Typically, a baby can start having solids from 26 weeks or 6 months onwards. This is especially true for exclusively breastfed babies but if your baby is formula fed then some Doctors advise to start at 4 months or at 16 weeks.

As my baby was exclusively breastfed so the doctor asked me to start at 6 months but at about 5 months my baby started showing so much interest in food and what we were eating so I was able to drag it till my baby was 5 and half months old.

I did a course on baby led weaning where babies start eating finger foods and not puree but the instruction is to wait it till baby is 6 months. As I started two weeks earlier than recommended so I started with puree for the first two weeks and then moved to finger foods.

If you want to start with finger food, see some tips below:

How do you know if the baby is ready for finger food:

• Wait till 6 months to start with finger food
• Ensure that the baby’s tongue thrust is gone. This is where when baby pushes most things out of the mouth as a reflex.
• Ensure that baby has pincer grip where the baby can grab things between thumb and index finger.
• Ensure that your baby can sit upright without assistance.
• Invest in a good highchair. I got Stokkes Trip Trapp for my kid and it was the best investment ever. It is on the expensive side so may be see if you can get a second hand or I have a list of the best highchairs in the Best Deals section. 
• Buy a full length bib and a food catch all high chair cover.

How to offer first food:

• Steam the vegetables and fruits do not boil them as boiling vegetables loses most of it’s nutrients.
• Cut the vegetables or fruits in finger food shape.
• Make sure that the steamed vegetable or fruit is soft enough so that you can press it between your thumb and index finger without much pressure.
•  Always start with vegetables as babies are born with sugar addiction (as mums consume sugar in any form when they are pregnant so babies know how it tastes) so once they are used to the taste of fruits, it will be hard to make them try or like veggies. I started with carrots.
• Offer one type of vegetables for two days in a row and then move to a new vegetable.
• You can offer a medley of veggies or fruits to the baby but only the ones that the baby has already tried and then you can add a new fruit or vegetable with the medley.
• Avoid offering gluten food (like wheat or porridge) for the first couple of weeks. I introduced it in week 3 or 4. Introduce gluten food just one time in the week and then wait for 2-3 days before offering gluten food again. This will help you determine if the baby has any allergies to gluten.
• Do offer egg by the week 5 or 6. Again wait before offering again to see if there are any allergies.
• You can offer peanut butter and other allergens slowly one at a time just the way gluten was introduced after week 6. When you introduce one allergen, wait for 3 days before repeating that allergen food.
• Basically, idea behind waiting after offering any allergen containing food is to see if the baby has any reactions to it.
• You should offer a new group of fruits or vegetables for 2 days in a row and continue to offer new food as much as possible. This helps baby to taste, touch and feel different textures which is so important for their development.  
• Peel the skin of fruits like grapes, apple etc. They are choking hazard.
• Steam any vegetables or fruits that are hard like apple, sweet potato and so on.

The pic below shows the typical finger foods (pic from jennahelwig.com):

Things to avoid and Tips:

• Do not offer food to hot or too cold.
• Avoid round shaped food like grapes and blueberry, cut them into quarters and take peel out of fruits like grapes.
• No whole nuts just the smooth peanut butter.
• Do not leave the baby unattended during food time.
• Always have plenty of time when giving food to baby, do not rush it. This is an experience with food for baby and this is going to encourage your baby to have good relationship with food.
• Babies are going to make a big mess but just go with the flow. My experience was that my kid would make a mess, but I knew he is just discovering things like gravity and textures. By the age of 10 months we were having the same dinner and he was eating by himself.
• I had a product to catch all food mess but by the time my baby was 10 months old, we stopped using it as my kid stopped making much mess – Tidy Tot catch all bib
• Always eat with your baby as then they know what to do. They learn by watching you. My kid was eating watermelon with fork when he was 11 months old. This would encourage family time dinners.
• Offer the first foods in morning half an hour after giving the bottle or breastfeeding. This ensures that the baby is not too hungry and is curious about the food and is not tired or over stimulated.
• Offer only 1 tsp of puree or a few finger foods for the first couple of weeks. Not more than that. Always follow baby’s cure. Do not force feed the baby.

Gagging vs Choking:

• Don’t be scared of Gagging as it is part of the process where they learn to chew properly. Gagging is not choking. Baby gags to bring their food forward so that they can take it out or bring it forward.
• Choking can be dangerous. When babies are choking they go quiet and turn pale and blue.
• Please enroll yourself for a paedriatric CPR just to know about it. 
• See below video to show you the difference between choking and gagging: