Babies can start eating solid foods at about 6 months of age. Both the American Academy of Pediatrics and the Dietary Guidelines for Americans point to 6 months as the target, and introducing solids before 4 months is not recommended. That said, the calendar alone doesn’t tell the whole story. Your baby also needs to hit certain developmental milestones before they’re truly ready for that first spoonful.
Signs Your Baby Is Ready
Age is the starting point, but readiness is physical. Some babies are ready right at 6 months, others need a few more weeks. A general guideline is that babies who have doubled their birth weight and weigh at least 13 pounds may be physically prepared, which typically happens around 4 to 6 months. But weight alone isn’t enough. Look for these developmental signals:
- Head and neck control. Your baby can hold their head steady and upright.
- Sitting with support. They can sit up in a high chair or on your lap without slumping over.
- Interest in food. They open their mouth when you bring a spoon close or watch you eat with obvious curiosity.
- Loss of the tongue-thrust reflex. When food goes in, they swallow it instead of pushing it back out onto their chin. Young infants automatically push foreign textures out of their mouths. Until that reflex fades, they’re not ready.
- Grasping and mouthing objects. They reach for small items and bring them to their mouth.
If your baby pushes food out repeatedly, that’s not rejection. It just means they haven’t developed the coordination to move food from the front of their tongue to the back for swallowing. Give it another week or two and try again.
Why 6 Months and Not Sooner
For the first 6 months, breast milk or formula provides everything a baby needs nutritionally. Around the 6-month mark, though, stores of certain nutrients, especially iron, start to run low, and solid foods help fill that gap. Iron-fortified infant formula contains about 12 milligrams per liter, which covers younger babies well, but by 6 months all infants benefit from iron-rich foods like pureed meats, fortified cereals, and mashed beans.
Starting too early creates real problems. A baby’s digestive system before 4 months simply isn’t mature enough to process anything beyond milk. Their kidneys can’t handle the extra minerals and proteins in food. And a baby who can’t sit up or control their tongue well is at greater risk of choking.
What to Offer First
There’s no single “correct” first food. The old advice to start with rice cereal has given way to a broader approach: any single-ingredient, age-appropriate food is fine. Good options include pureed sweet potato, mashed banana, pureed peas, iron-fortified infant cereal mixed with breast milk or formula, and pureed meats. Start with one new food at a time and wait a few days before introducing another, so you can spot any reactions.
Portions should be tiny at first. Begin with about a teaspoon and slowly work up to a tablespoon. At 6 months, solid food is practice, not a primary calorie source. Breast milk or formula still provides most of your baby’s nutrition. Over the following months, portion sizes and variety will naturally increase until, by age 2, your child can eat most of the same foods as the rest of the family.
Introducing Common Allergens
Current guidelines actually encourage introducing allergenic foods early rather than delaying them. For peanuts specifically, the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases breaks it down by risk level:
- High-risk babies (those with severe eczema, egg allergy, or both) should be introduced to age-appropriate peanut-containing foods as early as 4 to 6 months. These babies may need allergy testing first to determine the safest way to introduce peanut.
- Babies with mild to moderate eczema can start peanut-containing foods around 6 months at home, without prior testing.
- Babies with no eczema or food allergies can have peanut-containing foods introduced freely alongside other solids.
For all risk categories, other solid foods should come first to confirm that the baby is developmentally ready. “Age-appropriate” peanut food means thinned peanut butter or peanut puffs, never whole peanuts, which are a choking hazard well into toddlerhood.
Foods to Avoid Before Age 1
A few items are strictly off-limits for the entire first year:
- Honey. Even a small amount can cause infant botulism, a serious form of food poisoning. Don’t add honey to food, water, formula, or a pacifier.
- Cow’s milk as a drink. It can cause intestinal bleeding and contains too much protein and too many minerals for an infant’s kidneys. (Cow’s milk in small amounts as an ingredient in cooked foods is generally fine, but it shouldn’t replace breast milk or formula.)
- Juice. Children under 12 months should not drink any fruit or vegetable juice.
- Unpasteurized foods. Raw milk, unpasteurized cheese, yogurt, or juice can harbor harmful bacteria that cause severe diarrhea in infants.
When to Start Water
Once your baby begins eating solids at around 6 months, you can start offering small sips of water. Between 6 and 12 months, 4 to 8 ounces per day is the recommended range. Water at this stage helps with swallowing food and gets your baby used to drinking from a cup. It’s a supplement, not a replacement for breast milk or formula, which should still make up the bulk of their fluid intake through the first year.
Progressing Through Textures
Most babies start with smooth purees, but you don’t need to stay there long. As your baby gets comfortable swallowing, you can move to mashed and then soft, lumpy textures over the following weeks. By 8 to 10 months, many babies handle soft finger foods like small pieces of ripe banana, cooked pasta, or well-cooked vegetable chunks. Skills like self-feeding with fingers, drinking from a cup, and eventually using a spoon all develop gradually between the first and second year. Letting your baby practice with soft, safe foods helps build those motor skills alongside their expanding palate.