Baby food chart: what to feed your baby from 6 months to 2 years

A baby food chart is often the first thing parents look for as their baby nears 6 months and relatives start asking, “Has she had rice yet?” Starting solids is a big step, but it doesn't need special products: the family's own khichuri, dal, rice, egg, fish and vegetables, made soft and plain, are a good start.

Below: when to start and the signs of readiness, a chart from 6 months to 2 years, how to start, Bangladeshi first foods, what to avoid before 1, allergy foods, choking safety, a 7-day plan and when to talk to a doctor.

When should a baby start solid food?

Most babies are ready for solid food at about 6 months. Until then, breast milk or formula gives a baby all the food and drink they need, and starting much earlier isn't advised unless a doctor recommends it for your baby. Look for all three signs together:

• Your baby can sit up with a little support and hold their head steady.
• Your baby can look at food, pick it up and bring it to their mouth.
• Your baby swallows food rather than pushing most of it back out with the tongue.

Chewing fists, waking more at night or wanting extra milk feeds are often mistaken for readiness. They are normal baby behaviour and don't, on their own, mean your baby needs solids.

Baby food chart by age: 6 months to 2 years

This baby food chart is a rough guide: babies move at their own pace, and breast milk or formula stays the main drink through the first year. Meals are small at first, and your baby's hunger decides how much.

Breastfeeding can carry on alongside food through the first year and beyond, for as long as you and your baby wish. If your baby has formula, a doctor can advise on how much as food increases. From 12 months, plain cow's milk can be a drink with meals or snacks, and toddler meal ideas has a sample day of family food.

How to start solids: the first weeks, step by step

1. 1Pick a calm time of day when your baby is awake and content, not too tired or very hungry.
2. 2Sit your baby upright, in a high chair or well supported on your lap, facing you. Never feed a baby lying down.
3. 3Wash your hands and your baby's hands, and use a clean bowl and spoon.
4. 4Offer a few small tastes of one thick, mashed food, or let your baby touch and pick up soft food.
5. 5Follow your baby: stop when they turn away, close their mouth or push the spoon away. Never force a bite or a swallow.
6. 6Add new foods one at a time, a few days apart, so you can tell which food it was if there's a reaction.
7. 7Offer sips of boiled and cooled water from an open cup with meals.

First foods for baby from a Bangladeshi kitchen

The best first foods are usually the family's own, made soft, plain and without chilli. Take your baby's portion out before the salt and chilli go in.

• Khichuri: rice and dal cooked soft with pumpkin, carrot or lau, then mashed; later, add egg, fish or chicken.
• Dal-bhat: soft rice mashed with dal, smooth at first, then with small soft lumps.
• Egg: cooked until the white and yolk are both firm, then mashed or cut small.
• Fish: cooked, flaked and checked twice for every bone; fish with fewer bones, such as pangas or tilapia, are easier.
• Chicken or meat: cooked soft, then minced or shredded fine.
• Vegetables and shak: potato, pumpkin, carrot, lau, green papaya and leafy shak, cooked soft and mashed or chopped.
• Fruit: ripe banana, papaya or mango in season, mashed; apple stewed soft or finely grated.
• Suji or oats: cooked thick in water, or with a little cow's milk mixed in, with no sugar.
• Doi: plain yoghurt, without sugar.

What not to give a baby before 1, and how to prevent choking

• Honey: none at all before the first birthday, not even a taste or mixed into food: it can carry germs that make babies very ill.
• Salt: no added salt, stock cubes or salty snacks such as chips and chanachur.
• Sugar: no added sugar or sweets, and no juice, soft drinks or sweetened drinks.
• Cow's milk: fine mixed into cooking from about 6 months, but not as the main drink until 12 months.
• Tea and coffee: not for babies.
• Nuts: never whole; smooth nut paste or finely ground nuts mixed into food are fine.
• Raw milk and runny eggs: boil milk from the gowala well, and cook eggs until firm.

Gagging is common while babies learn to eat: they cough, splutter or retch, and it usually clears by itself. Choking is different and often silent: the baby can't breathe, cough or cry. Call 999 at once, and start choking first aid if you know it.

To lower the risk: always seat your baby upright and stay with them while they eat; quarter grapes and cherry tomatoes lengthways; take the seeds out of litchi and boroi and cut the flesh small; mash chhola and whole peas; grate hard fruit and vegetables, or cook them soft; pick every bone out of fish; and never give popcorn, whole nuts or hard sweets.

How to introduce egg, fish, nuts and other allergy foods

Some foods cause allergies more often than others: egg, cow's milk, peanuts and other nuts, fish, shellfish such as prawns (chingri), wheat (atta and suji), sesame (til) and soya. Child-health guidance suggests offering them from around 6 months, alongside other foods, rather than holding them back.

1. 1Offer one of these foods at a time, in a small amount, at an earlier meal of the day so you can watch your baby afterwards.
2. 2If there's no reaction, keep offering it often as part of meals.
3. 3If a rash, swelling, vomiting or other symptoms follow a food, stop that food and see a doctor before trying it again.
4. 4If your baby has severe eczema or already has a food allergy, ask a doctor before starting egg or peanut.
5. 5Call 999 if your baby has trouble breathing, swelling of the face, lips or tongue, or suddenly turns floppy or very pale after eating.

Baby food in a Bangladeshi home: honey, relatives and the family pot

• A taste of honey at birth: many families do this out of love, as a blessing. Because honey can make babies very ill before the first birthday, give none at all, not even a taste; the blessing itself, a dua or a kind word, can stay without the honey.
• A feeder is for milk only: suji or rice in a bottle can make a baby take in more than they need and can be a choking risk. Solid food goes on a spoon or in the hand.
• The family pot: take your baby's portion out before salt and chilli go in; a little turmeric, cumin or garlic is fine for flavour.
• Feeding with a phone, or following the baby around with a bowl: babies learn to eat best sitting down with you, without a screen. See feeding without the phone.
• Someone else feeding: share the safety list (honey, salt, sugar, bones, round foods, nuts) with the house help, grandparents or anyone who feeds your baby.
• Hot days: breastfed babies under 6 months don't need water, even in the heat; offer more feeds instead. If your baby has formula, ask a doctor or nurse about water. From 6 months, offer sips of boiled, cooled water with meals.
• Tonics and supplements: don't give vitamin syrups, tonics or appetite syrups on your own; a doctor can advise if your baby needs anything.

A 7-day plan for starting solids

Use the baby food chart as your map and change one small thing each day. Note one line: what you offered, how much your baby took, and anything you noticed.

1. 1Day 1: Check the three signs of readiness. Choose a time of day and a place: a high chair or your lap, upright.
2. 2Day 2: Offer a few spoonfuls of thick, mashed rice with dal, or pumpkin, once. Stop when your baby turns away.
3. 3Day 3: Same food, same time. Let your baby touch the food and hold a spoon.
4. 4Day 4: Add one new food, such as mashed banana. Note how your baby takes it.
5. 5Day 5: Offer one allergy food, such as well-cooked mashed egg, in a small amount at an early meal, and watch afterwards.
6. 6Day 6: Offer sips of boiled, cooled water from an open cup with the meal.
7. 7Day 7: Look back at your notes: foods tried, how your baby took them, any reaction. Plan next week: a second daily meal and one or two new foods.

If mealtimes later turn into a battle, see what to do with a picky eater; for school-age plates, see food and nutrition for children.

When to talk to a doctor about your baby's eating

Starting solids is easier to judge over a week than from one messy meal. ParentMind helps you note what happens each day, see patterns and get guidance: how ParentMind works.