When to start solids: weaning around 6 months
Most babies are ready for solid foods at around 6 months, alongside their usual milk. Starting much earlier isn't recommended. Here's the gist of the NHS advice, your health visitor can guide your own baby.
How to tell when your baby is ready
The NHS identifies three specific signs that must all be present before you begin introducing solid food. Your baby needs to be able to sit with support and hold their head steady and still. They also need to be able to coordinate their eyes, hands, and mouth well enough to pick up food and bring it to their mouth deliberately. And they need to actually swallow food, rather than pushing it straight back out with their tongue. That last one is sometimes called the tongue-thrust reflex, and it is a protective mechanism that fades when the gut and swallowing muscles are mature enough to handle solids safely.
It is worth knowing which signals are not reliable indicators of readiness, because they come up often and can lead parents to start too soon. A baby waking in the night does not mean they need solids. Chewing fists is a normal behaviour at many ages. Watching you eat with apparent interest is something babies do from early on, long before they are physiologically ready for food. None of these on their own, or even together, is a green light to start weaning.
The NHS does not recommend starting solid foods before 17 weeks, which is around 4 months. At that stage the gut is still developing and the digestive and immune systems are not prepared. Introducing food too early raises the risk of allergy and can cause digestive difficulties. If you are ever unsure whether your baby has reached the three signs, your health visitor is the right person to check with at your baby's next review or between appointments.
Baby-led weaning versus spoon-feeding
Once your baby does show all three signs, you have a choice about how to approach those first meals, and the good news is that neither approach is wrong. The NHS does not recommend baby-led weaning over spoon-feeding, or the other way around. Both are valid, and many families end up combining elements of both as they find what suits their baby.
Baby-led weaning (often shortened to BLW) means skipping smooth purees and offering appropriately sized soft finger foods from the very start, letting your baby pick up, handle, and eat at their own pace. Supporters of this approach point to benefits around appetite self-regulation and early exposure to a range of textures. Because babies control how much goes in, they can stop when they are full rather than being encouraged to finish a spoonful.
Spoon-feeding smooth purees and mashes is also effective and is what many parents feel most comfortable starting with. If you go this route, the key milestone to keep in mind is moving toward lumpier textures and soft chunks by around 9 months. Delaying texture progression past this window consistently tends to make it harder for babies to accept a wider variety of textures later on, so it is worth gently increasing texture even if your baby seems perfectly happy with smooth food.
You will likely hear about gagging and it can feel alarming the first time it happens. Gagging is a normal, protective reflex that sits high up in the throat and is designed to move food forward rather than let it go back. It is different from choking, which is silent. Gagging decreases as babies gain experience with eating and textures. Staying calm yourself makes a real difference in how your baby responds to the moment.
What to offer and how often
First foods do not need to be complicated. Single soft vegetables work well: think soft cooked carrot, sweet potato, broccoli, parsnip, and courgette. Soft ripe fruit is another good starting point, including mashed banana, very ripe pear, mango, and avocado. Starchy foods such as soft cooked pasta, mashed potato, and baby porridge made with your baby's usual breast or formula milk all count as good early options. From around 6 months you can also start introducing protein in forms a baby can manage: well-cooked lentils, mashed legumes, flaked fish, and well-cooked egg are all appropriate.
In terms of frequency, start with one meal a day, and very small amounts at that. A few teaspoons is a completely normal quantity for those first sessions. The goal at this stage is exploration and familiarity, not nutrition transfer. By around 7 months, you can work toward offering two meals a day. By 8 to 9 months, three meals a day is a reasonable aim.
Throughout all of this, breast or formula milk stays the main source of nutrition for your baby. Food in the first year complements milk rather than replacing it. The transition away from milk as the primary source of calories happens gradually and is generally complete by 12 months. There is no need to push the pace, and following your baby's lead on appetite tends to work better than trying to hit volume targets.
A few foods to avoid entirely in the first year: honey (risk of infant botulism), whole nuts (choking hazard), added salt, added sugar, and unpasteurised cheese. Rice drinks should also be avoided before age 5 because of arsenic levels. Your health visitor or a trusted NHS source can give you a full list, and it is worth reviewing the common foods to avoid before you begin.
Making mealtimes positive
The environment around food matters just as much as the food itself. Sitting together at mealtimes gives your baby a chance to watch how eating works and makes the experience feel social rather than clinical. Keeping the surroundings calm and minimising loud distractions helps your baby focus on the novel experience in front of them.
Let your baby touch, squeeze, smear, and explore food. Mess is not a sign that things are going wrong. It is how babies learn about texture, temperature, and what food does. Trying to keep things tidy by restricting access to the food itself can make the learning process slower and more stressful for everyone.
One of the most important things parents can do in early weaning is to keep offering foods without pressure, even after a rejection. Research consistently shows that babies may refuse a food on the first five, eight, or even ten attempts and then accept it on a later occasion. A calm, repeated exposure to a food is far more effective than pushing or coaxing in the moment. Never use food as a reward or punishment, as this can build associations with food that are harder to unpick later.
Always supervise meals, and keep mealtimes unhurried. There is no rush to clear a bowl or get through a set quantity. The pace is your baby's pace, and the early weeks of weaning are really about introducing the concept of food rather than feeding for nutritional sufficiency. That shift comes gradually, and it is more enjoyable for everyone when it is not forced.
Frequently asked questions
What are the three signs my baby is ready for solids?
All three must be present: sitting with support and holding their head steady; coordinating eyes, hands, and mouth to reach for and put food in their mouth; and swallowing food rather than pushing it back out with their tongue. If only one or two signs are there, wait a little longer and check again.
Should I do baby-led weaning or spoon-feeding?
Either approach works, and many families use both. NHS does not recommend one over the other. Whichever you choose, the key is to progress toward lumpier textures and soft finger foods by around 9 months.
How much food should a 6-month-old eat at first?
Very small amounts, often just a few teaspoons at one meal per day. Some days a baby may eat very little or refuse entirely, and that is normal. Appetite for solid food builds gradually over several weeks. Milk remains the main source of nutrition.
What should I offer at the very first meal?
A small amount of a single soft food: a teaspoon of smooth sweet potato puree, mashed ripe banana, or soft cooked carrot, for example. Offering one food at a time at first makes it easier to spot any reaction before moving on to more variety.
Track meals as they start
Log first foods, tag what was offered and snap a photo so you (and the nanny) can see what your baby actually ate.
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