Anne Robb wisely wrote:
<<<My ped office gives a laughable and often contradictory solid
foods handout at the four month check up... insists, among other
things, on a strict order of introduction........  All this dictating
when and how and how much on solids sounds a lot like schedule
feeding of infants, doesn't it?>>>

Spot on.  When you mess with nature you have to start introducing all
sorts of rules, regimes and restrictions, be it introducing solids or
sleep training.  My vote is to follow the child's cues in all these
matters.

Perhaps I am lazy, but I found it so much easier to delay things
until my child was ready.  He thrust my occasional attempts at
spooned solids back out at me until about 8-9 months.  Then I hit on
the idea of putting soft foods into ice cream cones which he held
himself and licked and slurped with great proficiency.

As for the nonsense about "windows" to learn chewing - what about
the "window" in early childhood to learn optimal tongue movements at
the breast rather than the bottle-teat deviate tongue movements and
deviate swallows that Brian Palmer says can persist for life and
cause major orthodontic problems.

Ros Escott IBCLC
Hobart, Tasmania