Starting solids

My little girl is nearly 4 months now and my mother in law has been telling me to start giving her baby rice, which I personally don't think she's ready for, even though she is a hungry baby! Anyway I spoke to a health visitor today and they said the best thing to do is don't give them solids until at least 6 months and then start them on whatever food you eat. I'll be honest, i prefer that advice to any other advice as I know what she's eating and it's healthy rather then ready made baby food, but she was saying things like weetabix give her with cows milk to get her used to it. I was just wondering if anyone else has done it this way as I've always been told don't give cows milk until they are a year. Again I Iike the idea of getting her used to what we eat, but what with all the contradicting advice i wanted to see if other babies had this and were fine, or if it made them ill?