Introducing solids

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• Why your baby needs solids
• Signs she may be ready
• Will she choke?
• When to introduce more solids
• How to introduce solids
• Which foods to start?
• Salt, seasonings and sweeteners

Why your baby needs solids

At six months your baby needs iron and other nutrients from solid food. Until that age, she has been using up iron stored while she was still in the womb (as well as getting iron from breastmilk and formula). She is also ready to experience new tastes and textures, and starting on solids at around this age will help with her developing teeth and jaw. Starting solids doesn't mean replacing breastfeeding; researchers say it's best for your baby to keep breastfeeding along with eating solids until she's at least 12 months old.

• Once your child is six months old, she needs more food and also needs to learn eating skills.
• Look for signs that your baby is ready for solids before you cook her first gourmet meal.
• Introducing solids before six months can cause problems, including allergies.

Signs she may be ready

Although it’s likely that your baby will be ready to try solids at six months, all babies are different. Some want to start later, and that's OK. It’s best to wait for visible cues from your baby such as:

• showing an interest in food, including what's on your plate and putting fingers in her mouth
• an increased appetite for breastfeeds or formula
• opening her mouth when food is offered on a spoon
• good head and neck control, and the ability to sit upright when supported.

If you give solids to your baby before she is ready, she may get tummy troubles or develop food allergies. If solid food completely replaces breastmilk or formula too quickly, she can become malnourished. 

Solids are about learning to eat, which is why they're not introduced by bottle. And by six months your baby's tongue control and ability to swallow are usually well-developed.

Will she choke?

Once your baby is six months old she has enough tongue control to avoid choking on soft, smooth or pureed foods. However, pieces of raw carrot and apple, fish or meat with small bones, and popcorn are too difficult for babies. Nuts and boiled lollies are a choking hazard until your child is about five years old. Read more about how to prevent choking.

When to introduce more solids

At around eight months your baby will be able to ‘chew’ her gums, which means she’s now ready for food that is coarsely mashed or minced. She’ll also be ready for finger foods such as pieces of soft fruit, cooked vegetables and toast, all of which encourage self-feeding. Yoghurt and small amounts of cow's milk, such as in custard and cheese and on cereal, can also be introduced at this time. By 12 months she will be able to eat chopped up foods, including meat, and will be wielding a spoon with varying degrees of success.

How to introduce solids

You can expect the eating process to be very messy and slow. Your baby is learning a new skill, including how to get food to her mouth, and she might want to touch and test the texture of new foods as she goes.

• Start with a single food, and keep trying that for about four days before you introduce the next food.
• Right from the start, eating with grown-ups will show your baby good mealtime habits.
• Expecting some mess and playing with food can help you stay relaxed.

Table manners aren't going to come just yet, but if you spend at least one meal a day together as a family, your baby will learn from seeing how you all behave at the table. And staying calm and patient with your baby's mess with solids will also help her learn that mealtimes are a time to be relaxed. Spreading newspaper or plastic under the highchair can make cleaning up easier. Have a washcloth handy.

Start with a single food, not a mixture, and stick with this for about four days, watching for signs of intolerance or allergic reactions such as vomiting, diarrhoea or rashes, which don’t always show up straightaway. Then introduce a different food, again watching for signs of intolerance. Going slowly with each new food will also give her a chance to get used to different tastes and textures. If your baby turns up her nose at something, try again some other time. Most babies will not have any problems with new foods. 

Which foods to start?

Food is exciting for your baby – there’s no need to cook a variety of offerings to try to tempt her. All it needs to be is smooth and pureed.

Start with a teaspoon of infant rice cereal (it's bland, which is good for your baby's first taste of food, free of gluten and full of iron) or potato. You can mix these with water or breastmilk or formula. Mixing it with the breastmilk or formula your baby is used to will mean it also tastes vaguely familiar, which might help.

Increase the amount by a teaspoon each day until she’s eating a maximum of two tablespoons. Once she’s eating two tablespoons, you can give her solid food twice a day. The consistency of the cereal or vegetable can be thickened slightly as she eats more.

Best things to introduce from 6-8 months

• vegetables: potato, pumpkin, carrot
• fruit: mashed banana, cooked and mashed apple or pear

From about eight months

You can move on to coarsely mashed foods: 

• ground up meats and chicken
• cereals such as whole rice, couscous and pasta (unless your family has a history of wheat or gluten allergy)
• you can use a little cow's milk to add to cereal or food such as custard 

As your child gets used to eating solids, you can switch to giving her solids first and a drink second.   

From 12 months

Cow’s milk can be introduced as the main drink when your baby is 12 months old. Before that, the only two appropriate options are breastmilk or formula, and the nutrients in these remain an important part of her diet.

Salt, seasonings and sweeteners 

The longer you can avoid salt and sugar the better for her. If you avoid all salt, seasonings and sweeteners you won’t overwhelm your baby’s delicate palate (or get her used to needing these things to make her food tasty).

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