Starting solid foods is one of the most significant transitions in your baby's first year, and it is also one of the most confusing — the advice has changed substantially in the past decade, parents receive conflicting guidance from different sources, and the sheer variety of approaches can make it feel more complicated than it needs to be. The truth is that the fundamentals are straightforward, and most families settle into a comfortable rhythm within a few weeks of starting.
This guide covers when to start, how to recognise readiness, what to offer first, how to introduce allergens safely, and how to navigate the inevitable messiness and rejection that comes with a new eater. The aim is to give you the confidence to follow your baby's lead without second-guessing every spoonful.
As you introduce new foods, keeping a log of what your baby has tried and any reactions you notice is genuinely useful — both for spotting patterns and for conversations with your health visitor. The Healthbooq app includes a food diary that makes it easy to track first tastes and flag anything worth discussing with your paediatrician.
When to Start
The World Health Organisation and most national health authorities recommend introducing solids at around six months of age, while continuing breast milk or formula. Six months is not a rigid deadline — some babies are ready a little earlier, and some a little later — but starting before four months is not recommended, as the gut and kidneys are not mature enough to handle solid foods safely before this point.
The most important thing to understand is that solid food at this stage is supplementary, not a replacement for milk. Milk — whether breast or formula — remains the primary source of nutrition until around 12 months. Solids introduce your baby to new textures, tastes, and nutrients, and they begin the process of developing the chewing and swallowing skills they will need as they grow. Appetite for solids increases gradually over several months, and there is no fixed amount your baby should be eating at any given stage.
Signs Your Baby Is Ready
Three signs together indicate readiness for solid foods, and ideally you want to see all three before starting. First, your baby should be able to sit with minimal support and hold their head steadily — this is essential both for safe swallowing and for the social experience of eating. Second, the tongue-thrust reflex — the instinct to push foreign objects out of the mouth — should have faded. If every spoonful comes straight back out, your baby may need another week or two. Third, your baby should be showing genuine interest in food: watching intently while you eat, reaching toward your plate, or opening their mouth when food comes near.
Waking frequently at night and general fussiness are sometimes cited as signs of readiness, but research does not support starting solids early for these reasons. If your baby seems hungrier than usual, it is much more likely that milk supply or intake needs adjustment.
What to Offer First
The most important first foods are those rich in iron, because a baby's iron stores from birth begin to deplete at around six months. Iron-rich options include well-cooked and pureed or mashed meat and poultry, oily fish such as salmon or sardines, cooked egg, and iron-fortified baby cereals. Alongside these, vegetables and fruit — soft-cooked and pureed or mashed to an appropriate texture — introduce a variety of flavours and help set the foundation for a broad palate.
There is no required order in which foods must be introduced, despite what you may have read. You do not need to introduce foods one at a time with days between each new item — this practice was common in older guidance but is no longer recommended. The exception is common allergens, which we will come to shortly. Offering a varied mix of foods from the start, including mild spices and herbs, helps to normalise a wide range of flavours before the window of openness starts to close around 18 months.
Purees or Finger Foods?
Parents often feel pressure to choose between traditional spoon-feeding with purees and baby-led weaning, where soft finger foods are offered from the start and the baby self-feeds. In reality, most families end up doing a blend of both, and the research shows similar outcomes for growth and development across approaches. What matters more than the texture format is that your baby is engaged, sitting upright, and not being pressured to eat.
If you use purees, aim to move through textures progressively — from smooth to lumpy to mashed to soft pieces — over the course of a few months, rather than staying on smooth purees for too long. If you use finger foods, ensure they are soft enough to be squashed between your finger and thumb, cut to a size that allows a palmar grip rather than a pincer grip in early months, and never left unattended.
Introducing Allergens
Current guidance from allergy specialists represents a significant shift from what was recommended 15 years ago. Early and repeated introduction of common allergens — peanuts, egg, dairy, wheat, fish, soy, sesame, and tree nuts — is now actively recommended as a way to reduce the risk of developing allergies. Delaying these foods, particularly in babies with a family history of allergy or with eczema, is associated with higher allergy risk, not lower.
Introduce allergens one at a time, at home rather than at nursery or a restaurant, and at a time when you can observe your baby for two to four hours after the first taste. A reaction, if it occurs, will typically appear within that window as hives, swelling, vomiting, or respiratory distress. Most babies will have no reaction at all. If your baby has severe eczema or a known food allergy, speak with your doctor before introducing high-risk allergens.
Key Takeaways
Most health authorities recommend introducing solid foods at around six months, alongside continued breast milk or formula — not instead of it. The three readiness signs to look for are the ability to sit with minimal support, loss of the tongue-thrust reflex, and genuine interest in watching others eat. You can start with either purees or soft finger foods — both approaches are safe and effective. Introducing common allergens early and repeatedly is now recommended to reduce allergy risk. Iron-rich foods should be prioritised in the first months of weaning.
