Last Updated - December 2, 2024
Until about 6 months, babies only need breast or infant formula milk to give them all the right nutrients. They might look like they want to try other things, but their body isn’t ready until they are about 6 months old. If they start eating other foods they might not get enough milk. If they start eating other food too early they are more likely to get infectious illnesses or even be at risk of obesity.
Babies may wake up, chew their fists or seem hungrier. This is normal behaviour. It’s not necessarily a sign of being ready to introduce complementary feeding. Ideally, give a bit more milk until they reach about six months.
Introducing your baby to solid foods (often called weaning onto foods) should start around six months of age (26 weeks).
There are three simple developmental signs to look out for to see if your baby is ready to introduce solid food, these are:
To find out if your baby is ready, take this simple NHS ready or not weaning quiz
Watch our video’s to see if your baby is ready.
We now offer monthly no rush to mush sessions in our Feed and Nurture groups. Find out when by going to our What’s on pages and search for Feed and Nurture group.
“We were both nervous and excited about starting feeding with our little boy. At the beginning it was easy to get taken in by what the supermarkets/packets advertised but the more we did, the more we looked into different foods and spoke to other Mums who had just started weaning, and became a bit more adventurous. Then I took him on a weaning workshop and realised how much he loved finger food. Now at 8 months he is eating home cooked meals and loves trying anything, especially if it’s in someone else’s bowl! He always pulls a funny face when he has the first mouthful but after that is keen to wolf it down. He has a lot less milk now but still loves his bottle in between feeds.”
Wendy
When you do get started, try to remember that it’s about enjoying the experience together and letting them explore different textures and flavours as they will still get most of the nutrients they need to help them grow from milk. The experience can be different for everyone so don’t panic if your baby doesn’t seem too interested at first. Once complementary feeding is introduced it is important to remember that this remains alongside milk feeds not in place of them. Responsive milk feeding is still important until at least 12 months.
We know that introducing complementary feeding can be an exciting time but also can cause additional concerns. If you are concerned, you can speak with the 0-19 Health Visiting team, your own Health Visitor, Torbay Family Hubs, or ask about joining a ‘Supporting a Solid Start’ run by run by the community nursery nurses.
To begin with it’s not important how much solid food your baby is eating. The most important thing is that they start getting used to food. Your baby should be introduced to a varied diet alongside their usual breast milk or first infant formula.
Food is fun, until they are one.
Your baby will be able to self-regulate their appetite and will eat until they are full. All babies are different and on different days may eat more or less. It is okay for a baby or toddler not to finish their meal. As long your baby is content and putting on weight there is no need to be concerned. When your baby is full they may push food away or turn their head.
Only reduce your child’s milk intake once they are having an established and varied diet. This should be a gradual reduction and milk intake will decrease once food intake increases.
Babies can have full fat cow’s milk as a drink from 1 year onward. You can add full fat cow’s milk to cooking and cereal from 6 months old. You can introduce semi-skimmed milk from 2 years old onward if your child is having a good range of foods.
Your baby only needs stage 1/first formula and at 1 year your baby can go on to cow’s milk as a drink.
It is very rare for babies to choke but it is very common for babies to gag when they first start to have solid food in their mouth. This is a normal reaction. Babies are very good at gagging and pushing something out of their mouth by themselves. When babies gag they will push the food forwards and spit it out.
Please note that you should not put your finger into a baby’s mouth if you cannot easily see and remove a piece of food. Putting your finger in their mouth could risk pushing the food further back.
