Starting solid foods
Breast milk or formula is the only food your baby needs for the first 6 months. Your baby is ready for solid foods when they:
- Are about 6 months old.
- Hold their head steady.
- Sit upright without support.
- Lean towards food.
- 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.
There are no benefits of introducing solid foods to your baby earlier than 6 months. It will not help them sleep through the night.
Introducing solid foods around 6 months will help your baby avoid:
- Low levels of iron in their body.
- Poor growth and development.
- Delayed motor skills such as chewing.
- Hesitancy to accept new foods and textures.
Your baby doesn't need highly processed baby foods like rice rusks as they have little nutrition.
Talk to a public health nurse to get free telephone support.
Dietitians of Canada offers information about:
- 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
You may have been told by your doctor that you need to be concerned when introducing certain foods to your baby.
Find out:
- What is a food allergy.
- When to introduce foods that most often cause food allergies.
- What to do if you think your baby has a food allergy.