Solid foods provide the extra nutrients, flavours and textures your baby needs. From six to 12 months of age, breastmilk (or store-bought infant formula if you are not breastfeeding) remains the most important food for your baby. Your baby does not need teeth to start eating solid food.
Start with menu items like pieces of soft cheese; small pieces of pasta or bread; finely chopped soft vegetables; and fruits like bananas, avocado, and ripe peaches or nectarines. These foods should require minimal chewing, as your baby may not yet have teeth.
You can encourage your baby to chew and feed themselves even if they have no teeth yet by giving the following finger foods: toast. bread crusts. pitta bread.
Pasta may be introduced as soon as a baby is ready to start solids, which is generally around 6 months of age. Take care when introducing pasta if you haven't already introduced egg or wheat into baby's diet yet, as pasta often contains both egg and wheat, which are common food allergens.
Yes, babies who don't yet have teeth can eat scrambled eggs. Toothless babies can eat most things. Babies use their gums to chew food, so they're able to cope perfectly fine without teeth. Over the course of your weaning journey, you might be surprised at just how many foods your baby can manage without teeth!
You can introduce yogurt and cheese once your baby is six months old, as long as they continue to eat a variety of iron-rich foods. Let your baby enjoy the taste of plain unsweetened yogurt, or add fresh, canned or frozen fruit.
Yes, frozen fruit is great too!
It's typically harvested and frozen at the peak of ripeness and retains its nutrient properties. Frozen fruit can be offered frozen to help a teething baby or thawed or added to yogurt, oatmeal, overnight oats, or chia seed pudding.
Stage 3 (typically 10-12 months old, but may occur sooner): At this stage, you can slowly replace purees with soft, chewable chunks of food, and offer your baby more finger foods that they can pick up and feed themselves.
Yes - you read that right! No teeth - no problem! Babies use their gums to gnaw and suck on foods to get at the yummy nutrients in anything from steaks to asparagus! And gums are not JUST soft tissue - its soft tissue covering a BONE!
Fairly long pieces stand a better chance of being picked up so I would suggest cutting food into 5–6cm batons or sticks so that half is held in a baby's hand and the other half sticks out. A crinkle cutter is also a great early weaning buy.
So when do babies' teeth come in? The average age is anywhere from 6 months to 12 months, though some babies will get teeth earlier and some will get them later. Timing isn't that important; however, if your baby still has no teeth by the age of 18 months, it may be time to see a pediatric dentist for an evaluation.
Examples of appropriate solid foods listed by age:
6 months: Well-cooked and pureed meat, poultry or beans. Ground, cooked, single-grain cereal or infant cereal with breast milk or formula. Cooked and pureed vegetables.
Feeding doesn't have to take place at the same time each day, nor do you have to give solids every day once you start. It is perfectly okay to offer solid food a few times per week in the beginning. Most importantly, offer food at a time when baby is happy, alert and well, not when he is sick or about to fall asleep.
You can give your baby the entire egg (yolk and white), if your pediatrician recommends it. Around 6 months, puree or mash one hard-boiled or scrambled egg and serve it to your baby. For a more liquid consistency, add breast milk or water. Around 8 months, scrambled egg pieces are a fantastic finger food.
Once your baby has started to eat solid foods (from around 6 months) you can offer them sips of water from a cup or beaker with meals. Drinking water for babies over 6 months does not need to be boiled first. Fully breastfed babies do not need any water until they've started eating solid foods.
Strawberries may be introduced as soon as a baby is ready for solids, which is generally around 6 months of age.
When can babies have potatoes? Potatoes can have a place on your baby's plate or tray whenever she starts solids. That's usually around 6 months. Mashed potatoes can work for babies who were introduced to solids by being spoon-fed purées and are ready graduate to slightly thicker textures.
Luckily, that's easy to do: For babies 6 months and up, ripe, juicy strawberries are soft enough that you can serve them raw. All you really need to do is hull them and slice into age-appropriate pieces.
Babies are generally ready for weaning at about six months. You can introduce Weetabix after the first taste of vegetables or fruit. Typically most babies are introduced to breakfast at about 6.5 months.
When can babies have butter? Butter may be introduced as soon as a baby is ready to start solids, which is generally around 6 months of age.
From 6–8 months old, feed your baby half a cup of soft food two to three times a day. Your baby can eat anything except honey, which they shouldn't eat until they reach 12 months old. You can start to add a healthy snack, like mashed fruit, between meals.