The guide

Starting solids

Around 6 months, milk stops being quite enough — for iron most of all. Here's how to begin, gently.

Ready signs

Around 6 months — never before 4 — when your baby does all of these:

Sits up with little or no support, and holds their head steady
Picks food up and brings it to their mouth
Swallows food, rather than pushing it back out with the tongue
Is curious: watches you eat, reaches for your plate

Not signs, though they often look like it: chewing fists, waking more at night, wanting extra milk. Those are just babies.

Born early? Babies born early usually start somewhere between 5 and 8 months from their birthday — go by the same signs, and ask your health visitor or doctor.

The first weeks

Once a day to begin, when they're awake and happy — not starving, not tired. Two meals a day by around 7–9 months, three by about 10–12.
Milk stays their main food until 12 months. Food is for tasting and learning at first; a lot will end up on the floor.
Iron at two meals a day once they're going: meat, fish, eggs, lentils, beans, tofu, iron-fortified cereal.
Spoon, fingers, or both. Purées on a spoon you load for them, soft finger foods they feed themselves — whichever suits you. By 9 months, aim for lumps and finger foods.
They decide how much. Offer; don't push. A turned head, a closed mouth, food thrown — that's “done”.
Water in an open or free-flow cup with meals, a few sips. No juice.
New foods again and again. It can take ten or fifteen tries before a food is liked.

Gagging or choking?

Gagging — normal

Noisy: coughing, spluttering, retching, eyes watering, red in the face. It's a reflex that moves food forward, and it's how they learn. Stay calm and close, and let them work it out. Don't put your fingers in their mouth.

Choking — act now

Silent or nearly: can't cry, cough or breathe; a look of panic; lips turning blue. Call for help and start infant first aid — back blows, then chest thrusts for a baby under one.

A short infant first-aid course, before the first meal, is the best hour you'll spend. Many are free.

Safe shapes

Always sitting upright in a high chair, with a grown-up watching. Never in a car seat, a buggy, or on the move.
Soft enough to squash between your thumb and finger, at first.
Round things quartered lengthwise: grapes, cherry tomatoes, cherries, big blueberries squashed.
Hard raw food grated or cooked: apple, carrot. Nut butters thinned or spread thinly — never a dollop.
Never: whole nuts (until 5), popcorn, hard sweets, marshmallows, chunks of sausage.

What waits

Honey: Until 12 months — not even baked in. It can carry the spores of infant botulism.
Cow's milk as a drink: Until 12 months. In cooking, yogurt and cheese it's fine from 6.
Salt and sugar: None added, and go easy on salty foods — stock cubes, ham, crisps, most cheese.
Whole nuts: Until 5. Ground or smooth butters from 6 months.
Rice drinks: Until 5 (arsenic).
Some fish: No shark, swordfish or marlin; raw shellfish waits.
Unpasteurised cheese: And soft mould-ripened cheese, unless cooked.
Juice and sweet drinks: Not needed at all: milk and water.

General guidance for parents, drawn from NHS, AAP and ASCIA advice — not medical advice. Local guidance and your own doctor or health visitor come first, especially for a baby born early, with a health condition, or with a known allergy.