Signs Your Baby Is Ready for Solid Foods
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A new mom sits at the table with her extended family, holding her five-month-old baby in her left arm while taking a bite of her dinner with her right. While talking about the joys and struggles of being a new mom, a family member chimes in with, “...that baby wants some of your food!”
Sure enough, the baby is eyeing and perhaps even lunging for mom’s spoon. Is she showing signs of solid readiness? The family member leans in and says, “What are you waiting for? Pull up the high chair. You know she’ll start sleeping better once you start solids.”
So many parents have been there -- they’ve got the newborn routine mostly down, and then a tooth pops in, or their baby grabs some food off someone’s plate, and suddenly, all the extended family members are experts on when the baby should start solids and giving unsolicited opinions on whether to feed baby with a spoon, stick with breast feeding only, etc. If you’re in that situation right now, you’re not alone.
Sometimes extended family members can be incredibly helpful when you’re a new parent navigating significant moments of transition in your child’s life, but as a pediatric dietitian, I recommend relying on science first, rather than opinion, when making decisions about your child’s nutrition and health.
To that end, in this blog post, we’ll cover the evidence-based signs of readiness for solid foods and baby-led weaning, discuss the science behind early introduction of allergenic foods, and dive into the best sources of iron for babies.
What are the signs of readiness for introducing solid foods?
While every baby is unique, there are some common signs of readiness that can help you determine if your child is ready to start eating solid foods. It is important that your baby is showing these signs for safe swallowing and digestion of foods. Here are the signs to look for:
Baby can sit upright with minimal support
Baby can hold his or her head/neck steady when sitting
Baby can grab larger objects and pull them to the mouth
Baby is interested in food and opens their mouth when food is offered
Baby can swallow some food rather than pushing it back out on chin
These signs are not necessarily tied to any specific age but most often emerge around 6 months (adjusted for prematurity), give or take a few weeks. This time frame coincides with the recommendations of most major health organizations, including the American Academy of Pediatrics, World Health Organization, Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics, and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which recommend starting complementary foods at around six months of age.
According to the Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee, there may actually be an increased risk of developing obesity later in life as well as other potential risks if complementary foods are introduced before four months of age, so it is best to avoid foods before then.
Not all developmental milestones or behaviors around 6 months necessarily mean a baby is ready to start solids. The following behaviors and attributes are all developmentally normal, but they do not necessarily indicate readiness for solid foods:
Baby has one or more teeth
Baby’s rapid weight gain has slowed
Baby no longer falls asleep while feeding
Baby makes lip-smacking sounds
Baby seems small or big for his or her age
Baby awakens frequently during the night
What are the best foods for introducing solids?
Before starting solids, the American Academy of Pediatrics recommends that breastfeeding be the sole source of nutrition for babies under six months. If a baby or mother cannot breastfeed, whether due to difficulty producing enough milk, medical conditions, or personal circumstances that make breastfeeding challenging, supplementing with formula may be necessary.
Starting at about six months of age, when a baby is showing signs of readiness, they will need to start getting some nutrients from food, the most important of which is iron, which is essential for growth, brain development, a healthy immune system.
Iron is also an important part of the formation of hemoglobin, a part of our red blood cells that transports oxygen throughout the body. While infant formula in the U.S. contains iron, breast milk contains a comparatively low amount of iron.
In the last trimester of pregnancy, babies develop about 80% of iron stores to support the first 6 months of their life. At around 6 months of age, their iron stores are nearly depleted, and they need to start eating nutrient-dense foods that are good sources of iron to replenish iron levels in their body.
Rice cereal has traditionally been offered as a first food because it is fortified with iron, easily digested, bland, and helpful with weight gain in babies starting solid foods. As it turns out, rice cereal may contain up to six times the arsenic found in other infant cereals, which can contribute to adverse health effects, including decreased IQ levels.
The goal when starting solids is to offer a variety of foods so babies learn to accept a range of flavors and textures and grow up to be adventurous eaters.
Best Sources of Iron-Rich Foods for Babies
Instead of starting with rice cereal, here is a short list of the best sources of iron for babies:
Beef, pork, poultry, and seafood (like cooked oysters* and salmon*)
Leafy, dark green vegetables like spinach
Iron-fortified breakfast cereals* and breads
Pairing plant foods rich in iron with foods that are high in vitamin C is a great way to help maximize as much iron absorption as possible from meals and snacks. Some of the best foods high in Vitamin C for babies include strawberries, oranges*, bell peppers, sweet potatoes, and tomatoes*.
How to Introduce Potentially Allergenic Foods
Recent guidelines from health organizations suggest that introducing allergenic foods early, (at around 6 months of age and sometimes even earlier, but not before 4 months), may reduce the risk of developing food allergies. The top nine allergenic foods include peanuts, tree nuts, eggs, dairy, soy, wheat, fish, sesame, and shellfish. If your baby is at increased risk for food allergies due to having moderate to severe eczema, talk to your pediatrician or allergist early about a plan for allergen introduction.
It’s best to start when your baby is healthy. Avoid introducing new foods when baby is sick, miserably teething, or especially fussy. Begin with a small amount of age-appropriate forms of the allergen, such as thinned peanut butter, plain whole milk yogurt, and mashed egg yolk.
Begin early in the day, well before a nap, when you can monitor baby during and for a couple of hours after the feeding. Give baby just a small amount of the allergen to start and work up to a full (infant-size) serving if baby has no reactions. Watch for any signs of an allergic reaction, such as rash, vomiting, or diarrhea, and call 911 if you need immediate attention for shortness of breath, wheezing, or facial swelling.
If you have further concerns about food allergies, consult with your pediatrician, allergist, or registered dietitian before introducing these foods.
Should I start with Baby-Led Weaning or traditional spoon-feeding?
These days, many parents opt to start their baby on finger foods from the family table at about 6 months of age. Baby-led Weaning (BLW) is a popular feeding method for babies to self-feed with finger foods rather than spoon-fed purees. This approach encourages babies to explore different textures and tastes at their own pace, promoting independence and fine motor skills development.
As a pediatric dietitian specializing in infant feeding, I have parents in my private practice who start with BLW, traditional spoon-feeding, and some who do a combination of both.
Technically, BLW skips over the passive spoon-feeding of purees, but contrary to popular belief, it does not mean avoiding purees in general. A combined approach that includes both finger foods for self-feeding and the spoon-feeding of purees is fine when babies are fed responsively, and there is no evidence that a combined approach is detrimental.
Between 6-8 months, while babies are still in the early stages of learning to eat, you can offer foods with a puree consistency like yogurt, applesauce, pureed fruits, vegetables and meats, and whole grain infant cereal, as well as other textured or mashed foods as long as they are soft and easily mashed down with gums. You can offer pureed foods on a spoon for babies using the traditional spoon-feeding method or offer a preloaded spoon* for baby to feed themselves.
If you opt for a BLW or combination method, offer soft “squishable” foods like bananas, avocados, eggs, toast strips topped with nutritious spreads, and tofu, which are naturally soft foods that babies can break down with their gums before they have teeth. Cut these foods into 2.5-5 inch strips (the size of 1-2 adult pinky fingers) so that babies can palm them up to the mouth using a palmar grasp.
Whether or not your baby is ready at 6 months to start solids, the best gift you can offer is your love and the room to grow and develop at his or her own pace, which is unique to each baby. If your baby is indeed ready for supplementary solid foods or likely to be ready soon, download my FREE Baby-Led Feeding Essential Checklist to make sure you have everything you need to get started.
You might also want to check out my new online course for parents, based on my best-selling book, which will walk you through the whole process of starting solids using a baby-led approach. And if your baby is having trouble with a lack of interest in solid foods, check out this blog post for more info.
Alternatively, if your baby is almost ready to start solids and you’re looking for someone you trust to map out the entire first 12 weeks of your baby’s solid food feeding journey, check out my new Safe & Simple 12-Week Meal Plan! Over 30 recipes, weekly shopping lists, tons of balanced baby meals, a complete plan for top allergen introduction, & lots of guidance (with photos) on how to safely serve each food.
And if have a specific nutrition-related concern regarding your baby, book a session with me in my private practice, and we’ll get to the bottom of it. Looking forward to meeting you!
