's just bogus. They can develop at any time in your life, and taking care in the beginning of a person's life is one of the few ways you can truly help them lower the chances of that happening.

Wow, thanks for the replies! There are things here that I never even considered (the one at a time guideline, especially). I was worried more about the things they are most likely to choke on! However I didn't even think about the digestive system (man I'm ignorant!!!).

Purred foods are great. My girl is still taking a fruit with cereal when she wakes, a fruit, veggie and cereal for lunch, and 2 meat dinners in the evening. :) Sleeps 10/hrs, cant get any better than that. :)

At what age could a child take in animal or fish meat? And what parts of the meat can they eat? I recall my mother, that was when I was 7, forbids me to eat the inner organs, such as liver.