Starting solid foods

Most babies are ready for their first solid foods at about 6 months (WHO, AAP, CDC, NHS). Readiness shows in what your baby can do more than the date on the calendar. Breast milk or formula stays the main food for a while. Early solids are mostly about learning to eat.

When

• The WHO recommends breast milk alone for the first 6 months, with other foods added from 6 months while breast milk continues.
• The AAP and CDC say about 6 months. The CDC adds that starting before 4 months is not recommended.
• If your baby was born early, ask your pediatrician when to start (NHS).

Signs of readiness

Your baby (AAP, CDC, NHS):

1. sits up, alone or with support, and holds their head steady
2. opens their mouth when food comes near and seems eager to eat
3. swallows food rather than pushing it back out with the tongue
4. can look at food, pick it up and bring it to the mouth (NHS).

The NHS notes that chewing fists, waking more at night, or wanting extra milk feeds are normal at this age and are not by themselves signs of readiness for solids.

First steps

• Start smooth: mashed, puréed or strained foods are easiest at first. Move to thicker, lumpier textures as your baby's skills grow (CDC).
• Include foods with iron from the start, such as iron-fortified infant cereal, meat, beans or lentils, and eggs (AAP, CDC).
• Allergens with everything else. Offer common allergens, such as egg and peanut, around 6 months along with other first foods, and not before 4 months. Waiting longer doesn't prevent allergies, and early peanut may help prevent peanut allergy (Greer 2019, Fleischer 2021). The CDC's examples of common allergens to introduce with other foods are eggs, shellfish, nut butters and wheat.
• Peanut, safely. Give peanut as thinned peanut butter (smooth peanut butter thinned with warm water, breast milk or formula, or stirred into a purée or cereal) or peanut powder mixed into food (NIAID 2017, AAP). Never whole or chopped nuts, and never chunks or spoonfuls of thick nut butter: they are choking hazards (AAP, CDC).
• Eczema or egg allergy? Babies with severe eczema or an egg allergy are more likely to develop a peanut allergy. Talk to your pediatrician around 4 months, so introducing peanut isn't delayed: for these babies the advice is peanut as early as 4 to 6 months, often after a check first (NIAID 2017, AAP). Without eczema or a known food allergy, no testing is needed (Fleischer 2021).
• Always watch your baby while they eat, keep portions small, and offer foods that dissolve easily or don't need chewing (CDC).

Milk feeds usually continue alongside solids, and Chickpea's feed count shows how the day changes.

Not yet

From the CDC, before 12 months:

• No honey, raw or cooked. It can cause infant botulism.
• No cow's milk as a drink. It has too much protein and too many minerals for a baby's kidneys, and it can cause intestinal bleeding.
• No juice.

Choking hazards for young children include nuts and seeds, chunks of meat or cheese, hot dogs, meat sticks, whole grapes, hard fruit chunks such as apple, popcorn, raw vegetables, marshmallows, hard or sticky candy, and gum (AAP, CDC). Cut, mash or cook foods soft, and keep the highest-risk ones for much later.

When to call your pediatrician, or emergency services

From the AAP, CDC and NIAID 2017:

• Call emergency services if your baby can't breathe, cough or cry after a choking episode, or has swelling of the lips or face, trouble breathing, or repeated vomiting after a new food.
• Call your pediatrician about a rash, vomiting or diarrhea after a new food, or if your baby has severe eczema or a known food allergy before starting allergens.
• Ask for help if eating seems hard: frequent coughing or gagging that doesn't improve, or refusing all solids for weeks.