100 First Foods For Babies
There’s no doubt that starting solids is one of the most exciting milestones in a baby’s life.
But if you’re like most parents you’ve probably got a whole lot of questions - what foods do I start with? Should I do purees or baby-led weaning? How do I prevent choking? What about allergens?
Read on for my pick of the top 100 first foods for babies as a paediatric dietitian, so you can feel confident introducing a variety of solids to your little one.
But first, is your baby ready for solids?
While there can be a lot of pressure to start your baby on solids earlier, most babies aren’t developmentally ready until around 6 months of age.
Having said that, all babies are different so it’s important to watch for the following signs of readiness rather than going by age alone.
Signs of readiness include:
Your baby can sit upright with minimal support and hold their head in a steady position
Your baby has lost their tongue thrust reflex (extrusion reflex), i.e. will take a spoon or food into their mouth rather than pushing it out with their tongue
Your baby can put things into their mouth accurately
When you do introduce solids, remember that milk feeds will continue to provide most of your baby’s nutrition until they’re around 12 months old.
What foods should you start with?
Once your baby is showing signs of readiness for solids, it’s time to decide what foods you’ll start with.
While there are no rules about what foods you should start with (as long as they’re safe), it’s best to start with simple vegetable and fruit purees and work up to dishes such as spaghetti bolognese.
Introducing vegetables, including bitter-tasting vegetables (such as broccoli, zucchini and spinach), to your baby early has been found to encourage acceptance of these foods later on in life.
What about iron?
Due to their rapid growth and development, iron requirements in infancy are high. They also have small stomachs, so they need meals that are rich in iron to meet their requirements.
For about the first six months of life, babies rely on iron stores that were built up before they were born, along with a small amount from breast milk or infant formula.
But by around six months, these iron stores become depleted and additional iron needs to be supplied by solid foods.
Red meat is one of the richest sources of iron, followed by poultry and seafood. Other sources include eggs, whole grains, legumes such as chickpeas, lentils and beans, nuts and seeds, tofu, fortified breakfast cereals and dark green leafy vegetables.
Do foods need to be introduced one at a time?
The traditional advice when introducing solids has been to introduce them one at a time so that if there is a reaction then it will be easy to pinpoint the culprit.
However, we now know that by around six months babies’ digestive and immune systems can cope with a wide variety of foods, so, there’s no need to introduce foods one at a time.
The exception to this is allergenic foods which should be introduced a few days apart.
Spoon feeding or baby-led weaning?
There‘s a lot of debate these days about the best method for introducing solids.
While starting babies on pureed food and working up to finger foods has been the conventional approach for a long time, ‘baby-led weaning’ (BLW) is another method that’s gaining popularity.
With BLW, babies go straight to finger foods and self-feeding rather than starting on purees.
While there are pros and cons of both approaches, at the end of the day it really comes down to your own preference.
Both approaches are safe and appropriate for most babies.
For more information, check out my article Spoon Feeding vs Baby Led Weaning.
Introducing texture
Somewhere between 6-9 months, babies begin to chew (even if they have no teeth) and should start experiencing a wider variety of textures to develop their oral skills and encourage acceptance of different foods.
Once your baby is ready to move on from purees to more textured consistencies, aim to gradually increase the size of lumps in their meals, i.e. by blending less or using a fork to mash foods instead of blending.
Some good options when introducing textures include:
Mashed lumpy fruit and vegetables
Minced meat
Rice, couscous and very small pasta shapes such as risoni
Porridge
Scrambled egg
Cooked mashed legumes such as lentils, kidney beans and chickpeas
When should I offer my baby finger foods?
Even if you go with the traditional method of introducing solids (i.e. spoon feeding), finger foods can be introduced from around 6 months along with purees and mashed foods.
Finger foods are a great way to encourage your baby’s independence and help them develop their fine motor skills.
Just make sure they’re safe and age-appropriate. Finger foods should be soft and ‘smushable’ between your finger and thumb, but not so soft that they disintegrate in your baby’s hand.
They also need to be easy for your baby to hold - babies don’t develop a pincer grip until 8-12 months, so early finger foods need to be foods that can be held with the whole hand.
Here are some first finger food ideas for babies (and parents!) who are just starting out:
Pieces of soft cooked vegetables such as sweet potato, potato, pumpkin and zucchini or soft raw vegetables such as cucumber sticks
Soft fruit cut into fingers such as bananas, mango, soft pear slices, avocado and soft melon fingers
Toast fingers (lightly toasted) spread with fruit puree, yoghurt, avocado or hummus
Large cooked pasta spirals
Lamb chops - the bone provides a nice little handle and babies can suck out the juices and get important nutrients such as iron and zinc (make sure there are no chunks of meat that could be torn off)
Check out my First Finger Foods for Babies blog for more info on choosing appropriate finger foods.
What about allergens?
Food allergy affects around 4-8% of children globally and can be more common in babies.
Any food can cause a reaction, however, the vast majority of food allergies are caused by a small number of foods called ‘food allergens’.
The most common food allergens include:
Eggs
Wheat
Fish
Soy
Shellfish
While it was once thought that the introduction of food allergens should be delayed, we now know this doesn’t protect against allergies, and can actually increase the risk.
Allergenic foods should be introduced from around 6 months and babies should be exposed to these foods by 12 months.
If your baby tolerates them, continuing to give these foods (around twice per week), helps to maintain tolerance.
Allergens should be introduced separately, ideally 2-3 days apart so that you can more easily identify any foods your baby reacts to.
If your baby is at high risk of developing a food allergy, i.e. they have an existing food allergy or severe eczema, speak to their doctor before introducing allergens.
For more information on how to introduce allergens safely, check out my Ultimate Guide to Introducing Allergens.
Common food allergens
What foods should be avoided?
While babies can eat a wide variety of different foods and should be encouraged to eat what the family is eating as much as possible, there aren’t safe or appropriate for babies including:
Hard, or round foods
Such as uncooked hard fruit and vegetables (e.g. chunks of apple or carrot sticks), whole grapes, cherry tomatoes and blueberries, olives, nuts and large seeds, sausages, popcorn, marshmallows, jelly beans and other sweets as these foods can be a choking hazard.
Larger chunks of meat and cheese or globs of nut butter should also be avoided.
Sugar, including sugar-sweetened beverages
Added sugars can be damaging to babies’ teeth and provide little nutritional value while also displacing more nutritious foods.
Honey
Can contain bacteria known as botulism which can cause a serious infection in babies.
Undercooked eggs and meat
Babies are more vulnerable to bacteria such as salmonella which can be found in eggs, meat, poultry and seafood, so these foods should all be well cooked.
Fish which may be high in mercury
Certain types of fish such as swordfish, shark, catfish, sea perch and marlin can contain high levels of mercury which can affect babies' brain development.
Raw shellfish such as oysters
These carry a high risk of food poisoning.
Caffeinated drinks such as coffee and tea
This is an obvious one, but caffeine can make babies irritable and interfere with sleep.
Low-fat dairy products
Babies need a high proportion of fat in their diet to support their high energy needs, so low-fat dairy products are generally not suitable until 2 years of age.
High-salt foods
Too much salt may put a strain on babies’ kidneys.
Artificial sweeteners
These can encourage a taste for sweet foods and may also adversely affect the gut microbiome (the bacteria present in the gut).
Highly processed snack foods and takeaway foods
Foods such as chips, pies and pizza generally contain large amounts of salt, sugar and saturated fat with few nutritional benefits.
Balancing solids with breastmilk or formula feeds
Even after your baby is eating solids like a pro, breastmilk or formula should still be their primary source of nutrition until around 12 months.
So continue giving milk feeds on demand or as you had been before starting solids.
It’s a good idea to leave a decent gap (around one hour) after a feed before offering your baby a meal so they’re hungry enough to eat.
All babies will eat and drink different amounts, but you’ll likely notice a gradual decline in your baby’s milk intake as they begin to eat more.
100 First foods for babies
Spoon Feeding
Fruits
1. Banana - mashed/pureed
2. Avocado - mashed/pureed
3. Apple - cooked and mashed/pureed (or use unsweetened applesauce)
4. Pear - cooked and mashed/pureed
5. Peach - pureed (can be cooked first)
6. Mango - pureed
7. Apricot - pureed (can be cooked first)
8. Papaya - mashed/pureed
9. Strawberries - mashed/pureed
10. Blueberries - mashed/pureed
11. Blackberries - mashed/pureed
12. Raspberries - mashed/pureed
13. Kiwi - mashed/pureed
14. Plum - mashed/pureed (can be cooked first)
15. Watermelon - mashed/pureed
16. Rock melon/Cantaloupe - pureed
17. Honeydew melon - pureed
18. Tomato - cooked and pureed
Vegetables
19. Broccoli - steamed/boiled and mashed/pureed
20. Sweet potato - cooked and mashed/pureed
21. Spinach - cooked and pureed
22. Peas - cooked and mashed/pureed
23. Zucchini - steamed and pureed
24. Cauliflower - steamed and mashed/pureed
25. Potato - cooked and mashed/pureed
26. Carrot - steamed or roasted and mashed/pureed
27. Asparagus - steamed and pureed
28. Brussels sprouts - steamed and pureed
29. Green beans - steamed and pureed
30. Pumpkin - steamed or roasted and mashed/pureed
31. Eggplant - steamed/roasted and pureed
32. Kale - steamed and pureed
33. Parsnip - steamed or roasted and mashed/pureed
34. Capsicum/bell pepper - steamed or roasted and pureed (remove skin and seeds)
35. Onion - cooked, pureed (added to other dishes)
36. Garlic - cooked, pureed (added to other dishes)
Proteins
37. Lentils - cooked and mashed/pureed
38. Chickpeas - cooked and mashed/pureed (can be canned with no added salt)
39. Black beans -cooked and mashed/pureed (can be canned with no added salt)
40. Kidney beans - cooked and mashed/pureed (can be canned with no added salt)
41. Silken tofu* - mashed
42. Salmon with no bones* - well cooked and flaked or mashed/pureed
43. Lamb - well-cooked and pureed
44. Beef - well-cooked and pureed
45. Venison - well-cooked and pureed
46. Pork - well-cooked and pureed
47. Chicken - well-cooked and pureed
48. Turkey - well-cooked and pureed
49. Egg* - well cooked and mashed/pureed
50. Prawns* - well-cooked and pureed
52. White fish* - well-cooked and pureed/flaked (ensure low mercury varieties)
Grains and Cereals
53. Baby rice cereal (fortified with iron)
54. Oatmeal cereal (fortified with iron)
55. Barley cereal (fortified with iron)
56. Weetbix/wheat biscuits* with milk*
57. Quinoa porridge
58. Amaranth porridge
59. Buckwheat cereal
Dairy and Dairy Alternatives
60. Plain yogurt (whole milk/full fat)*
61. Plain soy yoghurt*
62. Cottage cheese*
63. Ricotta cheese*
64. Cheddar cheese*, grated or added to other dishes (stick to small amounts due to high salt content)
Herbs and Spices (in small amounts)
65. Cinnamon
66. Nutmeg
67. Coriander
68. Turmeric
69. Ginger
70. Basil
71. Oregano
Finger Foods / Baby Led Weaning
Remember, texture is important when it comes to finger foods. They should be soft and ‘smushable’ between finger and thumb, but not so soft that they disintegrate in your baby’s hand.
They also need to be easy for your baby to hold - babies don’t develop a pincer grip until 8-12 months, so early finger foods will need to be foods that can be held with the whole hand:
70. Large broccoli florets - steamed
71. Sweet potato fingers - roasted/steamed
72. Carrot sticks - roasted/steamed until soft
73. Banana fingers
74. Avocado wedges
75. Green beans - steamed
76. Asparagus spears - steamed
77. Apple slices - stewed/steamed until soft
78. Zucchini sticks - steamed
79. Pumpkin wedges - roasted/steamed
80. Large cauliflower florets - steamed
81. Soft potato wedges - steamed/roasted
82. Pear slices - stewed/steamed until soft
83. Peach slices - soft
84. Watermelon slice (no seeds)
85. Soft mango wedge
86. Cooked chicken strips
87. Cooked turkey strips
88. Flaked salmon pieces* - bones removed
89. Mashed black beans on toast fingers*
90. Cottage cheese on toast fingers*
91. Large pasta spirals* - cooked
92. Toast soldiers* - lightly toasted
93. Cooked lamb chops
94. Meatballs - large, soft (too large to fit in your baby’s mouth)
95. Vegetable fritters*
96. Strawberries - soft and very large (too large to fit in your baby’s mouth)
97. Blueberries - squashed
98. Small pancakes or pikelets*
99. Toast fingers topped with fruit puree*
100. Zucchini slice fingers*
*These foods contain or may contain allergens.
Allergens should be introduced one at a time from around 6 months, ideally leaving 2-3 days between each allergen.
If you would like more information, see the above section on allergens or this Ultimate Guide to Introducing Allergens.
