At 6 months, your baby can eat a wide range of foods: soft fruits, cooked vegetables, iron-rich meats, eggs, grains, and even common allergens like peanut butter and fish. Breast milk or formula remains the primary source of nutrition through the first year, but solid foods gradually fill in nutritional gaps, especially for iron, which your baby’s birth stores are running low on by this age.
Before diving into specific foods, make sure your baby is showing signs they’re ready. They should be able to sit up with support, control their head and neck, open their mouth when offered food, and swallow rather than push food back out with their tongue. Most babies also start bringing objects to their mouth and reaching for small items around this time.
Iron-Rich Foods Come First
Iron is the single most important nutrient to prioritize when starting solids. It fuels brain development, supports the immune system, and helps red blood cells carry oxygen. Babies who don’t get enough iron can develop anemia, which has been linked to learning difficulties. By 6 months, the iron stores your baby was born with are depleting, so the foods you introduce need to start filling that gap.
The best sources of iron for babies include pureed or shredded beef, lamb, pork, chicken, turkey, eggs, and fatty fish. These contain a form of iron the body absorbs more easily. Plant-based options work too: iron-fortified infant cereal, lentils, beans, tofu, and dark leafy greens like spinach and kale. Pairing plant-based iron sources with a fruit rich in vitamin C (like mashed strawberries or orange segments) helps your baby absorb more of it.
Vegetables and Fruits to Try
You have a long list to work with. Good vegetable options include broccoli, butternut squash, carrots, sweet potato, peas, green beans, cauliflower, avocado, parsnips, spinach, and courgette. Don’t shy away from bitter-tasting vegetables like kale, cabbage, or asparagus. Introducing a variety of flavors early can help shape your baby’s preferences later.
For fruits, try banana, pear, apple, mango, peach, blueberries, raspberries, strawberries, melon, kiwi, papaya, plums, nectarines, pineapple, and oranges. Cook harder fruits like apple until they’re soft enough to mash with gentle pressure. Softer fruits like banana, avocado, and ripe peach can be served as-is once mashed or cut appropriately.
Grains and Starchy Foods
Starchy foods give your baby energy and help round out meals. Options include baby rice, oatmeal, porridge, quinoa, pasta, rice, potato, sweet potato, bread, toast, and pitta bread. Less common grains like millet, cornmeal, and maize are also fine. Toast fingers and soft-cooked pasta shapes are easy for babies to grip and gum.
Introducing Common Allergens
Current guidelines from the American Academy of Pediatrics and the Dietary Guidelines for Americans recommend introducing allergenic foods around 6 months, ideally while your baby is still breastfeeding or formula feeding. The common allergens to introduce include peanuts, tree nuts, eggs, dairy, wheat, soy, fish, and shellfish. For babies with severe eczema or an existing egg allergy, peanut introduction is encouraged even earlier, between 4 and 6 months, with guidance from a pediatrician.
Introduce one new allergen at a time and wait about three days before trying another. Start with a small amount and gradually increase. Choose cooked forms over raw when possible. For peanuts, thin a small amount of smooth peanut butter with breast milk or formula so it’s not a choking hazard. Never give whole nuts.
If an allergic reaction occurs, it typically shows up within 10 to 15 minutes. Watch for hives, multiple episodes of vomiting, or mild swelling of the lips. If swelling spreads around the mouth or your baby starts wheezing or struggling to breathe, call 911 immediately.
How Much and How Often
Start small. One or two tablespoons of food is plenty for the first meals. Your baby is learning to eat, not replacing milk feeds. Aim to offer food or a drink every 2 to 3 hours throughout the day, which works out to roughly 3 small meals and 2 to 3 snacks. Watch your baby’s cues: if they open their mouth and lean forward, they want more. If they turn away or clamp their mouth shut, they’re done.
Breast milk or formula stays the main event for the entire 6-to-12-month window. Solids are supplementary at first, gradually becoming a bigger share of the diet over those months. You can also start offering small sips of water, around 4 to 8 ounces spread across the whole day, to help with digestion as solid foods are introduced.
Safe Textures and Preparation
Think soft. Any food your baby can mash with their gums is appropriate. For purees, blend cooked vegetables, fruits, or meats until smooth, then gradually leave more texture as your baby gets comfortable. If you’re offering finger foods, cut them into finger-shaped pieces, roughly the size of a small baby carrot. Your baby grabs one end and chews on the other. Shredded lean meats work well for this age too.
Avoid round, coin-shaped slices of fruits, vegetables, or meat. These are a choking risk because they can seal off a small airway. Grapes, cherry tomatoes, and hot dogs should be quartered lengthwise. Hard raw vegetables like carrots need to be cooked until soft before serving.
Expect gagging, especially in the first few weeks. At 6 months, your baby’s gag reflex sits farther forward in the mouth than it will later, so coughing, sputtering, and pushing food out are all normal. Gagging is noisy: lots of coughing and gurgling. Choking is different. It partially or fully blocks the airway and can cause high-pitched breathing sounds or silence. If your baby gags, let them work through it on their own. Don’t try to sweep food out with your finger, as that can push it deeper.
Foods to Avoid Until Later
A few foods are off-limits at 6 months:
- Honey: Do not give honey in any form before 12 months. It can contain spores that cause infant botulism, a serious form of food poisoning. This includes honey mixed into food, water, or spread on a pacifier.
- Cow’s milk as a drink: Hold off on cow’s milk as a main beverage until 12 months. It can cause intestinal bleeding in young babies and contains too much protein and too many minerals for their kidneys. Small amounts cooked into food or mixed into purees are generally fine.
- Added sugars: Babies have no nutritional room for added sugars. Skip flavored yogurts, cookies, muffins, and sweetened snacks. Plain, full-fat yogurt is a better choice.
- High-salt foods: Avoid processed meats like hot dogs, sausages, and lunch meats. Watch for sodium in canned foods (choose low-sodium versions) and packaged toddler snacks, which are often higher in salt than you’d expect.