When did you start solids? and what?

We waited for closer to 6 months.
At 5.5 months our usually great sleeper started waking during the night for a BF so we started with Farex and EBM. Then was steamed and pureed pear.
First it was just one farex feed a day (mid morning) but quickly upped it to 3 small meals as she loved it so much.
I found THISsite fantastic for making food at home.

We started at 6 months. Banana was her first food but we did BLW so she pretty much ate exactly what we ate from the start.

I don't think DD was 100% ready for solids at 6 months and we could easily have continued just BFing for another month at least.

I personally would wait for the Plunket thing before starting so you get 'some' idea.

We were also one of the 'lasts' to start solids!

We did BLW as well, its so much easier. We didnt start until about 6 months when DD was showing the signs of being ready- not just because everyone else was doing it. About 4 months babies go through a whole lot of changes that make them look like they are hungry but in reality are just going through another stage. Back in the day babies were not feed food until around 9 months and they survived just fine on milk only.

If you do a search for baby led weaning on this site or BLW you will find lots of threads with really good helpful hints. Gill rapley has written a really good book about it, you should be able to get it from the library or buy one online.

Basically you feed them whatever you have and you dont put anything in their mouth for them. My girl didnt start 'eating' until about 8 months up until then she was just 'tasting' things and some ended up going through, some didnt. They very really choke as they are in control of what is going into their mouths. Gagging is normal and it is not choking.

You have to be very relaxed about it and if you are going to be worried about how much she is or isnt eating then its not right for you. I think that milk is the most important food until one, then it is still quite important but food should be up there.

Start with giving them sticks of food- make sure it is cooked so much that it stays firm to hold but when they put it in their mouth it will mash up easily. Keep it nice and relaxed, eat with them, dont worry if most of it ends up on the floor, and watch as your baby learns to eat, its amazing

I started DD at 6 months and DS at 5.5 months.. in hindsight he wasn't into it at all for a couple of months so it was a total waste of time. Ended up pretty much BLW. There's a really good book by Nicola Galloway called Cooking for your Child. It might be hard to find at the moment as she's revising it with the next edition due out in July I think. But she takes a more considered and cautious approach especially around foods that tend to cause allergies/intolerances. She recommends waiting until 6 months as babies guts are porous and their immune systems are still maturing. I started both mine on pear and then rice,they are the least allergenic foods and steamed pears are so delicious for mum to eat up! Some Plunket/Karitane nurses seem keen to rush them into solids to help with sleeping (not that it made any difference to my 2) and the foods that they recommend are so processed so it felt better to just offer whole foods that they could feed themselves with.
Good luck! It is so much fun watching them discover food.

We started at 5.5 months and he had a piece of nectarine. But we are also ones that did BLW.

This baby we wont start till 6 months or even 7 months as food then is really just to explore not to fill them up (supplementary to their milk diet).

If you are interested in BLW there are a few threads. And this one

I started my boy on solids at 4months as he is a hungry baby, now has half a jar every feed plus 220mls of formula. So far he has had pear, fruit salad, banana, pumpkin, potato and carrots. Going to try kumara after the pumpkin and carrot ice cubes run out.

He has tried Farex but hated it, will try again soon as they say it can take them up to ten tastes to decide whether they like it.