GUIDE
Pick an iron-rich food, offer it when baby is alert and not starving, and don't panic when most of it ends up on the floor.
The internet makes this look way more complicated than it is. Here's the straightforward version.
Starting solids feels like a massive milestone because it is one. Your baby has consumed exactly one thing for their entire life, and now you're introducing everything else. It's exciting, it's messy, and it's way less complicated than the internet makes it seem.
Here's the short version: when your baby shows signs of readiness (usually around 6 months), you offer them soft, age-appropriate food — either as purees, finger foods, or both. You start with one meal a day, gradually increase, and let baby learn at their own pace. Milk stays as the primary nutrition source until about 12 months. Everything else is practice.
The most important thing to know before you start: prioritize iron-rich foods. Not because sweet potato isn't nice, but because your baby's iron stores from birth are depleting right around 6 months. Iron-fortified cereal, meat, lentils, beans, and eggs should be among the first foods — not saved for later. This is the single most important nutritional consideration in early feeding, and it's the one that most "first foods" content buries.
| Food | How to Prepare It | Why This Food | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Iron-fortified oat cereal | Mix with breast milk or formula to a thin, smooth consistency | Iron-rich. Easy to control texture. Low allergy risk. | Oat over rice — lower arsenic concern |
| Pureed meat (chicken, turkey, beef) | Cook until very tender, puree with liquid until smooth. Or shred into thin strips for BLW. | Excellent iron and zinc source. Heme iron is better absorbed than plant iron. | Yes, meat can be a first food. Pediatric nutrition guidelines support this. |
| Mashed lentils or beans | Cook until very soft, mash with a fork. Add liquid for thinner consistency. | Iron-rich, high protein, good fiber. Budget-friendly. | May cause gas initially — totally normal |
| Well-cooked egg | Scramble, hard-boil and mash, or make thin omelet strips. Fully cooked. | Excellent protein, iron, and healthy fats. Also an early allergen to introduce. | Offer early and often — early egg introduction may reduce egg allergy risk |
| Avocado | Mash with fork, or cut into finger-length strips with some skin left on for grip | Healthy fats, smooth texture, easy to prepare. Baby-friendly flavor. | Not iron-rich — pair with an iron source |
| Sweet potato | Bake or steam until very soft. Mash for purees, cut into finger strips for BLW. | Mild flavor, good nutrition, easy texture for beginners. | Popular first food, but not iron-rich. Don't rely on it exclusively. |
| Banana | Mash with fork for purees. Cut in half lengthwise, then into thirds for BLW. | Soft, naturally sweet, requires zero cooking. | Can be constipating. Roll in hemp seeds for grip if doing BLW. |
| Peanut butter (thinned) | Mix smooth peanut butter with breast milk, formula, or water until thin and runny. Never give a glob. | Early introduction of peanut reduces allergy risk (LEAP study). | Thick peanut butter is a choking hazard — always thin it or spread very thinly on toast strips |
Day 1: Pick one food from the chart above. Prepare a small amount — a tablespoon or two for purees, or one piece for finger food. Sit baby upright in their high chair. Offer the food after a milk feed (so they're not desperately hungry). Let them explore. If they eat some, great. If they smear it in their hair, also great. Session over.
Day 2-3: Offer the same food again. Repeated exposure is how babies learn to accept new tastes and textures. Don't switch foods every day — give each one a few tries.
Day 4-5: Introduce a second food. Keep offering the first food too. If baby refused the first food, try again — research shows it can take 10-15 exposures before a baby accepts a new food.
Day 6-7: Continue with the foods you've introduced. By now you'll have a sense of your baby's style — are they enthusiastic? Cautious? Do they prefer holding food themselves or being spoon-fed? Let this guide your approach going forward.
The golden rule for week one: no pressure. This is an introduction, not an exam. The amount your baby eats literally doesn't matter yet. Milk is handling the nutrition. Solids are practice.
| Timeframe | Goal | What to Expect | Parent Tip |
|---|---|---|---|
| Week 1 | Introduction — one food, once a day | Baby may spit food out, make faces, gag, push food away, or ignore it completely. They might eat a teaspoon or nothing at all. This is all normal. | Offer solids when baby is alert, happy, and not starving. Mid-morning after a milk feed is often a good time. |
| Week 2 | Continue daily practice — try 1-2 new foods | Baby starts to figure out the spoon or picks up food more purposefully. Still messy. Still mostly milk-powered. | Introduce one new food every 2-3 days so you can identify any reactions. Keep offering previously accepted foods too. |
| Week 3-4 | Building variety — 2 mini-meals per day | Baby starts swallowing more and wearing less. Some babies are enthusiastic; others are still cautious. Both are fine. | Start mixing foods — iron-rich cereal with fruit, avocado with egg. Introduce an allergen if you haven't yet. |
| Month 2 of solids | Expanding textures and variety | Baby is getting more efficient. Less gagging. Better hand-to-mouth coordination. Milk intake may start decreasing slightly. | Start thickening purees or offering more finger foods. This is a good time to introduce lumpier textures. |
| Month 3-4 of solids (8-10 months) | Three meals a day, varied textures | Baby is eating recognizable meals. Pincer grasp is developing. They can handle soft chunks and mixed textures. | Family meals become possible. Modify what you're eating — less salt, appropriate sizes — and let baby join in. |
You've probably encountered the Great Feeding Method Debate online. Purees (traditional spoon-feeding) vs. baby-led weaning (self-feeding with finger foods from the start). The debate can get heated. The reality is much simpler.
Purees work. They've worked for generations. They're easy to make, easy to buy, and give you control over what baby eats and how much.
Baby-led weaning (BLW) also works. Babies eat soft finger foods from the start, feeding themselves. It promotes motor development, self-regulation of appetite, and exposure to real food textures early.
Combination feeding — using both purees and finger foods — is what most families actually end up doing, and it works just as well. There's no research showing one approach is nutritionally superior to another.
The best approach is the one that works for your family, your baby, and your comfort level. We cover this in detail in our BLW vs. purees guide.
Baby needs to be upright at 90 degrees with feet supported (or at least not dangling). A high chair with a footrest is ideal. If you don't have one yet, a Bumbo-type seat on the floor works for the first few meals — though you'll want a high chair soon.
If you're starting with purees, soft silicone-tipped spoons are gentler on gums than metal. If you're doing baby-led weaning, you might skip spoons entirely at first. Pre-loaded spoons — where you load the food and hand the spoon to baby — work for both approaches.
Long-sleeved smock bibs with a food-catching pocket at the bottom are the most practical option. Or just strip baby down to a diaper for messy meals and go straight to the bath afterward. There's no wrong answer here.
A splat mat, old shower curtain, or cheap plastic tablecloth under the high chair saves your floor and your sanity. Or get a dog.
What you don't need: A baby food maker (a regular pot and a fork or blender work fine). A full set of baby-specific plates and bowls (a regular plate works). An organized freezer stash of individually portioned purees in color-coded containers (nice if you're into it, completely unnecessary if you're not). Organic-everything (conventional produce is nutritionally equivalent — see our section on what the feeding industry doesn't tell you).
Sweet potato, banana, pear — these are easy wins, but if you only offer sweet foods, baby may resist savory and bitter flavors later. Mix it up. Offer meat, beans, broccoli, and avocado alongside the sweet stuff from the beginning.
Old advice said to wait until 12 months for common allergens. The science now shows the opposite: early introduction (around 6 months, or 4-6 months for high-risk babies) reduces allergy risk. Don't put it off. See our allergen introduction guide for exactly how.
At 6-7 months, solids are practice. The nutrition is still coming from milk. If baby eats two bites or twenty, they're fine. Pressure to eat is counterproductive — it creates negative associations with food.
There's a window between roughly 6 and 9 months when babies are most receptive to learning new textures. If you stay on perfectly smooth purees past 8-9 months, the transition to lumpy and solid foods can be harder. Progress the texture as baby's skills develop.
tinylog lets you log meals and new foods in a few taps. When your pediatrician asks what baby has eaten, you'll have a real answer instead of a guess.
Pouches are convenient, not developmental. Store-bought squeeze pouches are handy in a pinch, but they shouldn't be the primary way your baby eats. Sucking puree from a pouch uses a completely different oral motor pattern than eating from a spoon or chewing finger foods. Babies who rely heavily on pouches may resist textures later because they haven't practiced the chewing motions that develop between 6 and 9 months.
"Stage 1, 2, 3" is marketing, not science. Baby food companies label their products in stages to suggest a developmental progression, but these stages aren't based on any standardized developmental guideline. They're a marketing framework. Your baby doesn't need to complete "Stage 1" before moving to "Stage 2." Progress based on your baby's actual skills, not a label on a jar.
You don't have to make all baby food from scratch. There's nothing wrong with store-bought baby food as part of your feeding approach. But be aware that many commercial baby foods contain more fruit and sweeteners than you might expect. Check ingredients — "sweet potato puree" that lists apple juice concentrate as the second ingredient is more sugar delivery system than vegetable.
Before you start, a few non-negotiable safety points:
Take an infant CPR course. Every caregiver who will be present during meals should know infant CPR and how to respond to choking. This is the single most important thing you can do before starting solids.
Always supervise meals. Never leave your baby alone with food. Not for a second, not to grab your phone, not to answer the door.
Baby must be upright. Seated at 90 degrees in a high chair or supported seat. Never reclined. Never lying down.
Know the choking hazards. Whole grapes, cherry tomatoes, hot dog rounds, whole nuts, raw apple chunks, globs of nut butter, and popcorn are the main offenders. See our choking hazards guide for the full list and how to modify these foods safely.
Honey is off-limits until 12 months. Not in food, not in baked goods, not "just a tiny bit." Honey can contain Clostridium botulinum spores that cause infant botulism. No exceptions before the first birthday.
This guide is for informational purposes only and is not a substitute for professional medical advice. Consult your pediatrician before starting solids, especially regarding allergen introduction for high-risk infants. All caregivers should be trained in infant CPR before offering solid foods.
