Most babies are ready to start spoon feeding around 6 months of age, when they can sit upright with support and show interest in what you’re eating. The first few sessions aren’t really about nutrition. They’re about helping your baby learn a completely new skill: moving food from a spoon to the back of the mouth and swallowing it. Start with just 1 to 2 tablespoons of food per sitting and follow your baby’s lead from there.
Signs Your Baby Is Ready
Age alone isn’t the only factor. Your baby needs to hit a few developmental milestones before spoon feeding makes sense. They should be able to hold their head steady, sit upright with some support, and show interest in food (watching you eat, reaching for your plate, opening their mouth when food comes near). Most babies reach this point around 6 months, though some get there a little earlier or later.
If your baby pushes food out with their tongue every time you offer a spoon, that’s the tongue-thrust reflex still at work. It’s designed to protect against choking, and it typically fades between 4 and 6 months. If it’s still strong, give it another week or two and try again.
Choosing the Right Spoon
A baby spoon is smaller and shallower than what you’d use for yourself. Look for one with a soft tip, ideally silicone, that won’t hurt tender gums. The bowl of the spoon should be small enough to fit comfortably in your baby’s mouth without scraping against the sides. Silicone spoons are popular because they’re gentle, easy to clean, and free of BPA. You’ll also find bamboo-and-silicone combinations and soft plastic options. What matters most is that the spoon is flat-bowled (not deeply scooped), soft at the tip, and easy for you to grip.
Around 8 or 9 months, your baby will want to hold the spoon themselves. At that point, a shorter spoon with a wider, chunkier handle is easier for small hands to grasp. Expect mess. Self-feeding with a spoon is a coordination exercise, and most of the food will end up on the highchair tray or the floor before it ends up in their mouth.
Step-by-Step Spoon Feeding Technique
Seat your baby upright in a highchair or supported seat, facing you. Being upright helps with swallowing and reduces the risk of choking. Before you introduce any food, you can offer a dry spoon once or twice a day just to let your baby get used to the sensation of something solid in their mouth. Look for them to open their mouth and make early sucking or munching movements. If they gag or fuss at the dry spoon, hold off on food for a few more days.
When you’re ready to add food, dip the spoon into a smooth puree and shake off the excess so there’s only a thin coating. You want barely enough food to taste, not a heaping spoonful. Hold the spoon in front of your baby’s lips and wait. This is the key part: let your baby open their mouth and lean toward the spoon rather than pushing it in. Responsive feeding means your baby controls the pace.
Once the spoon is in their mouth, wait for their lips to close around it and clear the food off naturally. Resist the urge to scrape the spoon upward against the roof of their mouth or across their upper gum to empty it. That shortcuts the process your baby needs to practice, which is using their lips and tongue to pull food off the spoon and move it backward for swallowing. A slight downward press on the tongue as you offer the spoon can encourage that back-of-mouth tongue movement.
Go slowly. Let your baby fully manipulate and swallow each bite before offering the next one. Early feeding sessions might last only five minutes and involve just a few spoonfuls. That’s completely normal.
What to Feed and When to Change Textures
Start with smooth, thin purees. Single-ingredient foods like sweet potato, avocado, banana, or iron-fortified infant cereal are common first choices. Introduce one new food at a time and wait a couple of days before adding another, so you can spot any allergic reactions.
Between 6 and 8 months, gradually thicken the texture. Move from smooth purees to lumpier mashes with soft bits. This progression matters because babies who stay on smooth purees too long can have a harder time accepting textured foods later. By 8 to 12 months, your baby can handle minced and finely chopped foods alongside soft finger foods they pick up themselves.
Portion sizes are small at first. The Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics recommends starting with 1 to 2 tablespoons per food per sitting. Some babies will eat less, some will want more. Both are fine. Breast milk or formula remains the primary source of nutrition through the first year, so solids at this stage are supplemental.
Reading Your Baby’s Hunger and Fullness Cues
Your baby will tell you when they’ve had enough if you know what to look for. Fullness signals in babies 6 months and older include pushing food away, closing their mouth when the spoon approaches, turning their head to the side, and making sounds or hand motions that signal “done.” Respect these cues every time. Continuing to offer food after your baby signals fullness can override their natural ability to self-regulate appetite.
Hunger cues are the mirror image: leaning toward the spoon, opening their mouth eagerly, reaching for the food, or getting excited when they see the bowl. Starting a feeding session when your baby is showing these signals, rather than on a rigid schedule, makes the whole experience smoother.
Gagging vs. Choking
Gagging during early spoon feeding is common and, while alarming, is actually a safety mechanism. When food touches a part of the mouth your baby isn’t ready to handle, the gag reflex pushes it forward or triggers a cough to prevent it from going down the wrong way. You might see your baby’s tongue push outward, a retching motion, or a simple cough. In most cases, they’ll either spit the food out or work it back into position and swallow a smaller piece.
Choking is fundamentally different. It means the airway is partially or completely blocked, and your baby cannot resolve it on their own. A choking baby may be silent or unable to cough effectively, and their skin may change color. This requires immediate intervention with infant choking maneuvers. It’s worth taking an infant CPR class before starting solids so you feel confident telling the difference in the moment.
Food Safety and Storage
One of the most common mistakes is feeding your baby straight from the jar or storage container and then putting the leftovers back in the fridge. Your baby’s saliva introduces bacteria into the food, and those bacteria multiply quickly, even under refrigeration. Instead, spoon a portion into a separate bowl and serve from that. If your baby wants more, use a clean spoon to scoop another portion from the original container.
Any food that’s been in contact with your baby’s mouth or their used spoon should be thrown away after the meal. Opened or freshly made baby food that hasn’t been contaminated by saliva can be refrigerated within two hours and stays safe for one to two days. If you do feed directly from a jar for convenience, discard whatever is left over.
Making the First Weeks Easier
Feed your baby when they’re alert and in a good mood, not overtired or starving. Many parents find that offering solids about an hour after a milk feeding works well, because the baby is interested in food but not desperately hungry. Put a bib on, lay something under the highchair for easy cleanup, and keep a damp cloth nearby.
Don’t worry if your baby spits out most of what you offer in the first week or two. They’re learning to coordinate their tongue, lips, and swallowing in a way they’ve never done before. It can take 10 to 15 exposures to a new food before a baby accepts it, so keep offering rejected foods without pressure. The goal in the early weeks is positive exposure, not calories.