When can babies eat solid food?

As long every bit your infant shows signs of readiness, you can start solids any time between 4 and vi months. Until and so, breast milk or formula provides all the calories and nourishment your babe needs – and can handle. Infants don't yet accept the concrete skills to swallow solid foods safely, and their digestive system isn't ready for solids until they're at least 4 months old.

If you're exclusively breastfeeding, the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) recommends waiting until 6 months old to commencement solids. That'south because exclusive breastfeeding is so beneficial for your babe.

Even after your baby starts solids, breast milk or formula will still provide the majority of your baby's calories and diet until they're a year old. Both provide important vitamins, atomic number 26, and poly peptide in a class that's easy to digest. See how much breast milk or formula babies need subsequently starting solids.

How tin I tell when my babe'due south fix for solid nutrient?

Your baby will give yous clear signs when they're gear up. Look for:

  • Caput control . Your baby needs to be able to proceed their head in a steady, upright position.
  • Sitting well when supported. Your baby needs to exist able to sit upright in an infant feeding seat or highchair to consume well.
  • Losing the "extrusion reflex." Your baby'due south mouth and tongue develop in sync with the digestive system. To start solids, they should be able to move nutrient to the back of their mouth and consume information technology, instead of using their tongue to push food out of their mouth.
  • Significant weight gain. Your baby may be ready to consume solids if they've doubled their birth weight, weigh at to the lowest degree xiii pounds, and is at to the lowest degree 4 months one-time.
  • Curiosity virtually food. Your baby may begin eyeing or reaching for your food or may open up their mouth if you offer them a spoonful.

Keep in mind that simply because your infant is 6 months erstwhile, information technology doesn't mean that you have to innovate solids. Some babies may be gear up for solids by 6 months, while others may demand a little fleck more fourth dimension.

What are the best first baby foods?

Start your baby with any pureed unmarried-ingredient food. Although it used to be standard for parents to give babe cereal every bit a kickoff nutrient, that's non necessary. Good outset baby foods include

  • pureed squash
  • applesauce
  • mashed bananas
  • mashed avocado
  • pureed peaches
  • pureed pears
  • pureed meats
  • whole-grain, iron-enriched baby cereal

If your babe is breastfed, the AAP suggests meat as a kickoff nutrient considering the iron in beef, craven, and turkey helps to supersede iron stores, which start to diminish at about 6 months of age.

What to know about nutrient allergies when starting solid nutrient

Experts recommend that y'all introduce 1 food at a time to your baby, and expect three to v days before introducing another food, so you can watch for whatsoever allergic reactions. It'southward as well a good thought to write downwardly the foods your baby samples. If they have an agin reaction, a nutrient log will make it easier to pinpoint the cause.

You don't have to put off giving allergenic foods such as eggs or soy. At that place'due south no bear witness that waiting to innovate certain foods will help your baby avoid allergies. In fact, at that place's evidence that the opposite is truthful.

According to the American Academy of Allergy Asthma and Immunology (AAAAI), incorporating commonly allergenic foods into your baby's diet starting at around iv to 6 months (and continuing through babyhood) may actually help prevent the development of food allergies.

Showtime with traditional start foods, such as fe-fortified infant cereal, pureed veggies, fruits, and meats. Once you've tried a few of these foods and your babe seems to be tolerating them well, you can introduce more usually allergenic foods, such as soy, eggs, wheat, fish, and peanut products.

Food manufacturers have products on the market designed to assistance you incorporate normally allergenic foods into your child's diet. These stir-in powders and finger foods may incorporate i commonly allergenic poly peptide or a blend of several.

Special precautions need to be taken with certain babies. If your child falls into whatever of the following categories, consult with your infant's physician or an allergist to create a customized feeding program before adding solids to your baby's diet:

  • Your baby has a sibling with a peanut allergy.
  • Your baby has moderate to severe eczema despite following a physician's treatment plan.
  • Your babe previously had an immediate allergic reaction to a new food or has been diagnosed with a food allergy.
  • Your babe'southward blood test was positive for an allergy to a specific food.

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If your baby is allergic to a new food, you'll come across signs of a reaction within a few minutes or hours. Nearly children with nutrient allergies take mild reactions. If you find hives, vomiting, or diarrhea, call your baby's doctor for communication.

If yous find wheezing, difficulty breathing, or facial swelling (including the tongue and lips), your babe may be having a life-threatening reaction called anaphylaxis.Call 911 or your local emergency number immediately.

How to innovate solid food to your babe

The traditional way to start solids is by spoon-feeding your baby infant cereal or purees, only some parents use a different method chosen babe-led weaning. Using this method, you put large chunks of soft food on the highchair tray or table and let your infant grab the food and feed themself.

See our article on baby-led weaning to find out how information technology works. To learn how to start spoon-feeding, read on.

For your first few feedings, give your baby just 1 or two teaspoons of pureed solid food or infant cereal afterwards nursing or bottle-feeding (so your baby doesn't go hungry and frustrated).

Apply a soft-tipped plastic spoon to feed your baby to avoid injuring their gums. Put a modest amount of food on the tip of the spoon and offering it to them. If your infant doesn't seem very interested, just let them smell the nutrient for now and effort once again another time.

If y'all're feeding your baby ready-to-eat jars or pouches of baby nutrient, put some into a small dish and feed them from that. (If you lot dip the feeding spoon into the jar, it's non a good idea to salvage the leftovers because bacteria from your baby's mouth will now be in the jar.) Throw away any open baby food jars within a day or two of opening them.

If you make up one's mind to start with cereal, give your baby 1 to 2 teaspoons of diluted infant cereal. Add breast milk or formula to a tiny pinch of cereal. It volition be very runny at get-go, only as your baby starts to eat more solid foods, you lot can gradually thicken the consistency past using less liquid.

Begin with one daily feeding whenever your infant isn't as well tired, hungry, or cranky. Your baby may not eat much at showtime, but give them time to get used to the feel. Don't be surprised if your baby is confused or rejects solid food at first. Some babies need do keeping nutrient in their mouths and swallowing.

Eventually yous can showtime giving your baby more solid nutrient until they're having a few tablespoons a day, over two feedings. In general, your baby could kickoff with pureed or semi-liquid food, then move on to strained or mashed food, and finally graduate to small pieces of finger foods.

See our age-past-age baby feeding guide to discover out what yous tin expect adjacent.

How tin can I tell when my baby is full?

Your baby'southward appetite will vary from one feeding to the adjacent, so a strict accounting of how much they've eaten isn't a reliable manner to tell when they've had enough. Look for these signs that your baby is probably washed:

  • Leans back in the chair
  • Turns head away from food
  • Starts playing with the spoon
  • Refuses to open up for the next bite (Sometimes a baby will keep their mouth airtight because they oasis't finished the first mouthful, then give them time to eat.)

Baby food feeding tips

  • Offer fruits or vegetables in whatsoever order. Some parents may tell you to start with vegetables instead of fruits then your babe won't develop a taste for sweets. But babies are born with a preference for sweets, then y'all don't have to worry about introducing sweet or savory foods in any particular order.
  • Feed cereal with a spoon only. Unless your baby's doctor asks you to, don't add cereal to a bottle – your babe could choke or finish up gaining too much weight.
  • Encourage adventurous eating. Yous don't accept to stick with bland and tedious. See how to utilize spices and seasonings to make your baby's food delicious.
  • Requite new foods fourth dimension. If your baby turns abroad from a item nutrient, don't push. Effort again in a few days.
  • Check for added sugars and also much table salt. Bank check the Nutrition Facts label on canned, frozen, or packaged foods for "Added Sugars." If in that location'due south 1 gram or more than listed, consider giving your baby something else, since these sugars and syrups added during the processing of the food aren't recommended for children under 24 months. As well look at sodium amounts. Babies should accept no more than 1,200 mg of sodium per mean solar day.
  • Know the choking hazards. Don't give your babe foods that might brand them asphyxiate.
  • Watch for constipation. A baby'southward stool sometimes changes when their diet does. Although it's usually temporary, your babe may have constipation after introducing solids. If you discover that your baby is having less frequent bowel movements, or that their stools have become hard or dry and seem hard to pass, permit their doctor know. Some doctors recommend adding high-fiber fruits such as pears, prunes, and peaches to a baby's diet, or giving a few ounces of prune, apple, or pear juice each solar day until bowel movements are back to normal.

Also, don't be surprised if your infant's stools modify color and odor when you add solids to their nutrition. If your baby has been exclusively breastfed up to this betoken, you'll probably notice a strong aroma to their formerly mild-smelling stools as soon as they start eating even tiny amounts of solids. This is normal.

How many times a twenty-four hour period should my baby eat solid nutrient?

At offset your babe will eat solid food but once a twenty-four hour period. By around six to vii months, two meals a day is the norm. Starting around viii to 9 months, they may exist eating solid nutrient iii times a day. A typical 24-hour interval'south diet at 8 months might include a combination of:

  • Breast milk or iron-fortified formula
  • Iron-fortified cereal
  • Vegetables
  • Fruit
  • Small amounts of poly peptide, such as eggs, cheese, yogurt, poultry, lentils, tofu, and meat

There are some dangerous foods  for babies to watch out for. Honey, for case, tin can cause botulism in babies less than a year old. And babies should wait until afterward their showtime birthday to endeavour cow's milk or soy milk.

What equipment do I demand to feed solids to my baby?

Information technology'southward helpful to accept:

  • A highchair
  • Infant bowls and plates
  • Baby spoons
  • Bibs
  • A splat mat on the floor

You may as well desire to introduce your baby to a sippy cup shortly after y'all start solids.

If yous're making your own baby food, you lot'll demand:

  • A tool to puree the food, like a blender, food processor, or babe nutrient maker
  • Storage containers for refrigerating and freezing actress portions (Some parents utilize ice cube trays – or similar devices made but for baby food – to store and freeze individual portions.)