Starting solid foods

Start solid foods at around 6 months. Before that, breast milk or formula gives your baby all they need. Starting too early or too late can both affect growth. If your baby was born premature, ask your doctor when to start.

Your baby is ready when they can:

• Sit up with support and hold the head steady.
• Pick up food and bring it to the mouth.
• Swallow food instead of pushing it back out.
• Open the mouth when food comes close.

Chewing fists, waking at night or wanting more milk are not signs of readiness on their own.

Offer iron-rich foods early and often. Good choices are:

• Red lentils cooked soft and mashed.
• Minced chicken or meat, cooked well and mixed with a little water or milk.
• Egg, cooked until both white and yolk are firm, then mashed.
• Iron-fortified baby cereal.

Add soft vegetables and fruits. Try mashed zucchini, carrot, potato, banana, avocado or cooked apple. Plain yogurt and a little plain labneh are fine from 6 months. Hummus made without salt is fine too, as long as the chickpeas are blended smooth.

Start with a few spoons once a day. Increase slowly. From 6 to 8 months, aim for 2 to 3 meals a day. From 9 months, aim for 3 to 4 meals a day, plus 1 or 2 snacks if needed. Your baby may need 10 tries or more to accept a new taste. Keep offering.

Do not add salt or sugar. Cook for the family, then take your baby’s portion out before you season the rest.

Start with smooth or well mashed food. Over the following weeks, make it thicker and lumpier. Then offer soft pieces your baby can hold, such as cooked carrot sticks or soft bread. Aim for soft, chopped family food by the end of the first year. Lumps help your baby learn to chew.

Waiting to give egg or peanut does not prevent allergy. Experts now advise giving them early, once your baby has started solids.

• Egg: offer it well cooked.
• Peanut: mix a little smooth peanut butter into a purée or thin it with water or milk. Never give whole peanuts.
• Other common allergens include fish, wheat and sesame, as in tahini.

Give one new allergen at a time, in a small amount, so you can spot a reaction. Once your baby eats it without trouble, keep it in the diet a few times a week.

Does your baby have severe eczema, or has your baby reacted to a food before? Talk to your doctor before you introduce peanut. Your doctor may advise starting earlier, in a planned way.

• Honey, even a little, even in cooking or on a pacifier. It can cause a serious illness called botulism.
• Cow’s milk as a main drink. It is fine in cooking and in yogurt or labneh.
• Plant drinks such as soy, rice, oat or almond as a main drink.
• Juice and sweet drinks.
• Salty foods such as salty cheeses, pickles and processed meats.

Always stay with your baby while they eat. Keep your baby sitting upright. Never feed your baby lying down or in a car seat. Never give whole nuts, whole grapes or hard raw vegetables.

Change or avoid these foods:

• Whole nuts and seeds, including pine nuts on rice or meat.
• Grapes and cherry tomatoes. Cut them into quarters.
• Raw carrot and raw apple. Cook them soft or grate them.
• Whole chickpeas and beans. Mash them.
• Olives with pits, popcorn, hard sweets and chunks of meat or cheese.
• Spoonfuls of peanut butter or tahini. Spread or mix them thinly.

Gagging is normal while your baby learns. Your baby coughs, goes red and brings the food forward. Choking is silent. Your baby cannot cry or breathe. Learning baby first aid helps you tell the difference and act.

From 6 months, offer sips of water in an open cup with meals. Use safe drinking water. A small amount is enough, up to about 240 mL a day. Milk and food still give most of what your baby drinks.

Call your doctor if:

• Your baby gets hives, vomits or seems unwell soon after a new food.
• Your baby keeps refusing food or gags on every texture after several weeks.
• Your baby is constipated for several days.
• Your baby is not gaining weight.

Call the Red Cross on 140 if your baby has swelling of the lips, tongue or face. Call 140 too for trouble breathing, or if your baby turns pale and floppy after eating. If your baby is choking and cannot breathe, start baby first aid and call 140.