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When can babies start solid food? The NHS signs of readiness, and how we did it

The NHS website says to start introducing solid foods when your baby is around 6 months old, and describes 3 clear signs that, together, show a baby is ready: they can sit and hold their head steady, co-ordinate their eyes, hands, and mouth to pick food up and put it in their mouth, and swallow food rather than spit it back out.[1]

By Tom, a dad of two in Kent. Published 3 October 2026. NHS pages last checked 3 October 2026.

How this page works. Every health fact here comes from the NHS website and links to the page it came from, with that page's review date. The "In our house" box is our own experience. Nothing here is advice. For advice, go to the NHS page, your health visitor, or your GP.

The 3 signs of readiness

  • Your baby can stay in a sitting position and hold their head steady.[1]
  • They can co-ordinate their eyes, hands, and mouth, so they can look at the food, pick it up and put it in their mouth by themselves.[1]
  • They can swallow food, rather than spit it back out.[1]

The NHS says these signs appear together from around 6 months of age.[1] If a baby was born prematurely, it says to ask your health visitor or GP for advice on when to start.[1]

Signs that can be mistaken for readiness

The NHS says parents can mistake chewing fists, waking up in the night more than usual, and wanting extra milk feeds for signs a baby is ready. It says these are normal baby behaviours and not necessarily a sign a baby is hungry or ready, and that starting solids will not make a baby any more likely to sleep through the night.[1]

Why the NHS suggests around 6 months

  • Breast milk or first infant formula provides the energy and nutrients a baby needs until around 6 months, with the exception of vitamin D in some cases.[1]
  • Waiting gives a baby time to develop so they can cope fully with solid foods.[1]
  • A baby will be more able to feed themselves, and better at moving food around their mouth, chewing, and swallowing. The NHS says this may mean they move on to mashed, lumpy, and finger foods more quickly, and may not need smooth, blended foods at all.[1]

How to start

  • In the beginning a baby only needs a small amount of food before their usual milk feed. The NHS says not to worry about how much they eat, because getting used to new tastes and textures matters most.[1]
  • Go at your baby's pace and stop when they show they have had enough, for example by firmly closing their mouth or turning their head away. If you are using a spoon, wait for your baby to open their mouth first, and do not force them.[1]
  • It may take 10 tries or more for a baby to get used to new foods, flavours, and textures, and the NHS says days when they reject everything are normal.[1]

First foods

The NHS says you might want to start with single vegetables and fruits, such as mashed or soft cooked sticks of parsnip, broccoli, potato, yam, sweet potato, carrot, apple, or pear. It also says to include vegetables that are not sweet, such as broccoli, cauliflower, and spinach. It says this helps a baby get used to a range of flavours, rather than just sweeter ones like carrot and sweet potato, and might help prevent fussy eating as they grow up.[1]

Textures and baby-led weaning

  • Once a baby has started, the NHS says to try to move them from puréed or blended foods to mashed, lumpy, or finger foods as soon as they can manage them. Some babies like to start with lumpy textures, and others need longer.[1]
  • Baby-led weaning means giving only finger foods and letting a baby feed themselves from the start. The NHS says some parents prefer it, others do a combination of both, and there is no right or wrong way.[1]

Safety basics from the NHS page

  • Always stay with your baby when they are eating in case they start to choke. The NHS says choking is different from gagging.[1]
  • Do not add sugar or salt to a baby's food or cooking water.[1]
  • Avoid hard foods like whole nuts, raw carrot, or raw apple, and cut small, round foods like grapes and cherry tomatoes into quarters.[1]

In our house

Both of ours started solids at around five and a half months, with puréed food, and we were very new to it. We held back on fruit at first because we did not want them to get used to very sweet flavours, so we leaned on vegetables. That lines up with the NHS page's suggestion to include vegetables that are not sweet. Baby-led weaning scared us, naturally, but we tried it after the initial purée stage. The NHS page says to start at around 6 months when the 3 signs appear together. We are sharing what we did, not recommending it.

If you are worried

This page is a summary of NHS information plus our own experience. It is not medical advice. The NHS has pages on choking and gagging on food and how to stop a child from choking. You can also speak to your health visitor or GP, or use NHS 111.

Sources

  1. NHS website: Your baby's first solid foods. Page last reviewed 19 February 2026; next review due 19 February 2029; page last updated by the NHS on 10 March 2026. I checked it on 3 October 2026.

Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. This page summarises NHS website content in our own words, and an adaptation may not carry the NHS's formal clinical approval. Tiny Tummies is not affiliated with or endorsed by the NHS.

About the author

I am Tom, a dad of two in Kent. When I wrote this, our children were 3 years 9 months and 16 months old. I am not a clinician, and nothing here is medical advice. I also built Tiny Tummies, a baby feeding tracker. I use AI tools to help draft these pages. Every health fact is checked against the NHS page it links to, and the "In our house" boxes are what my wife and I actually did.