Starting solid foods

Your baby is ready for solid foods at around 6 months when they:

• Hold their head steady.
• Can sit up and lean forward.
• Open their mouth when food is offered.
• Reach for and pick up food and bring it to their mouth.

Your baby does not need to have teeth to eat solid foods. Babies can easily mash and crush most soft ripened foods with few or no teeth.

Introducing solid foods around 6 months helps your baby:

• Build healthy iron stores to support growth and development.
• Get the nutrients they need for healthy growth and learning.
• Develop important feeding skills, such as chewing and self-feeding.
• Become more comfortable with a variety of new foods, tastes, and textures.

Talk to a public health nurse to get free telephone support.

Ontario Dietitians in Public Health has information to help you learn about feeding your baby from 6 to 12 months.

Dietitians of Canada also offers information on:

• Introducing solid foods
• Offering a variety of textures (video)
• Learning to self feed (video)
• Transitioning from breast milk to cow's milk
• Sample meal plans for babies
• Sample vegetarian meal plans for babies
• Safety tips when introducing solid foods
• Baby-led weaning
• How to make food for baby (video)
• Homemade baby food
• Store bought baby food

Food safety

Learn how to choose, handle, and store foods to keep children safe, prevent choking, and poisoning. Food safety

Food allergies

Learning about food allergies can help you recognize reactions early and introduce new foods to your baby with confidence.

Find out about food allergies and babies.