Chloe is turning 5 months next week. She's officially in the age range for introducing solids. Both Phoebe and Piper got their first taste of solid food just prior to being six months old, even though I figured I'd hold off until after six months with each of them, maybe even longer... There are a lot of reasons to do so, best summed up by Kellymom.com, but my number one reason for holding off is our families high risk for food allergies.

Much like the rationale behind probiotic therapy, holding off on solids allows for total intestinal maturation. If the gut isn't mature, then it is considered leaky. Basically, in the immature gut, small openings allow large food particles through, which the body then views as foreign and attacks, mounting an immune response and therefore an allergy to that particular food. In mature guts that are leaky (due to irritable bowel syndrome, antibiotic use, or other causes of chronic diarrhea), probiotic therapy enhances the mucosal lining to not allow the larger particles through.

By 6 months, it would seem that infant intestines are fairly well ready for the introduction of solid foods - and yet we're still advised to start with the least allergenic of foods, just in case. Basically, it's unknown exactly when each baby's gut will be mature, the average age being around 6 months. Typically, though, most infants guts are ready for solid food by 9 months, and in some cases, it might take until 12 months or so.

So my intention, like it was with her sisters, is to hold off as long as possible on the introduction of solids for Chloe. We'll see how long "as long as possible" really is.