When Is Ok to Start 1St Foods?

Hi A.,
Most docs recommend waiting until at least six months to lessen the chances of developing allergies. The Lucile Packard Children's Hospital website has more info on this, as does the Mayo clinic. Also, please keep in mind that eating solids can often stimulate tooth growth, as you apparently have already discovered. Teething disrupts sleep. Sleeping through the night at your daughter's age really is just five or six hours (I was so ticked when I learned that!). With my son, his sleep improved as he gained weight and got worse when he was teething or approaching a developmental milestone (such as sitting up, pulling up, talking, walking). From all I read, sleep disruptions often go hand in hand with both teething and developmental milestones. My son was never a good eater (still isn't) and we didn't give him any solids, including cereal, until after six months, but his sleep was well within the normal range -- actually even a bit better. However, he did have severe reflux, and until we controlled it with meds, we had many nights of him screaming in pain. Silent reflux can cause lots of pain, too. Is the head of his crib propped up? Reflux isn't just an issue of liquids coming back up; often the whole digestive system is not moving in a systematic way. Constipation and reflux can come hand in hand. We had to treat both simultaneously once we started solids. While solids are less likely to come back up, that doesn't mean that stomach acid won't. Plenty of adults have reflux, after all. Unfortunately, there are not very many pediatric GIs, but there are one or two great ones at UCSF, and I'm sure they have some at Children's Oakland. I don't know anything about hospitals closer to you, but you might be able to find someone good in the Sacramento area.
K.

I know what the books/doctors say, and I know my experience. When my boys started solid food it did help them sleep better through the night.
I didn't rush it, I would introduce cereal or other food and if they weren't interested I would wait until they were. No need to force the issue. My third son however scarfed down an entire jar of carrots the first time I ever introduced him to food. He was definitely ready before 6 months. :-)
I would say if she looks interested give it a shot and see if she really is.

A.,
This is a hot topic. I am of the school to wait until 6 months or baby shows an interest in the food. So if my little guy isn't interested until 9 mo or a year then so be it. I think our babies are keen enough to know when their bellies are ready. You can always introduce food at 6mo and if she just plays with it then you'll know she's not ready.
I feel a lot of pressure from in-law influences to start now (at 5 months!) because that's what they did, and there are doc's out there who still say rice is ok at 4 months.
The most important thing is to do your research and TRUST your gut instinct. You know your baby better than anyone else.

We started James on solid food when he was 5 months because he just seemed to want to so bad. He would cry when we ate and would not stop until the food was gone. Try it out. see what happens. i started with purnes because i knew they would not constipate him. he loved it and shorlty there after he was eating 3 -4 times a day. He also started to sleep better at that time. i don't know what it was. It could have been the food, he gained wieght and was just getting older.
Hope this helps
A.

My daughter is now 8 1/2 months. She was staring at our foods at 3 1/2 months. Anyway, her doctor said to wait till she was 5 months old. The day before she turned 5 months, she literally lunged for my pizza while I was holding her. Rice cereal constipated my baby as well. So, I gave her oatmeal next & after a few days, I noticed she was feeling better...tummy as well as not being constipated. I do know that I was told to be careful of introducing foods early when parents have allergies (my husband & I only have mild allergies to foods). After my daughter was comfortable with the oatmeal (about a week later), then I started with carrots. I hope that helps.