A was drinking the max amount of formula a day at 4 months, so his doctor suggested we offer rice cereal twice a day.  I had read online about how it has no nutritional value, but my doctor said it is fortified with iron and that babies need iron now because the amounts they received from mom in utero is now depleted.  That sounded reasonable to me, but you certainly don’t need to start or ever include cereal if you don’t want to, and you can wait until 6 months as well.  I would talk to your doctor to help you get started on solids, but I will share here what I did.  If you have a super hungry baby like I did, at 4 months you can offer:

Rice cereal

oatmeal

At 6 months-11 months, A tried one new food every 4 days, one at a time to check for allergies and reactions – once food was tolerated well, moved onto blends of 2 or more at a time.  This was blended/pureed food at first (mostly Happy Baby packs) and then as he got more teeth I offered chunkier bites.  This is what he had:

avocado

peas

sweet potato

spinach

pumpkin

carrots

bananas

apples

pears

butternut squash

apricot

blueberry

cherry

broccoli

zucchini

kale

beets

turkey

quinoa

egg

coconut milk

cheese

chicken

tortilla

beef

pasta

orange

chia seed

At 12 months: tried anything including peanut butter

3 meals a day, 2 snacks

sample:

Breakfast: eggs, blueberries, avocado with a side of milk

Snack: string cheese

Lunch: english muffin pizza, brussel sprouts, banana with a side of milk

Snack: yogurt or applesauce

Dinner: broccoli, baked beans, cheese quesadilla (or whatever mom/dad having)