Starting solid food and drinks after six months

Our NCT Introducing Solid Foods workshop gives you all the information you need to make decisions that work for you.

What do we mean by introducing solids?

Introducing solid foods to your baby is sometimes called weaning onto solids.

This is different from weaning from breastfeeding to infant formula or cow’s milk, which may happen earlier or later.

When should I introduce solid food?

Solid foods can be introduced to babies from around six months of age (NHS, 2022a). Starting a baby on solids before this age can increase their risk of illness (UNICEF, no date).

If the baby seems hungry before six months, try offering them more of their usual milk feeds. A baby with their hands near their mouth is showing normal developmental signs for wanting a milk feed (UNICEF, no date).

Breastmilk or infant formula milk remains the main source of nutrition until a year old (NHS, 2022a). From six months, solids foods can be introduced to complement milk feeds (UNICEF, no date).

Ask your health visitor or GP about when to introduce solid food if your baby was premature (NHS, 2022a).

How do you know if a baby is ready for solid food?

Signs the baby is ready for solid food (alongside their normal milk feeds), include being able to (NHS, 2022a):

• Stay in a sitting position and keep their head up (an adult must still always be with the baby when they are eating, even if they can sit up on their own)
• Pick up the food and put it in their mouth by themselves
• Swallow food rather than spitting it out

Parents might mistake a baby chewing their fists, waking up more often in the night, or wanting extra milk feeds as readiness for solid food, but this is normal baby behaviour. Introducing solids does not mean the baby will sleep through the night (NHS, 2022a).

Putting their fist in their mouth could also be a sign of teething. 

How to introduce solid food

Babies can start eating solid food by baby-led weaning, spoon feeding or a mixture of both.

There’s no set time of day that is ‘best’ to introduce solid food, but it can help to begin with a time the baby isn’t tired or hungry. Choose a time when you’re not rushed so you can give your baby plenty of time (NHS, 2022a).

As your baby gets used to having solid food, joining family mealtimes encourages social learning and talking. It can be a fun experience for everyone when a baby tries new foods.

How much should babies eat at first? 

Start with just a few pieces or teaspoons of food, once or twice a day, and build it up slowly (NHS, 2022a; UNICEF, no date).

Don’t worry if they don’t seem to be taking in much solid food. They are exploring tastes and textures, and learning to move the food around their mouth and swallow it (NHS, 2022a).

Get ready for the mess

As you can imagine, things can get messy when babies start exploring new foods. If possible, feeding your baby in a room with tiles or a wipeable floor is easier to clean than a room with a carpet.

Otherwise, a wipe down mat or newspaper under the baby’s high chair can help with the inevitable clean up.

Baby-led weaning: pros and cons

Baby-led weaning is where babies feed themselves rather than being fed with a spoon.

For example, this could be a stick of cooked foods such as broccoli, sweet potato or pear held in their fist. Or it could be a mashed potato, or a few peas.

What are the advantages of baby-led weaning?

Baby-led weaning means that babies can explore the food themselves. It is linked with (Boswell, 2021):

• less fussiness about food
• higher enjoyment of food
• an understanding of when they are full
• a higher likelihood of eating only when hungry

Does baby-led weaning affect growth or obesity?

A review of studies which compared nutritional intake and growth in spoon fed and baby-led weaning found no clear differences between the different approaches (Matzeller et al, 2024).

Studies into whether baby-led weaning reduces the risk of obesity show inconsistent results (Martinón-Torres et al, 2021).

Are there any drawbacks? 

While anxiety about choking can prevent many parents from trying baby-led weaning, a review of the evidence suggests there is no greater risk than with spoon feeding (Boswell, 2021).

First foods

Babies can eat most foods. There’s no need to start them with bland flavours, although they shouldn’t have any salt or sugar added to food, so avoid stock cubes, gravy or fruit juice (NHS, 2022a).

If spoon feeding, some babies prefer smooth or blended foods, while others are happy with mashed or lumpy foods. You could start with unsweetened and unsalted porridge, or mashed or pureed fruit or vegetables (UNICEF, No date).

Start with a single vegetable or fruit, and include vegetables that are not sweet. Make sure any cooked food has cooled. You can use breastmilk or full fat cows milk mixed with food (NHS, 2022a).

Later, you can move onto mashed or pureed versions of family meals.

Pre-packaged jars and pouches

There are plenty of pre-made baby foods on the market. Commercially produced jars or pouches can be very high in sugar, so are not recommended (First Steps Nutrition Trust, 2018).

The way commercial food pouches are produced can also reduce the level of nutrients (First Steps Nutrition Trust, 2018).

Although sometimes marketed as ‘natural’ foods, baby rusks and many commercially produced baby foods are ultra processed (Grammatikaki et al, 2021).

Research also shows that using a pouch more than five times a week can lead to babies being fussier around food (Cox et al, 2024).

What food to try?

First foods to try include (NHS, 2022a):

• Cooked vegetables such as carrot, broccoli, parsnip or butternut squash
• Soft fruit, or cooked harder fruits like apple or pear
• Starchy foods like pasta or sweet potato
• Pulses including beans or lentils
• Boneless meat or fish
• Hard boiled eggs
• Sticks of pasteurised cheese

Aim to include food that contains iron, such as meat, fish, dark leafy greens, beans and pulses (NHS, 2022a).

Even if a baby does not like a food at first, keep trying. It can take 10 tries for a baby to get used to a new flavour or texture (NHS, 2022a).

Foods to avoid are (NHS, 2022b):

• Salt and salty food, including bacon, crisps, ready meals and takeaways
• Sugar, including sugary snacks, drinks or fruit juice
• Fried food, or food containing saturated fat
• Whole nuts, which can be a choking risk
• Honey, as it occasionally contains bacteria harmful to babies under one year
• Rice drinks, which might have high levels of arsenic
• Fish such as swordfish, which is high in mercury

Choking and gagging

Gagging is a normal part of learning to eat solids. This can look like watery eyes, pushing food out of the mouth, retching or vomiting. It is different from choking (NHS, 2022a).

To reduce the risk of choking, avoid hard foods (NHS, 2022a):

• Cut foods like grapes or cherry tomatoes, into smaller pieces
• Cook hard raw fruit and vegetables, like carrots or apples, until softer
• Avoid whole nuts (however peanut butter or ground nuts are fine)
• Take pips, stones and bones out of food before giving it to your baby

Parents or caregivers might worry about the baby choking when having finger foods, but studies have shown that the baby is no more likely to choke when following a baby led weaning approach (Boswell, 2021; Dogen et al, 2018).

In fact, one study showed that  babies who were not used to finger food were more likely to choke (Brown, 2018).

Allergies and food intolerances

There is no need to avoid nuts or other potential allergens when introducing solid foods. However it is wise to introduce these foods one at a time and in very small amounts (NHS, 2024). Where there is a family history of allergies, you can talk to the GP before introducing those foods (NHS, 2022c).

Read more about food allergies and food intolerance in babies and young children.

Does my baby need a vitamin supplement?

The NHS recommends that breastfed babies have a 8.5 to 10 microgram supplement of vitamin D from birth (NHS, 2022a).

As infant formula is fortified with vitamin D, babies who are drinking 500mls or more a day shouldn’t take a vitamin D supplement (NHS, 2022a).

From the age of six months, as babies start to eat solid foods, all babies will benefit from a daily supplement containing vitamins A, C and D (NHS, 2022a).

Drinks

Breastmilk or first infant formula should be the baby’s main drink until one year old. Follow-on and growing-up milks are not needed (NHS, 2022a).

Nothing should be added to milk in a bottle (NHS, 2022a).

After the baby is 12 months old, they can have full-fat pasteurised cow’s milk (NHS, 2022a).

What other drinks can babies have?

Sips of water from a cup at mealtimes is the healthiest option after the baby is six months old (NHS, 2022a). 

Fruit juices are a good source of Vitamin C, but also contain a lot of sugar and acids, so are not suitable for babies under a year old. If you do give them to babies under this age, dilute them to a mixture of one part juice and ten parts water and give them only at mealtimes (NHS, 2022b).

Other drinks contain high amounts of sugar, acid or glycerol. They aren’t suitable for babies because they can damage tooth enamel and cause headache and sickness. These include (NHS, 2022b):

• Flavoured milks
• Squash
• Fizzy drinks
• Slush ice

Even when babies are older, these drinks aren't recommended as they can fill them up so they are not hungry at mealtimes (NHS, 2022b).

Diet drinks aren’t recommended for babies and children, because low-calorie versions of drinks still encourage children to develop a sweet tooth (NHS, 2022b).

Introducing cups

Babies can start to drink water from a cup with meals from six months old. From one year old they should only be drinking from a cup and not a bottle (NHS, 2022b).

Choosing cups for babies and toddlers

An open cup, or a free-flow lidded cup without a valve is recommended. These help the baby learn to sip and are better for teeth than sucking from a bottle (NHS, 2022b).

Helping your baby to start drinking from a cup

Start letting babies practice using a cup well before you use it to give them their main milk feeds. This way, there’s no rush for them to master using it.

• The first time your baby uses a cup, sit with them and tilt the cup slowly so they can sip.
• They might find it easier to pick up and hold a cup with two handles.
• Take your time, as they might spit out the water or only take little sips to begin with.
• When they’re ready you can encourage them to move from a lidded to an open cup.

Cleaning cups and spouts

Make sure you clean all parts of your baby’s cup or beaker thoroughly. Pay particular attention to any awkward shaped areas to reduce the risk of bacteria breeding.