Starting Solids: The Complete Weaning Guide

Guidelines recommend starting at around 6 months — not before 17 weeks under any circumstances. Crucially, readiness is about development, not just age. Look for all three signs together:

• They can stay in a sitting position and hold their head steady.
• They can coordinate eyes, hands and mouth — looking at food, picking it up and bringing it to the mouth.
• They can swallow food rather than pushing it back out (the tongue-thrust reflex has faded).

Purée / spoon-led

Start with smooth purées, then progress to mashed and lumpier textures and finger foods. Easy to gauge intake; just don't get stuck on smooth purées too long — move to lumps and finger foods by ~7-9 months to build chewing skills.

Baby-led weaning (BLW)

Offer soft, graspable finger foods from the start and let the baby self-feed. Encourages chewing and independence and can be less faffy. Cut food to minimise choking risk (see below) and always supervise.

• Great firsts: soft-cooked vegetable sticks (carrot, broccoli, sweet potato), ripe soft fruit (banana, avocado, soft pear), and iron-rich foods (well-cooked meat, lentils, iron-fortified cereal).
• Offer a wide variety of tastes and textures — including bitter veg — to broaden acceptance. It can take 8-10+ tries for a baby to accept a new food.
• Iron matters: at 6 months a baby's iron stores start to run low, so include iron-rich foods regularly.
• Texture progression: smooth → mashed/lumpy → soft finger foods → chopped family food (no added salt) by around 12 months.
• Offer water in an open or free-flow cup with meals; milk feeds continue around solids.

Current advice is to introduce the common allergenic foods from around 6 months, alongside other foods — delaying them does not prevent allergy and may increase risk. Introduce one new allergen at a time, in a small amount, ideally earlier in the day so you can watch for any reaction.

• The common allergens to introduce: cow's milk (in cooking/dairy like yogurt), egg (well-cooked first), peanut (as smooth peanut butter/thinned — never whole nuts), tree nuts (as nut butters), gluten (wheat), soya, fish, shellfish, and sesame.
• Once a food is tolerated, keep it in the diet regularly to maintain tolerance.
• If your baby has severe eczema or a known food allergy, talk to your GP/health visitor before introducing peanut and egg — they may advise a tailored approach.

Avoid under 12 months

• Salt (don't add any; avoid salty foods like stock cubes, bacon, crisps) — babies' kidneys can't handle it.
• Sugar and sugary foods/drinks (tooth decay + taste preferences).
• Honey — until 12 months, due to the risk of infant botulism.
• Whole nuts and hard foods (choking), and unpasteurised cheeses; limit high-mercury fish (shark, swordfish, marlin).
• Rice drinks as a main milk, and large amounts of low-calorie/high-fibre 'diet' foods.

Choking safety

• Always supervise; sit the baby upright, never feed in a car seat or while reclined.
• Cut round foods lengthways — grapes, cherry tomatoes, large blueberries — into quarters.
• Remove stones, pips and hard skins; cook hard veg/fruit until soft; cut foods to finger-size strips for self-feeding.
• Learn baby choking first aid — knowing back blows and the difference between gagging (normal, noisy) and choking (silent, distressed) is invaluable.