Concerns about choking and figuring out how to feed this growing baby are scary and can make you want to nervous to try solids. I want to help you feed your baby by showing you how you can provide healthy first foods for babies in a safe way that isn’t hard.
When Should I Start Feeding a Baby Solid Foods?
I started feeding my son solid food at the end of his 5th month.
I knew he was ready because his attitude toward food changed. He had pretty much ignored food entirely until that point.
However, at the end of his 5th month, he was reaching for my plate, squealing and wiggling to get himself noticed. He was communicating to whoever had food and was eating it in front of him that he wanted some now!
Your baby will let you know when they want to try eating food.
Trust yourself, trust your baby. You know them better than anyone else!
What’s the Best Baby Food to Start With?
My best advice to decide what to feed your baby first, is food that you can squish between your thumb and pointer finger. They may not have teeth, but their gums are as powerful as your fingers.
My son’s first food was white rice. It wasn’t special or something planned. We were with my family and my mother saw his wiggles and screaming and fed him some of the Chinese food she had on her plate.
I also recommend for the first week to stick to really soft foods, like rice, canned veggies, or applesauce. Your baby is learning how to coordinate chewing, swallowing, and breathing. They are learning that solid food is different than the liquids they have been living on.
Healthy First Foods for Babies In the Beginning (First Week or Two)
Well cooked rice, Canned fruit, Canned veggies, Applesauce, Cheese Cut in Sticks
Can I Give my 4 Month old Baby Solid Food?
Babies who are 4 months old, really shouldn’t eat solid foods. Their digestive track isn’t ready at four months usually for solid food yet.
Babies have a ‘open gut’ until about 6 months, which means that there is space between the cells in the intestines. These gaps allow proteins and pathogens, and antibodies from the breast milk or formula to get into the babies bloodstream.
If you introduce solid food too early, then your baby has an increased risk of illness and allergies. Your babies digestive track lets parts of the solid food into their blood stream. Having solid food particles in their bloodstream may cause their immune system to react, which is what leads to allergies.
What Food Should Babies Avoid?
Honey can cause botulism in infants under 12 months old. At 12 months their digestive system is acidic enough that it can handle the possibility of botulism in honey.
If you would like to know more, read the article by the CDC linked here.
I avoided honey for the first year as much as I could. I didn’t cook with it at all, because I was worried that my husband would feed my son honey and I wouldn’t know it.
My husband accidentally feed our son some honey cereal at 10 months, but he was totally fine. We still tried to avoid it as best we could after that though. Better safe than sorry.
I did not avoid any other food during my son’s first year. I heard some older family tell me to avoid nuts, but current research says that peanut butter exposure can deter allergies later. Read more about it from the BBC here.
How Many Times a Day Should I Feed my Baby Solids?
Feed your baby whenever you are eating.
I had this exact question for the pediatrician in the beginning. His answer was about 2 times a day.
That was a nice idea, but my son would scream and throw a tantrum if I was eating and he wasn’t. He felt excluded from the fun experience of eating!
As a mom in real everyday life, I just feed him a little of whatever I was eating as I was eating it. It really can be as simple as that. There were a few times I ate while he was asleep and I snacked, so he didn’t get any.
I didn’t worry about the nutrients and balancing out everything he was eating. I prioritized vegetables and fruit for him at meals and usually there was a bread too. If there was ice cream, he would eat a little of that too! He is healthy, so it must be working!
Can I Feed Baby with a Fork?
Yes! I feed my small baby with an adult fork and a baby fork in the very beginning often.
He enjoyed using a fork because unlike the spoon, the food stayed on the fork, while he figured out how to get it into his mouth.
I would have a bowl with my fork and a fork for him and spear the food and then hand him the fork. He felt accomplished getting that into his mouth and it gave me time to take a bite while he worked!
When Should Baby Start Using a Fork?
Your baby will start wanting to use a fork around 7 months old.
You baby will let you know when they want to use the fork on their own. If you feed them with a fork, eventually they will stop giving the fork back to you and will try to use the fork to stab food instead.
My son went through a phase where he would scream in his high chair until we gave him a fork to use, because that was how all of us ate and he wanted to be just like us.
What do I Feed a 6-12 Month Old Baby?
Healthy first foods for babies who are older is easier than you may think!
There is almost always something soft in your dinner. So when you plan your dinner think about what your baby can eat from it. You will be surprised how often you can feed them what you are eating without changing anything!
There may be a meal you don’t want to share or can’t share and for those times, I use frozen veggies. I have a bag of frozen veggies that I pull from every time I need to feed my son something else. Having one go to food is really simple and easy.
If your little joy has a few teeth to help them eat, that is great! My son didn’t get teeth until 8 months, but we gave him all this food even then.
They should have the chew, swallow, breathe pattern mostly complete now that they had a week or two of softer foods. So feel free to branch out now into other shapes and types of food.
Your baby is more capable of eating larger pieces now, but still stick to the rule of anything you give them should squish between your two fingers.
Healthy First Foods for Babies Who have Experience
Pieces of Your Dinner, Cooked Frozen Veggies, Canned Fruit, Cheese, Bread, Softer Fruits (oranges, kiwi, banana), Pasta
Feeding your baby does not have to be hard! Feel confident in your ability to feed them easily and quickly every time they are hungry.
How to Introduce New Food to My Baby?
No one waits the full week after each new food. It would take you FOREVER to feed your baby!
Start with foods that are soft and that most people are not allergic to. You can add one possible allergy food each week to see if there is a reaction.
Healthy First Foods for Babies that are Usually Safe
Soft Fruits, Vegetables, and Toast
Healthy First Foods to Introduce more Slowly In Case of Allergy
Peanut Butter, Dairy, Eggs, Sea Food
How Big Should Baby Pieces of Food Be?
When first beginning, stick to pieces that are small, it will help you feel better. As they prove more capable at biting off pieces and chewing start to increase the size.
If you are worried a piece may be too big, give it to your baby first and see how they react. You can always take it away if you see them struggle.
Is it Normal for a Baby to Gag on Food?
Yes! My son gagged on food all the time in his first 6 months with food. He hardly does it at all now! It does stop with time!
You baby has a strong gag response as an infant because they are not supposed to swallow anything solid.
As they become interested in food they have to train their body not to gag, so we give them soft food first and then food that takes a little more work to chew.
I really found it helpful to watch this video to see what gagging looks like for babies. It does look really scary to adults and every time it happened I would stop eating and stare at him to see if he could recover on his own.
Often, when my son was gagging and I let him figure it out, he would finish gagging and then start over and shove the same piece of food back into his mouth. Your baby is quite capable!
My son has never choked on food that is prepared the way I have told you above. If you are worried about choking you can watch this video about CPR for babies and please take a course to get certified.
Feeding your baby healthy foods safely can be easy. No one has to buy baby crackers or purees. You don’t have to make them either unless you really want to.
You are capable of feeding your baby just like you do yourself!
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How to Create a Healthy Snack System
What Solid Foods Did You Give Your Baby?
Let us know down in the comments below what you tried and what worked for you!
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English comment:
Starting solids with a baby can indeed feel overwhelming, but your approach sounds so reassuring and practical. I appreciate how you emphasize trusting both yourself and your baby—it’s such an important reminder for new parents. Your point about the “open gut” concept was eye-opening; I had no idea introducing solids too early could have such risks. I’m curious, though, how did you handle the initial mess and potential food rejection when introducing solids to your son? Did he ever refuse certain foods, and if so, how did you navigate that? Also, do you think starting with bland foods like rice helps babies ease into solids better, or is it just a matter of convenience? I think your advice to keep it simple and soft for the first week is brilliant—it really takes the pressure off. What’s your take on introducing spices or stronger flavors early on? I’d love to hear more about your experience!
Great questions!
How did I handle the initial mess? Well, honestly, I freaked out and hated it at the beginning. Overtime, I accepted that this is my current reality and it won’t be like this forever.
To handle the mess I recommend having a wet towel close by, and I really enjoyed feeding my son from my bowl with a fork at first. That contained the mess in the beginning before he was eager to poke and investigate the food.
When he did want to be more independent I switched him to the highchair. I took the fabric off the seat and now it is easy to wipe down!
I wipe him off and then the highchair after every meal so that nothing gets stuck on. I also try to plan any messy meals for dinner so that he can go right into the bathtub.
Food rejection is so hard for parents. All kids reject food, it is part of their growing up. Toddlers and young kids go through times where they love foods and hate foods by the hour. My job as his mother is to provide him options that are nutritious. His job is to explore the food and decide what to eat. “I provide, he decides.”
You cannot force a baby to eat, nor should you want to. Forcing children to finish their plates leads to overeating and ignoring hunger cues. That is a slippery slope to obesity.
I think we adults get our emotions mixed in with food. I know that sometimes I feel offended when my husband doesn’t finish his meal. I know people apply that to children too. The thing is, it is not about you. IT IS NOT ABOUT YOU. They love you, but maybe they aren’t hungry. Maybe they want tomatoes instead. Maybe they want to feel the noodles instead of taste them. There are SO many other things happening in their brain that the likelihood that they aren’t eating to punish you is low.
If they are refusing to eat to punish you, then they will be hungry soon enough and then you make sure the snacks offered are ones you approve of.
How do I handle my son refusing food? This week he seems to hate my banana bread. He throws it on the ground when offered. So I leave it on the ground, or I pick it up and take it away. I don’t confront him about it at all, because I will not get my emotions involved. At the next meal I offer him a smaller piece of banana bread that way if it is wasted it is only a small piece. Keep offering the foods that are typical in you diet. It takes the average toddler 7-10 exposures to a food to be willing to try it and as they grow tastes change too. My son has refused broccoli for a long time, but this week he has eaten many whole florets! Consistency and calm are so important when your child is refusing food.
The biggest mistake to make when your children are refusing to eat food is to stop making that food. That limits your food options and could eventually lead to you trying to make each person their own meal for every meal and that is not a future I want for you.
Should you start with bland food? I think bland food is a fine idea for the first week. The flavors will be stronger than the baby has ever had before. It may be a nice transition. Think about the food your baby is used to. Breastmilk changes its flavors subtly to the foods you are eating, so your baby is familiar to what spices you already use in your cooking. If you child is formula feed, every bottle has tasted the exact same every time, so the idea that every food tastes different will be a bigger shock to your baby. Be patient and understand that no matter what it is new to them and if you are a parent, it is new for you too!
Introducing spices and stronger flavors. After the first week or two, I have never spiced my sons food differently than my own. I do not like any burning or spice in my food, but my husband does. I will make the main pot not hot spicy, the way I like it, and I will serve myself and my son. My husband takes a bowl and then adds ‘bowl seasonings’, which is usually read pepper flakes and cayenne powder. My son will ask to eat what papa is eating and he will get a small part, and if it is too spicy my son will cry and we will help him. My son will sometimes try the spicy food again and we do a few rounds of spicy food and tears, but mostly he stops trying the food he does not prefer.
Thank you for commenting! I hope these answers help you begin feeding your own baby solid food!
Comment: I found your advice on introducing solid foods to babies really helpful, especially the part about trusting your baby’s cues. It’s interesting how you emphasized the importance of soft foods like rice and applesauce during the first week. I also agree that starting too early can be risky, but how do you know if your baby’s digestive system is fully ready at 6 months? My niece started showing interest in food at 5 months, but I’ve heard mixed opinions about introducing solids at that age. Do you think it’s okay to start a bit earlier if the baby seems ready, or is it better to wait until exactly 6 months? Your experience with your son’s first food being unplanned made me smile—it’s reassuring to know that it doesn’t always have to be a big production. I’d love to hear more about how you handled any challenges during the transition to solids!
The hardest thing about parenting is that you never fully know anything. I don’t know when he is teething until it is already over. I didn’t know he was going to start signing like crazy at 14 months. I wish I could control it all, but that isn’t want parenting is.
I had to trust that when my son showed interest in eating food instead of just slapping it, his body could handle it. If his body couldn’t handle it, he shouldn’t be interested in it. My son started showing interest at about 5.5 months, so I understand the struggle of whether to let them explore or to wait. You have to decide for yourself whether you feel most comfortable waiting or trusting that your baby knows their body.
I decided to let him try early just to see what would happen and he loved it. After the first time he wouldn’t let any meal go by without participating in it.
Let me know how it goes for you and your niece! Thanks for commenting!
The text is in English.
Starting solids can indeed be a nerve-wracking experience for new parents, but your approach seems so practical and reassuring. I love how you emphasize trusting both yourself and your baby—it’s such an important reminder. Your personal story about your son reaching for food is so relatable and really highlights how babies naturally signal their readiness. I’m curious, though, how did you handle the transition from soft foods to more textured ones? Did you notice any specific challenges or milestones during that phase? Also, do you think cultural or family influences, like your mom introducing Chinese food, play a big role in shaping a baby’s eating habits early on? Your advice about sticking to soft foods for the first week makes so much sense, but I wonder if there are any other tips you’d give to parents who might be feeling overwhelmed by this stage?
How did you handle the transition from soft foods to more textured ones? As we moved to more textured foods I made sure that the size I cut the pieces into was long so that he could grab it, but it was cut small enough that his gums could grab pieces that would not be choking hazards. The pieces started small because I was nervous, but as I gained confidence in my sons abilities I gave him larger and larger pieces.
Did you notice any specific challenges or milestones during that phase? Yes! Watching my son gag was hard for me, but it is such an important milestone. I ha to practice calm and not letting my fear grab him out of the high chair every time he gaged. Babies gag a lot in the beginning because they are not used to having things that far back in their mouth. It is important for parents to let the baby gag on their own, as long as they are still breathing. Every time my son gaged he would finish coughing and immediately dive right back into the food because he wasn’t afraid at all.
Also, do you think cultural or family influences, like your mom introducing Chinese food, play a big role in shaping a baby’s eating habits early on? I think the foods you eat regularly in your home will help your baby be familiar with the food. I think as the children grow they will be comfortable with the foods they have the most experience with.
Other tips you’d give to parents who might be feeling overwhelmed by this stage? My best advice is in the article, but just remember to breathe and know that the gaging doesn’t last forever. Research how to help a choking baby using the links in the article and trust that you can help your child when they need it, if they ever do.
Thank you for commenting!