Solid Foods for Baby: A Guide for 6 Month Olds

Congratulations mama! You made it to 6 months! Now you’ve been hearing whispers of *solid foods* but when and how? 

Between possibly juggling sleep regression and getting used to your pumping schedule , motherhood has now thrown you a new curve ball – solid foods! 

First, let’s understand a little about the 6 month old Solid Food milestone. 

Solid Foods at 6 months old

Most pediatrics (if not everyone) recommends parents to start solid foods for their baby’s at 6 months old. 

Why 6 months ?

Because by 6 months of age your child should be able to :

1. 1. Sit up alone with good neck and head support and control
   2. Be interested in food (i.e: opens mouth when food is offered or imitates/ watches you when you’re eating)
   3. Start putting things in their mouth
   4. Have a good sense of grip

Biologically, before 4 months , your baby will still have what is called “tongue extrusion reflex” which is the reflex that pushes food OUT of their mouths, making eating very difficult and risk of choking , very high !  

First Foods

So now that we’ve gotten that bit of history out of the way , let’s look into what foods you can feed your little one! 

Starting your baby on Solids doesn’t have to be complicated 

Fast, easy and fail-proof for every mother! Here’s what I learned, keep baby’s first bites of solids: 

• simple and pure (free from preservatives and seasonings),
• easily mash-able / blend-able,
• made from low allergen foods. 

Your baby is not going to be eating 3 square meals a day from the get-go instead keep in mind that your baby is just learning to explore new tastes and textures, keeping things simple and pure is more important!

I was also deathly afraid of food allergies, having read plenty of forums where out of nowhere someone’s kid developed an egg allergy , I scared myself silly.

As a rule of thumb, start with low allergen foods such as banana, avocado, pumpkin, broccoli, apple puree and also the Asian staple “rice porridge”

To ease baby’s into the solid food life, some pediatrics recommend mixing breastmilk or formula milk into the solid food. This is of course at your own discretion.

However do note that milk should be added to the solid food as and when baby is eating , it’s NOT recommended to store foods that are already mixed with milk as milk turns bad in less than 24 hours.

3 day rule

Instead of being like me and overthinking about food allergies, just follow the 3 day rule!

The 3 day rule is where you feed your baby the same food for 3 days (as your baby grows, this can be stretched up to 5 days) to rule out any allergic reaction to a particular food.

The concept of the 3 day rule

is to give your baby’s body enough time to properly digest everything and when you’re not mixing foods, you get to properly rule out any possible food allergies.

Important : please Do NOT feed HONEY to a child less than 12 months old no matter the 3 day rule or not.

Thanks to the 3 day rule, you’ll have a good reason to keep feeding your little one the same meal – making food prep a little less stressful!

Portions

It’s best when cooking for baby , to apportion everything into small portions that way you can defrost and re-heat small batches at a time.

Pureed fruits and vegetable

Refrigerated  for up to 48 to 72 hours
Frozen 6 to 8 months

Pureed meats

Refrigerated  for up to 24 hours
Frozen 1 to 2 months

Since you’ll be cooking in small portions, I highly recommend getting portion trays (yes it’s a thing) for an easier and more stress free meal-planning time! 

Here are a few of my favourite ones (affiliate links)

1. WeeSprout Baby Pacifier Set — an absolute favourite because the pacifiers will come in handy when baby starts full-on teething! 
2. Panda Ear 3 pack freezer trays — convenient to store large amounts of puree
3. KeaBabies 12pack baby container – Individual jars which are stackable and easier to carry for on-the-go feeds! 

 

For a quick and legit reference on the safety of reheating food , check out THIS article by the NHS!

How much is enough? 

At 4 to 6 months old your baby will most likely be eating 2-3 adult teaspoons of single ingredient puree

After 1-2 weeks, this portion can be increased to 1-2 TABLEspoons of single ingredient puree, once a day.

At 6 to 8 months old your little one can start to eat 2 small meals and snacks when needed.

At about 7 to 8 months old is when you can  start mixing in proteins for texture and added nutrition.    and finally at 9 to 12 months old your little one should be having 3 small meals and snacks when needed. (Baby friendly snacks will also help in the weaning off process)

What to expect? 

And lastly, now that you’ve read everything I must now warn you to please, if there’s anything you take away from reading this, let it be this: 

Not all baby’s are born the same, not every recipe is going to have your baby wolfing down their food — in fact baby’s hardly do any wolfing down. At the start of it, all they think of food is that it’s just another “sensory” toy. 

Remember to manage your expectations and have fun creating this new core memory — trying solids! 

 

Good luck Mamas!