Heather wrote that IHO << unless you have leaves on your plate, then I think
it's fine to take the baby's interest in solids as a guide : ) >>

Seems to me that "guide" is the key word here.   No one, I think, is saying
that the ONLY factor to consider in what and when you give your baby to eat
is what they grab for.

If she reacted to dairy in mom's milk, then just because she happened to
start by reaching for your yoghurt cup doesnt make it necessarily a good
first choice.  But just because she doesn't know that yoghurt is dairy
doesn't mean that its that or nothing.

For that matter, maybe that interest in mouthing leaves, like the interest in
your yoghurt, suggests that she may ready for something that really is more
appropriate to put in her mouth.  She doesn't know what, andshe is exploring
the world trying to find out.  But helpfully she has parents to read those
cues, evaluate them, and make a grown up decision as to what her beharior
does mean about her developmental stage, and about what nuanced and grown up
response to it will be best for her.

For that matter, as other posters have pointed out, when a child does NOT
seem to want solids as six months come and go, it is helpful for us to think,
in a not-panicky way, about whether that is expressive of some other issue
(swallowing trouble, reflux, allergy, etc etc) with which a sympathetic and
helpful grown up might be able to help her out.

Or to put it another way, developmental behaviors are signs, but we still
need to interpret them; they get a vote, but not a veto.

Elisheva Urbas, NYC

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