Weaning advice

Hi, mamas! 👋🏼 My baby is now 6 months old. He is exclusively breastfed, and we’ve started introducing solids, but it hasn’t been straightforward. Before weaning, he showed a lot of interest when we were eating or holding something in our hands. However, when we began feeding him, he would show some interest but start crying after about 5 minutes. Now, every time we sit him in his high chair, he cries. He also doesn’t open his mouth when the spoon is in front of him, so we have to feed him directly. When we give him the spoon to try feeding himself, he attempts it, but then he just cries. It doesn’t seem to be a positive experience for him at the moment. I’m really looking for advice on how to encourage him to eat. Could it be too early? It's been about a week and a half since we started trying. His gums are also a bit swollen—could that be a factor? Thank you in advance! Just an anxious mama here, worrying about everything. 🥲😅