When, What, and How to Introduce Solid Foods

Knowing when your child is ready for foods other than breast milk or infant formula

Your child can begin eating solid foods at about 6 months. Introducing foods before 4 months is not recommended. Every child is different. You can look for these signs that your child is developmentally ready to begin eating food. Your child:

• Sits up alone or with support.
• Can control their head and neck.
• Opens their mouth when you offer food.
• Swallows food rather than pushes it back out onto their chin.
• Brings objects to their mouth.
• Tries to grasp small objects, such as toys or food.
• Transfers food from the front to the back of their tongue to swallow.

What foods to introduce first

The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends that for most children, you do not need to give food in a certain order. Your child can begin eating solid foods at about 6 months. By the time they are 7 or 8 months, your child can eat various foods from different food groups. These foods include:

• Infant cereals
• Meat or other proteins
• Fruits
• Vegetables
• Grains
• Yogurts
• Cheeses

If your child is eating infant cereals, offer a variety of fortified infant cereals such as oats, barley, and multigrain instead of only rice cereal. Only feeding your child infant rice cereal can increase their risk of arsenic exposure.

How to introduce foods

Let your child try one single-ingredient food at a time at first. This helps you see if your child has any problems, such as food allergies. Wait 3 to 5 days between each new food. Your child will soon be eating and enjoying many new foods.

Introduce potentially allergenic foods when you introduce other foods. Potentially allergenic foods include:

• Cow's milk products.
• Eggs.
• Fish and shellfish.
• Tree nuts and peanuts.
• Wheat, soy, and sesame.

Drinking cow's milk or fortified soy beverages is not recommended until your child is older than 12 months. Other cow's milk products, such as yogurt, can be introduced before 12 months. If your child has severe eczema or an egg allergy, talk with your child's doctor or nurse about when and how to safely introduce foods with peanuts.

How to prepare food

At first, it's easier for your child to eat mashed, pureed, or strained foods that are very smooth in texture. It can take time for your child to adjust to new food textures. Your child might cough, gag, or spit up. You can introduce thicker and more lumpy foods as your baby's ability to eat develops.

Some foods are potential choking hazards. Feeding your child foods with the right texture for their development is important. Prepare foods that easily dissolve with saliva and do not require chewing to help prevent choking. Feed small portions and encourage your baby to eat slowly. Always watch your child while they are eating.

Tips for preparing food for your child:

• Mix cereals and mashed, cooked grains with breast milk, formula, or water to make them smooth and easy for your baby to swallow.
• Mash or puree vegetables, fruits, and other foods until smooth.
• Cook food until it is soft enough to easily mash with a fork.
• Cook hard fruits and vegetables, such apples and carrots, so you can easily mash or puree them.
  
• Remove all fat, skin, and bones from poultry, meat, and fish before cooking.
• Remove seeds and hard pits from fruit. Then cut the fruit into small pieces.
• Cut soft food into small pieces or thin slices.
• Cut cylindrical foods like hot dogs, sausage and string cheese, into short thin strips. Round pieces can get stuck in your child's airway.
• Cut small spherical foods such as grapes, cherries, berries, and tomatoes into small pieces.
• Cook and finely grind or mash whole-grain kernels of wheat, barley, rice, and other grains.