Starting solid food

When to start

Start solid food at around 6 months. Until then, breast milk or first infant formula gives her what she needs. If she was born early, ask your health visitor or doctor when to start.

Chewing her fists, waking more at night and wanting extra milk are normal at this age. They do not mean she is ready. Solid food will not help her sleep through the night.

Breast milk or formula stays her main drink until she is 1. Do not give cows' milk as a drink before then.

Signs she is ready

• She can sit up and hold her head steady.
• She can look at food, pick it up and put it in her mouth by herself.
• She swallows food rather than pushing it back out.

First foods

Start with a few small pieces or teaspoons, before her usual milk feed. How much she eats matters less than getting used to new tastes. Let her stop when she closes her mouth or turns away.

Try soft cooked vegetables and fruit, including ones that are not sweet, like broccoli. Move on to mashed, lumpy and finger foods as soon as she can manage. It can take 10 tries or more before she accepts a new food.

Give foods that can cause allergies, like eggs, peanuts, fish and wheat, one at a time and in small amounts. Then you can spot any reaction. If there is food allergy, eczema, asthma or hay fever in the family, talk to your doctor before you start these foods.

Keeping her safe

• Sit her upright in a high chair with the harness on.
• Do not add salt or sugar to her food or cooking water.
• Do not give honey until she is over 1 year old.
• No whole nuts. Ground nuts, or nut butter spread on toast, are fine.
• Cut grapes and cherry tomatoes into quarters.
• Avoid hard foods like raw carrot or apple. Take out pips, stones and bones.
• Let hot food cool and test it before you give it to her.
• Gagging is normal while she learns. Her eyes may water and she may push her tongue out.