Introducing Solid Foods to Your Baby

How to Start Introducing Solid Foods

The transition from a liquid-only diet to solid foods is momentous for you and your baby, and it’s important to ensure it’s done correctly. If you’re strategic in your method, you can even begin to lay the groundwork for healthy eating habits that will last a lifetime.

Remember, though, that there’s no need to rush: Introducing solid foods in a measured way allows your baby—and their developing system—time to adapt. At about six months old, or when your baby shows signs of readiness, you can gradually work in complementary foods while continuing to breast- or bottle-feed.

Steps & Tips for Introducing Solid Foods to Your Baby

Here are some helpful tips for introducing solid foods to your little one’s diet:

• Start small. Give your child a tester of solid food from a spoon or your finger at the end of a milk feeding to get the familiar to the taste and texture. Think of solids not only as nutrition, but an opportunity for your little one to experience new textures and flavours while practicing the oral motor skills necessary for spoon feeding.

• Take it one at a time. To begin, give your baby just one single-ingredient solid food. For example, offer cereal by itself before offering cereal mixed with applesauce. It is best to not introduce more than one new food per day.

• Wait three to five days between new foods. That way you can make sure there are no reactions (allergic or otherwise) to the food, such as diarrhea, rash, vomiting, coughing, or facial swelling.

• Start with foods rich in iron. By six months, babies begin to require more iron. It is important that first foods be high in iron, such as iron fortified infant cereals or iron-rich pureed meats or meat alternatives. Once your baby is eating solids, add a serving of a vitamin C-rich food (such as fruit) with cereal to help increase iron absorption.

• Introduce allergens early. Doctors used to advise against introducing highly allergenic foods—peanuts, tree nuts, eggs, and fish—until after the first birthday. But there’s no evidence that early introduction of such foods raises the risk of an allergy. In fact, studies suggest that early introduction of allergenic foods such as a peanuts and egg at around 6 months may help prevent food allergy. If a parent or sibling has an allergic condition or a history of eczema, allergy, or asthma, consult with your baby’s doctor first before introducing these foods.

• Go additive-free. First foods don’t need any sugar or salt added to them.

• Avoid honey for the first year. Honey or baked foods containing honey should be avoided until one year or age. Honey can cause a serious type of food poisoning called botulism.

• Opt for nutritional powerhouses. Once your baby has transitioned well to solids, try fresh, whole foods that pack a lot of nutrients per calorie and have undergone little or no processing (other than pureeing or mashing by you). Top picks include avocado, eggs, lentils, beans, yogurt, and tofu. Fruits and vegetables without skins and seeds should be included at every meal.

Babies and children don’t need to drink juice. Too much juice can cause tooth decay, diarrhea and decrease your child’s appetite. If you choose to offer juice, make sure it is 100% fruit juice (without added sugar) and limit it to 125mL (4oz) per day.

How to Know When Baby is Hungry When Transitioning to Solids

As you’re introducing solid foods to your little one, you may find yourself with all sorts of questions: When they push the spoon away, does it mean that they’re full…or that they don’t like mashed peas and you have a picky eater on your hands? Will feeding a few extra bites keep hunger away until morning? Can that same subtle encouragement lead to obesity?

Fear not: That same terrific built-in system for gauging when they need food and when they’ve had enough is still at work in children during the transition to solid foods. If you let your child follow the cues of their natural appetite, your little one will eat what’s needed to fuel growth and development without overdoing it.

Signs That Your Baby Is Hungry

• Opening hands and mouth. A hungry baby is an eager one. If you make an exaggerated expression with your eyes and mouth wide open as you bring a spoonful of food toward your baby, they’re especially likely to imitate you and eat willingly.

• Reaching for a spoon. Not only does your baby want to do everything that you do—like master holding that spoon—but your little one knows from experience what’s in the spoon. And when your baby hungry, they want it right now.

• Pointing to food. Gesturing is a key way your baby communicates before they’re able to say words.

• Acting excited when food is served. Your baby associates food with the happy feeling of having hunger satisfied. When food appears and baby’s hungry, they may wave arms, kick legs, and smile at the sight of it.

• Using words or gestures to communicate readiness to eat. By about 10 months, your baby may make sounds to express hunger—“ba ba!” for bottle, for example, or mmm sounds! They may point to their high-chair tray or mouth when seeing food. This action lets you know right where your little one wants it to go.

Signs that Your Baby Is Full

• Closing mouth and refusing to open it. Whether the food is liquid or solid, if lips are clamped, it’s a sure sign that your baby isn’t interested in having more of it.

• Turning away. A baby who isn’t self-feeding yet will turn away from an approaching spoon when full.

• Slowing the pace of feeding. At the start of a meal, your hungry baby will polish off the small portions you provide and eagerly accept more. By the end of a meal, though, your little one may not finish what’s being served. They may dawdle more, and less food will actually make it into the mouth.

• Pushing food away. When your child has had enough, they may ignore the food completely or start to play with it. If it winds up everywhere but in the mouth, this is a pretty reliable sign that they’ve eaten enough.

• Shaking head. Older babies and toddlers may gesture emphatically to make their desires known, especially when their answer is “No!” It’s not always easy to know whether your child is expressing dislike of a particular food or if they’re just full. But if they show other signs of disinterest, and if they’re refusing what’s normally a favourite, chances are good that your little one has had enough and is ready to move on to the next activity.

While your little one’s appetite can vary from day to day, it’s best to stick to a general schedule for offering meals and snacks while introducing solid foods. If your baby picks at their food or mostly ignores a meal, don’t force them to eat— they’ll likely make up for it at the next meal or the next day.