Starting solids

Ever since Sam emerged from the "newborn" phase, people have been asking me when we were going to start feeding him solid food. As with other questions, I turned to books.  Your Baby's First Year Week by Week by Glade B. Curtis, M.D. and Judith Schuler, M.S. suggests starting at 4-5 months, and says that by 6 1/2 months (his age now) babies can enjoy a variety of solid foods. Child of Mine: Feeding with Love and Good Sense by Ellyn Satter recommends basing starting solids on what your child can do (such as sitting up on his own).  Family members suggested starting even earlier by putting cereal in his bottle.

We started offering cereal by spoon at around 5 months. "Cereal" refers to a mashed, cooked, single grain, such as rice, blended with breast milk or formula. We tried making our own, but found boxed baby cereal preferable as it's quick and there's less waste. Some days he seemed to really enjoy it, opening wide for the spoon; others, he just played with the food, or the spoon, or the whole bowl; still others, he cried to get out of his high chair.  It wasn't going great, but we decided to let him go at his own pace.

Then, just last night, Sam's first tooth emerged, peeking out of his bottom gum. I had this thought: wouldn't it make sense that babies are biologically ready for food beyond milk when they grow teeth rather than by some arbitrary time line or unrelated skill development?  I haven't found any research on this so far, but my mommy intuition tells me he'll be more ready for solid food soon.