Beluna
Starting solid foods:
when, what and how
No order to follow, allergens introduced early rather than delayed, and a short list of things that wait for the first birthday. Every line here comes from a source we can show you.
Important: This page is general information and does not replace medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. Beluna is a record-keeping tool; it gives no health advice, builds no feeding plan and makes no diagnosis. Every decision about your baby's feeding — when to start, what to offer, what a suspected allergy means — belongs with your paediatrician.
Everything below is taken from the public health bodies listed under References: the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the American Academy of Pediatrics and the World Health Organization. No other source was used. Guidance is updated from time to time; where this page and the source disagree, the source is right.
When to start
This is the clearest heading on the page, because the bodies we looked at agree. Complementary foods begin at about 6 months. The CDC adds an explicit lower bound that is easy to miss: starting before 4 months is not recommended.
| Body | What it says |
|---|---|
| CDC | “About 6 months.” Introducing foods before 4 months is not recommended |
| American Academy of Pediatrics | About 6 months; the CDC attributes its own recommendation to the AAP and the Dietary Guidelines for Americans |
| World Health Organization | Exclusive breastfeeding for the first 6 months, then complementary foods alongside breastfeeding to age 2 and beyond |
“About” is the sources' own word, not our hedging. The calendar is only half of it.
Signs of readiness
The developmental signs the CDC lists. Not a checklist — parts of one picture:
- Sits up alone or with support
- Can control their head and neck
- Opens their mouth when you offer food
- Swallows food rather than pushing it back out onto their chin
- Brings objects to their mouth
- Tries to grasp small objects, such as toys or food
- Moves food from the front to the back of the tongue to swallow
This page cannot tell you whether your baby is ready. The list above is what the bodies publish; the decision is one you make with your paediatrician.
What to offer first
The answer people expect here is an order, and the AAP's answer is that for most children there is no order to follow. By 7 or 8 months a baby can be eating from every food group:
- Vegetables — cooked spinach, carrots, beans, peas, lentils, sweet potato, beetroot
- Fruits — banana, strawberry, pear, orange, melon, avocado
- Proteins — soft small pieces of beef, lamb, chicken, fish, turkey, egg or tofu
- Dairy without added sugars — pasteurised cheeses and yoghurts, or fortified alternatives
- Whole grains — wholegrain bread, crackers, pasta, iron-fortified infant cereals
One detail worth carrying: where infant cereal is used, the CDC asks for a variety of fortified cereals — oat, barley, multigrain — rather than rice cereal alone, because feeding only infant rice cereal can increase a baby's exposure to arsenic.
How to introduce, and how fast
- Offer one single-ingredient food at a time, so a reaction can be traced to something
- Leave 3 to 5 days between each new food
- Introduce allergenic foods when you introduce other foods — eggs, shellfish, nut butters, wheat. Delaying them is not the advice
The one stated exception, and it matters: if your child has severe eczema or an egg allergy, talk with your doctor or nurse about when and how to safely introduce foods containing peanut — before you do it.
Preparing food: texture is most of the job
What gets searched for as a “recipe” is, in the sources, a way of preparing rather than a dish. The CDC's list:
- Smooth mashed, pureed or strained foods are easiest at first; thicker and lumpier follows as the baby's eating develops
- Mix infant cereals and cooked grains with breast milk, formula or water until smooth
- Cook hard vegetables and fruit — carrot, apple — until they mash easily with a fork
- Remove fat, skin and bones from poultry, meat and fish before cooking
- Remove seeds and hard pits from fruit, then cut into small pieces
- Cut soft food into small pieces or thin slices
- Cook and finely grind or mash whole grain kernels
Coughing, gagging or spitting up while adjusting to a new texture is described by the CDC as part of the adjustment. Choking is a different thing, and it has its own page — including the shapes that carry risk regardless of what the food is.
Not in the first year
| What | Until | The stated reason |
|---|---|---|
| Honey | 12 months | Can cause botulism, a severe food poisoning. Not in food, water, formula, or on a dummy either |
| Added sugars | 24 months | “Infants and young children have no room in their diet for added sugars.” Muffins, flavoured yoghurts, biscuits count |
| High-salt foods | — | Some canned foods, processed meats (lunch meat, sausage, hot dogs, ham), some frozen meals and toddler snacks |
| Cow's milk as a drink | 12 months | Risk of intestinal bleeding; too much protein and minerals. Yoghurt and cheese without added sugar are fine earlier |
| Unpasteurised milk, juice, yoghurt, cheese | — | Bacteria that can cause severe diarrhoea |
| High-mercury fish | — | King mackerel, marlin, orange roughy, shark, swordfish, tilefish (Gulf of Mexico), bigeye tuna. Lower-mercury fish are encouraged |
| Sugar-sweetened drinks | 24 months | Soft drinks, flavoured milk, sports drinks, sweetened waters, juice drinks |
Drinks between 6 and 12 months
The CDC's list here is short and worth reading as a list rather than a suggestion: breast milk or infant formula, and water — 4 to 8 ounces (about 120–240 ml) a day. Cow's milk and fortified alternatives start at 12 months.
What Beluna does, and does not
Beluna does not tell you what to feed. It records what you fed: solid meals with the time and what was offered, given back to you week by week. While you are trying one new food every 3 to 5 days, you do not have to hold in your head which food went in on which day — the record already has it.
You will not find a portion size, a meal plan or a recipe on this page. We do not publish a number we cannot show a source for; that rule holds across every Beluna guide.
Frequently asked questions
Can we start solids at 4 months?
The CDC sets an explicit lower bound — introducing foods before 4 months is not recommended — and puts the recommended time at about 6 months. The WHO recommends exclusive breastfeeding for the first 6 months. If something in your situation suggests starting earlier, that is a decision for your paediatrician, not for a list on the internet.
Which food should we start with?
The American Academy of Pediatrics says that for most children you do not need to give foods in any particular order. By 7 or 8 months a baby can be eating from all the food groups. What the sources do ask for is pace: one single-ingredient food at a time, with 3 to 5 days between each new one.
Should we delay allergenic foods?
No — the CDC's advice is to introduce potentially allergenic foods when you introduce other foods, not to delay them. Eggs, shellfish, nut butters and wheat are named. There is one stated exception: if your child has severe eczema or an egg allergy, talk to your doctor or nurse about when and how to introduce foods with peanut before doing so.
Why no honey before 12 months?
The CDC states that honey given to children younger than 12 months may cause botulism, a severe food poisoning. That covers honey mixed into food, water or formula, and honey on a dummy — not only honey from a spoon.
Can babies have juice?
For 6 to 12 months the CDC lists the drinks to offer as breast milk or infant formula and water, about 120 to 240 ml a day. Juice is not on that list, and sugar-sweetened drinks are advised against under 24 months. If you want to give juice, ask your paediatrician rather than this page.
Does Beluna tell me what to feed my baby?
No. Beluna is a record-keeping tool: it logs solid meals with the time and what was offered, and shows the week back to you. It does not build a feeding plan, suggest recipes, or give medical advice.
References
Everything on this page was taken from the public health bodies below. Links were checked in August 2026. Bodies update their guidance; where this page and a source disagree, the source is right.
- U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) — “When, What, and How to Introduce Solid Foods”. https://www.cdc.gov/infant-toddler-nutrition/foods-and-drinks/when-what-and-how-to-introduce-solid-foods.html
Readiness signs, food order, the 3–5 day rule, allergen introduction and the preparation list - U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) — “Foods and Drinks to Avoid or Limit”. https://www.cdc.gov/infant-toddler-nutrition/foods-and-drinks/foods-and-drinks-to-avoid-or-limit.html
Honey, added sugars, salt, mercury, unpasteurised products and cow's milk - U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) — “Foods and Drinks to Encourage”. https://www.cdc.gov/infant-toddler-nutrition/foods-and-drinks/foods-and-drinks-to-encourage.html
Food group examples and the 6–12 month drinks list - U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) — “Tastes and Textures”. https://www.cdc.gov/infant-toddler-nutrition/foods-and-drinks/tastes-and-textures.html
The three texture steps and that progression follows skill, not the calendar - American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) — HealthyChildren.org — “Starting Solid Foods”. https://www.healthychildren.org/English/ages-stages/baby/feeding-nutrition/Pages/Starting-Solid-Foods.aspx
The AAP's own parent-facing page on starting complementary foods - World Health Organization (WHO) — “Infant and young child feeding”. https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/infant-and-young-child-feeding
Exclusive breastfeeding to 6 months and complementary feeding from 6 months