Zen -- I thought so, too, but turns out babies are okay to start thin solids between 4 and 6 months. (I'd always heard 6 as the start.) Beans is 4.5 months old, now, and at her check up today the pediatrician told us to get started. A few teaspoons once a day to help her body get used to digesting something other than milk. It's also cereal formulated for babies -- like instant mashed potatoes, very smooth.
V -- We'll try rice tomorrow -- hopefully that'll go over a little better. She's 1/4 Asian and 1/4 Hispanic, so she should be genetically predisposed to like rice...
