When did you start solids with your baby? My little one is 5 months and my MIL is very eager for him to start solids but I feel like he isn’t ready. Additional context, my MIL is a physician but old school.

Is she a pediatrician? Being a physician isn’t enough. Guidelines are constantly changing and current recommendations are 6 months and being ready - sitting, showing interest in food, etc. Unfortunately older generations are very pushy with their advice which is well intentioned but often outdated. You should do your own research and make the best decision for your child regardless of pressure.
-from someone who is constantly having to push back against outdated advice

About 6 months. Once baby is able to sit unassisted.

Check for solidstarts online or on instagram. They are the go-to source for knowledge around starting solids.
Start when the baby shows all readiness signs (as has been posted above). Start with small portions and be ready for weeks of baby mainly throwing food / spitting it out without eating a lot.
We started both kids at around 4-5 months when they showed all signs, and with banana and avocado. Whole organic foods only for the first few months, and introduce step by step so if there’s issues, you’re quickly able to determine the cause.

But first and foremost - don’t let anyone pressure you. Both the baby AND YOU need to feel comfortable with solids.

Around 5 months. We just introduced a single vegetable or fruit (based on a chart that our pediatrician gave us) with rice or oats at the time but she mainly liked bananas and yogurt. She’s ebf and very active so I think we started at the right time. It took some time to fall into place. She was very constipated the first few weeks.

I just talked to our feeding therapist about this. Most critical is 1) interest in what you’re eating, 2) head control, and 3) ability to sit (can be assisted). She advised the “space saver” high chair which has a high back & straps which helps with sitting. The high chair: https://a.co/d/f5NUM7C

In our case, we’ll likely start just before 5 months to supplement our baby’s calories, as milk/formula has been very challenging, but typically closer to 5-6 months is better! (But consider starting allergens at 4 months with approval from PD)

We started solids at 6 months (not earlier) with all of my kids. They showed signs of readiness, could sit upright easily, had great neck and head control and most importantly their digestive system was mature enough at that point to handle solids. Too early might lead to digestive issues later in life and risk of food allergies. First foods we started was egg yolk, smooshed bananas and avocados. Later we introduced blw and it worked very well. I was not a fan of starting infant cereal too early as the enzymes necessary to break it down are still developing in an infants body. I chose organic Whole Foods vs processed / store bought.

Started at 6 months (just last year) and it worked great for us. My MIL was also eager for us to start solids but we waited until we were all comfortable. Bonus - it helped to send her the message that we’ll make our own decisions. It’s been a constant thing with her but kept getting easier as we stuck to what works for us.

We started at about 4.5 months with this one (our second). He was ready and interested and our doctor told us it was fine. We honestly did purées for like 1-2 months and then soft foods and he’s 11 months now, eating 3 full meals + snacks + whole milk every day. He was an EBF baby and still breastfeeding occasionally. He was just ready and LOVED eating so he progressed quickly!
Our first started solids at 6 months bc we didn’t know any better than to start at the “recommended” age.
Depends on your baby and your physician’s advice.

Started at 4 months with all 3 of my kids. The recommendation is 4-6 months, there’s no need to wait til 6 months if you don’t want to. If you feel your baby isn’t ready yet, then wait, it’s not up to your mil

It depends on the kid. My first wasn’t ready til 6 months. Starter at 4.5 with second. You don’t need to listen to her if you’re not comfortable..

We did a little over 4 months for my first and 5 months for my second. We will do 5-6 months with my third. It’s entirely up to you and your pediatrician, better to wait if you aren’t comfortable

I never started before 6 months with any of my kids. I also never bought a jar of baby food, a box of rice or oat cereal, or any pouches or puffs. With all 3 of my kids we did baby led weaning. My kids were offered what we ate (or had available if what we had wasn't suitable for a baby). It worked out fine for us. But I definitely always waited until they were able to sit up and had good head control, no longer had the tongue thrust and had a pincer grasp, which was 6 months for two and almost 8 months for one.

I use advice from my pediatrician as a third-party arbitrator for anyone else who’d like to tell me how to parent

As others have mentioned, it’s not based on age but by baby’s readiness (interest in food, ability to sit, neck control, etc). For us, we did purées at 4 months old and started blw at 6 months old.