Why Wait Till 6 Months To Start Solids?
The American Academy of Pediatrics, WHO,Australian National Health and Medical Council, the UK Department of Health and National Health Service and Health Canada all state that babies should start solids at around 6 months of age.
The reason it is around 6 months is because we need to wait till the baby meets all developmental signs of readiness. Some babies reach it at 6 months, some a bit earlier and some a bit later. There are many reasons why we shouldn’t rush starting solids:
Up to 6 months of age, a baby gets all the nutrients they need from breastmilk/formula.
The reason we introduce solids is not to fill up their bellies, but to teach them about mealtimes,how to eat and expose them to a wide variety of textures, flavors, allergen foods, and balanced meals.
Starting too early will displace the amount of the milk they are having as they still need milk as a primary source of nutrition till 1 year of age. They need a calorie dense, easy to digest source of nutrition that they can only get from breastmilk/formula until they learn to digest foods properly.
Starting too early is not safe for them as they are not able to handle textures of foods, sit upright to safely swallow foods, and high protein intake before 6 months has been linked to increased obesity, high blood pressure, infections later on in life.
We need enzymes to break down food and these take 5-6 months to become fully functional. Their muscles in their digestive system need to be strong enough to digest the foods and their immune system needs to be mature enough. If they start solids too early, the food will just pass through and the baby won't be able to get the nourishment from them.
Babies are not able to feed themselves before 6 months of age, and starting earlier where we are spoon- feeding them can lead to picky eating.
Waking up more often at night, not gaining enough weight, showing an interest in food are all related to changes babies go through in terms of teething, sleep regression and growth spurts and are not signs that they are ready for solids.
If you are worried about your baby not gaining enough weight before 6 months- best to work on increasing their milk with a pediatrician or lactation consultant as this will be the bulk of their calories in their first year of life.
They wil be eating their whole life, it is best to start when they are actually ready!