First bites: what to feed your baby, and what to skip
5 min read · Updated 30 September 2026
Starting solids is exciting and a little nerve-wracking, especially when someone else will be doing much of the feeding. Here are the basics, and a card you can hand to your helper.
When to start
The NHS advises starting solid foods at around 6 months. Before that, breast milk or first infant formula gives your baby everything they need. Look for all three of these signs together:
- They can sit upright and hold their head steady.
- They can look at food, pick it up and put it in their mouth.
- They can swallow food instead of pushing it straight back out.
Chewing fists, waking at night and wanting extra milk are common, but they aren't signs that your baby is ready. Milk stays the main food for a long time: roughly four milk feeds a day at 7 to 9 months, and around three at 10 to 12 months.
What to offer, and in what shape
| Age | What it looks like |
|---|---|
| Around 6 months | Smooth purées or mashed food. Some babies prefer soft finger foods from the start. |
| 7 to 9 months | More mashed and lumpy food, plus finger foods. |
| 10 to 12 months | A wider mix of finger foods and textures. |
Finger foods should be about the size of an adult finger and soft enough to break easily: soft-cooked vegetables, ripe fruit, pasta, cooked egg, boneless meat. Cut small round foods such as grapes and cherry tomatoes lengthways. Include iron-rich foods like meat, fish, beans, lentils and fortified breakfast cereal. Offer sips of water with meals from around 6 months, from an open cup or a free-flow cup.
Gagging is not choking
Gagging is noisy: watery eyes, tongue pushed forward, retching. It's how babies learn to move food around their mouths, and it usually settles by itself. Choking is different. It is quiet, and it is an emergency. Always seat your baby upright, stay with them while they eat, and never feed them while they are lying back, walking or crawling. A baby first-aid course is worth an evening, for you and for your helper.
What to skip
| Leave out | Why, and until when |
|---|---|
| Added salt, and salty foods such as bacon, sausages, ready meals, stock cubes and gravy | Too much salt is hard on a baby's kidneys. Cook without it. |
| Added sugar, honey, syrup, fruit juice and smoothies | Bad for teeth and not needed. Whole fruit is fine. |
| Honey | Not before 12 months. It can carry bacteria that cause infant botulism. |
| Whole nuts and whole peanuts | A choking risk until age 5. Ground nuts or a thin spread of nut butter are fine from around 6 months. |
| Mould-ripened and soft blue cheeses, and unpasteurised cheese | Pasteurised hard cheese is fine from 6 months. |
| Rice drinks | Not before age 5. They can contain too much arsenic. |
| Raw or lightly cooked shellfish | Food poisoning risk. Cook it thoroughly. |
| Shark, swordfish and marlin | Too much mercury for a developing nervous system. Avoid until age 16. |
| Cow's milk as a main drink | Not before 12 months. It's fine in cooking. |
Cook eggs until the white and yolk are firm, and skip raw-egg dishes like homemade mayonnaise.
Introducing allergens
From around 6 months, the NHS suggests offering foods that commonly cause allergies, including peanuts (ground or as a thin spread), eggs, wheat and fish, one at a time and in small amounts so you can spot any reaction. Once a food has gone down well, keep offering it regularly.
- Try a new allergen early in the day, at home, when your baby is well.
- Watch for a rash or hives, swollen lips or face, or vomiting.
- Trouble breathing, or a baby who goes floppy or pale, is an emergency. Call your local emergency number (998 for an ambulance in the UAE, 999 in the UK).
If your baby already has a known allergy, or a close relative does, ask your GP or health visitor before you start. Our allergy labelling routine shows how to keep a shared allergen list your helper can use.
A baby food card for your helper
Feeding rules only work if the person feeding your baby knows them. Write them on one card, in short sentences, and put it in your helper's language:
- Baby sits upright. You sit with them the whole meal.
- Food is soft, and cut to the size of a finger. Grapes and cherry tomatoes are cut lengthways.
- No salt, no sugar, no honey, no whole nuts.
- No new food unless we have agreed it. One new food at a time.
- If baby cannot breathe or goes quiet, call the emergency number: ____.
A meal planner made for this
NannyPal shares your weekly plan and recipes with your helper in the language they read best.