Starting solids

Weaning First Foods: How to Start Solids Safely

Weaning does not need a colour-coded spreadsheet, a tiny chef’s hat or a war between purées and baby-led weaning. Your baby is learning a physical skill and discovering food while milk still does the heavy nutritional lifting.

The aim is steady variety, safe preparation and low-pressure practice. Some meals will be eaten. Some will be carefully moisturised into an eyebrow. Both count as experience.

The three signs your baby is ready

The NHS says these signs should appear together from around 6 months:

1. your baby can stay sitting and hold their head steady;
2. they can coordinate eyes, hands and mouth to look at food, pick it up and bring it to their mouth; and
3. they swallow food instead of automatically pushing it back out.

Chewing fists, wanting more milk and waking more at night are normal baby behaviours, not reliable readiness tests. Starting solids early will not make a baby sleep through. If your baby was premature or has developmental, swallowing or growth concerns, ask the health visitor, dietitian or paediatric team when and how to begin.

What should the first week actually look like?

Choose a time when your baby is alert, not exhausted and not desperately hungry. Sit them safely upright in a highchair with the harness fitted. Offer a few teaspoons or two or three graspable pieces once a day, then follow their cues.

There is no required first food. Useful early options include:

• soft cooked broccoli, cauliflower, courgette, parsnip or sweet potato;
• mashed avocado, beans, lentils or well-cooked egg;
• plain full-fat yoghurt;
• soft flakes of fish with every bone removed;
• tender strips of meat; and
• porridge or another iron-fortified cereal made to a suitable texture.

Include less-sweet vegetables as well as fruit, and bring in iron-rich foods early. Do not force another mouthful when your baby turns away, closes their mouth or loses interest. Babies under 12 months do not need snacks; offer extra milk if they seem hungry between meals.

Purées, finger foods or both?

Any of the three can work. Spoon-feeding is not automatically old-fashioned, and baby-led weaning is not a magic shield against fussiness. The important bit is progressing from smooth food to mashed, lumpy and finger-food textures as your baby can manage them.

For finger foods, start with pieces roughly the size and shape of an adult finger so a baby can grip them with food sticking out of the fist. They should be soft enough to squash between finger and thumb. For spoon food, load the spoon lightly and let your baby lean towards it rather than scraping food into a closed mouth.

How do I introduce allergenic foods?

From around 6 months, foods that can cause allergy can be introduced one at a time and in small amounts so you can spot a reaction. These include egg, peanut and other nuts, cows’ milk in food, gluten, fish, shellfish, sesame and soya.

• Choose a day when your baby is well and you can watch them.
• Use a safe form: smooth nut butter thinned into food, finely ground nuts, well-cooked egg, and fully cooked fish or shellfish.
• Do not introduce several new allergens in the same mouthful.
• If tolerated, keep the food in your baby’s usual diet rather than treating it as a one-off test.

Speak to a GP or health visitor first if your baby has diagnosed food allergy or eczema, or there is a strong family history of allergy, eczema, asthma or hay fever.

Stop the food and get advice for hives, swelling, vomiting, coughing, wheezing or a sudden worsening rash. Call 999 for breathing difficulty, swelling of the tongue or throat, collapse, unusual floppiness or another severe reaction.

Gagging and choking are not the same

Always stay with your baby while they eat. Sit them upright; do not feed in a reclined pushchair or moving car. A paediatric first-aid course is one of the few baby purchases that takes up no cupboard space.

Reduce risk by quartering grapes and cherry tomatoes lengthways, cooking hard fruit and vegetables until soft, removing bones and stones, spreading nut butter thinly, and keeping whole nuts and popcorn away from children under 5.

Foods and habits to avoid

• Honey before age 1: it can very occasionally cause infant botulism.
• Whole nuts, popcorn and hard round food: these are choking hazards.
• Raw shellfish, unpasteurised products and undercooked eggs without the British Lion mark: these increase infection risk.
• Added salt and sugar: babies do not need them.
• Whole cows’, goats’ or sheep’s milk as the main drink before 1: it can be used in cooking from around 6 months.
• Rice drinks before age 5: they are not recommended because of arsenic levels.
• Sucking straight from food pouches: put food on a spoon so your baby practises eating and to reduce frequent sugar contact with teeth.

What happens to milk feeds and drinks?

Breast milk or first infant formula remains the main drink throughout the first year. Keep feeding responsively while meals gradually grow. From around 6 months, offer sips of water with meals in an open cup or a free-flow cup without a valve.

Breastfed babies, and babies having less than 500ml of formula a day, may need vitamin supplements; the exact recommendation depends on age and milk intake. Ask your health visitor or pharmacist and use a baby product at the labelled dose.

What comes after the first tastes?

Move towards three varied meals over time, not overnight. Keep offering foods that were refused; acceptance can take many calm exposures. By 10 months the pattern looks quite different, and our 10-month-old meal-plan guide gives ideas to adapt rather than a rigid menu.

For inspiration, browse our finger-food recipes, but always adjust shape, texture, salt and allergens to your own baby’s stage. New foods can change poo and temporarily irritate the skin, so the nappy rash guide may also earn a place in your 2am reading list.

The bottom line

Around 6 months, three readiness signs, a steady upright seat, small portions and relaxed practice: that is the core of starting solids. Variety matters more than culinary theatre, and safe shape and texture matter more than whether the meal arrived by spoon or fist. Keep the teething guide nearby for the inevitable overlap.

Sources reviewed

Editorial check: KidsCo Editorial Team, 6 August 2026. Ask your baby’s health team for individual advice about prematurity, swallowing, growth or allergy.

• NHS Start for Life weaning advice (original KidsCo reference retained; the NHS redirects it to current guidance)
• NHS what to feed your baby (original KidsCo reference retained)
• NHS Best Start in Life: how to start weaning
• NHS: first solid foods, textures and drinks
• NHS: preparing food safely
• NHS: food allergies in babies
• NHS: foods to avoid
• NHS: baby and child choking first aid

KB

Originally written by Kristine Bowman; fully reviewed by the KidsCo Editorial Team

The editorial desk rebuilt and checked this guide against current NHS feeding, allergy and choking guidance on 6 August 2026. Editorial review is not a clinical or dietetic qualification.

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