Yeah, it’s really tempting! I have started sitting him at the table with us. I put some food in front of him to see what he would do with it and so far he practices grabbing at it and bringing it to his mouth. He’s also practicing chewing. I gave him some red bell pepper over the weekend and he chewed it, but didn’t really eat any of it. I gave him some toast “fingers” last night and he actually gummed those enough to eat a small bit, but I’m pretty sure that he spit the majority of it out. We are just going to take it very slowly and work on him getting used to sitting at the table with us. 🙂

It can be tempting to start early, but you’re not just waiting for the sitting independently requirement – you’re also waiting for his little baby digestive system to mature. Besides, he’s not going to really “eat” that much at first… just a lot of playing with the food – discovering scents, flavors, shapes, textures, (how fun it is to squeeze & smash food), etc.

You’ll know when he’s really ready when he starts watching you eat very intently. My son didn’t really start eating till 7 months, my daughter not till 8 months. (They were premature, so gotta take that into account). I’d go ahead and wait for now… but if you happen to be sitting with him while you’re eating some avocado or sweet potato and he grabs it and eats it, follow his lead! Mother nature knows what she’s doing… I read somewhere that babies are not capable of intentionally moving food to the back of their throats until after they have developed the ability to chew….and they don’t develop the ability to chew until after they have developed the ability to reach out and grab things. Just be prepared, it WILL get messy 🙂

He loves himself. He’d make out with you, too if you’d just come and visit him!!!

Thanks! Right now I’m struggling on whether or not we are ready to start. He turns 5 months next week. The book and our doctor says to wait until 6 months, but he can already sit up independently (for a couple of minutes at a time, at least), he’s reaching for things and bringing them to his mouth, and making chewing motions. Do you think we could go ahead and start, or should I wait?