Baby’s First Solid Foods

What should your baby’s first solid foods be? Solid food ideas for baby. Food ideas for baby led weaning and traditional weaning.

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We did a combination of traditional weaning and baby led weaning. This means we started with purees, but then also began offering “table food” early on in combination with purees.

Whatever weaning approach you took, your next question might be what to offer for your baby’s first solid foods?

We started offering some solid food around 6 months old and being well established on purees, fully sitting up, and lots of interest in food.

But, it wasn’t until about 8 months (two full months of practice) that our little guy decided he wanted to eat more than just a few bites of solids.

I also want to add that our baby only has two front teeth, so you in no way need to wait until baby has lots of teeth to begin baby’s first solid foods.

Cutting the food the right way and choosing foods that can be ‘gummed’ are two of my greatest tips for letting baby eat solid food safely.

If you are interested, do an internet search for “Baby Led Weaning” (BLW) and you will find lots of great advice of baby self-feeding!

BLW is an awesome philosophy and I like to use many aspects of it for our transition to solid foods.

After introducing his first solid foods we quickly moved on to more “table foods” or eating what we eat. If your baby is older, check out my tips for 8-12 month feeding ideas, 1 year old feeding ideas, and 12-16 month feeding ideas.

Food Shape

Cutting foods in a long, thin, shape (think French Fry shape) is one way to avoid choking.

Some of our very first solid foods were baked sweet potato fries, steamed carrot “fries”, and bread strips.

If your baby has not developed their Pincer grip to be able to grasp smaller foods, this shape is a must.

Food Ideas

After our son mastered picking up food and chewing (really “gumming”), we moved on to smaller foods with additional textures. Some examples of favorite foods eaten by my 8 month old are:

• Sweet Potatoes
• Grapes (quartered long ways)
• Strawberries (quartered long ways)
• Blackberries (quartered long ways)
• Blueberries squished
• Bananas
• Shredded carrots (or baby carrots quartered long ways)
• Green Beans
• Watermelon
• Cantaloupe
• Squash
• Peas
• Asparagus heads
• Toast strips
• Shredded Chicken
• Banana Pancakes (Recipe)
• French Fries (occasionally)

We tend to do a lot of fresh fruit and steamed frozen veggies.

My go-to is a mini fruit salad with melon and grapes that we can use throughout the week.

I also discovered a frozen stir fry mix that contains green beans, squash, carrots, asparagus, and onions (I pick out the onions).

Additionally, I try and feed him what we are eating whenever possible.

We also occasionally do puffs or yogurt melts when they are convenient, but try not to offer them at every meal. Often times our little guy will get puffs while my husband and I eat dinner if its late.

Our son normally eats dinner around 4:30/5pm and we normally eat dinner around 6/6:30pm. The puffs keep him entertained and happy, but aren’t the substantial part of his meal. Also they are great for practicing the pincer grasp.

A rubber scoop bib is a great investment item for baby self-feeding! Check out my full list of feeding essentials for both babies & toddlers!

Feeding Inspiration

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