When is your baby ready to start solid foods? What foods do you introduce to baby first? How do you home-prepare solid foods? And what do you need to get started? This page helps you with starting solid foods you gives you reputable advice from sources like the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) and the World Health Organization (WHO) that you know you can trust.
Starting solid foods
When is baby ready for solid foods
The AAP recommends waiting to introduce solid foods until baby:
- Sits up
- Opens the mouth when food is offered
- Brings objects to the mouth
- Tries to grasp objects
- Has doubled its birth weight and weighs about 13 pounds or more
- Can move food from a spoon into the throat (tongue thrust reflex has faded)
How to feed new solid foods to baby
Sit baby up: Sitting in a high chair is the best position for baby to eat.
Watch your baby: Choking is a risk with solid foods and can happen silently, so don’t walk away when baby is eating.
One food at a time: Introduce one new food at a time and wait 3-5 days before adding another, so if your baby encounters an allergic reaction, you don’t have to second guess what caused it.
Either feed baby with a spoon, or let baby self-feed (called “baby-led weaning“).
Continue breastfeeding until 2 years in parallel to introducing solid foods.
What foods to introduce first
The WHO states that transitioning from breastfeeding to solid foods is a time when many infants become malnourished. Therefore, the AAP recommends
- Meats first: Meats, such as turkey, chicken, and beef since these are good sources of high-quality protein, iron, and zinc.
- Iron-fortified infant cereal: A rice cereal or oatmeal adds iron to your baby’s diet. Check the label to make sure that the cereal is a single-ingredient product — that means no added fruit, milk or yogurt solids, or infant formula. You can mix the cereal with your breast milk, water, or formula.
- Mashed fruit and vegetables such as applesauce, pears, peaches, bananas, cooked carrots, peas, and sweet potatoes.
- Keep exposing to a wide variety: Keep exposing your baby to a wide variety of foods. If your baby doesn’t seem to like a new food at first, try it again a few days later.
How to prepare solid foods
- Wash and peel fruits and vegetables, and remove seeds or pits.
- Either cook foods long enough that the consistency is soft enough for your baby to mush it in their mouth, or
- Mash foods with a food masher, food mill or food processor.
- You can even dilute foods with breastmilk, water or formula and gradually thicken the texture as baby gets more comfortable eating solids.
What NOT to prepare / add
- NO foods that pose a choking hazard: raw veggies, nuts, grapes or hot dogs.
- DON’T add any salt or sugar.
- DON’T give your baby honey during the first year. It can cause botulism.
- DON’T feed home-prepared spinach, beets, green beans, squash, turnips, carrots to babies under 6 months of age since these contain high levels of nitrates that can be dangerous for young infants.
Essentials for starting solid foods
High chair
Your baby likely will want to sit with you at the table to eat. A high chair is the best place to start your baby off with solid foods. This one folds easily for easy storage and the seat pad is machine washable.
Fresh food feeder
A fresh food feeder can help starting solid foods safely by reducing the risk of choking on for example the skin of blueberries, and gives baby the option to feed him/herself.
Food masher
To prepare baby’s first solid foods, a food masher can help you make sure all the parts are mashed good. This one comes with a bowl and lid for easy travel.
Food mill
Once you start preparing baby foods regularly, a baby mill helps puree food for baby consumption. This one comes with a lid and is top-rack dishwasher safe.
Suction cup food bowls
These suction cup feeding bowls hold steady in place even when a strong baby is super curious and trying to pull them hard. They are stackable and top rack dishwasher safe.
Baby temp safety spoons
The tip of these baby spoons turns white when the food is too hot for baby to safely eat. They are also BPA- and phthalate-free, and top rack dishwasher-safe.
Read next:
Laws protecting pregnant women and parents
There are quite a few laws protecting pregnant women, breastfeeding moms, and parents seeking to take time off to bond with a baby. This pages gives you an overview over these laws, and points you to the government websites covering them in more detail.
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