Your Growing Baby

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Feeding Milestones

You and your baby are about to embark on an exciting journey as they explore solid foods—a whole new world of tastes, textures and colours.

The Q&As in this section offer information and tips to help you and baby navigate the journey.

Feeding milestones at 6 months

Your baby's first “solids” will be nearly liquid, but as the weeks and months pass, you’ll start to offer them more chunky meals. To keep them from choking, avoid nuts, raw carrots, string cheese, popcorn, marshmallows, hard, sticky, or round candy, raisins and other small dried fruit, hot dogs and grapes (unless they’re seedless and cut into quarters). Also, always keep a watchful eye on your baby during meals, and don’t let them eat in a moving car.

When my baby starts eating solids, should I give them less breast milk or formula?

No. Your baby's servings of solids aren’t large enough to replace their regular liquid feedings.

At this stage, solids are “extras”. They provide supplemental nutrition like iron and are more important for helping your baby master the oral motor skills they need to chew and swallow. While they're transitioning to solid foods, breast milk and/or formula will remain your baby’s primary source of nutrition. Of course, as the months pass and meals get larger, breastfed babies may drink less. And formula fed babies may not always finish their bottles.

When they're ready for solids, where should I start?

At 6 months, you can start introducing iron rich foods such as finely minced meats or fish, well-cooked, mashed legumes such as beans or mashed, cooked eggs.

Most parents begin with single-grain, iron-fortified baby cereal because it’s easy. If it comes back out your baby’s mouth, or they only eat a bite or two, don’t worry. Give them time to get the hang of it. Later, you can progress to a varied diet including vegetables and fruits, grain products and protein sources.

When can my baby start drinking juice?

If your toddler seems thirsty, water should be the beverage of choice.

Limit fruit juice and other sweetened beverages and do not provide before 6 months of age. Young toddlers have small stomachs and large quantities of these beverages may replace breast milk, infant formula and nutritious foods. If you wish to offer juice, choose 100% fruit juice, not a sweetened fruit drink. Make it part of a meal or snack, no more than once or twice per day and don’t give them more than 60–125mL (2–4oz) per day.

Baby bites

What to serve now

Iron-fortified rice, barley, oat,

or mixed-grain cereal

Well pureed meat or jarred meat

Well cooked legumes

Pureed squash, sweet potato, peas,

and well cooked carrots

Unsweetened applesauce

Pureed peaches, plums, or pears

Mashed ripe banana

Mashed ripe avocado

Feeding milestones at 7 to 8 months

How to make your own baby food

Sometime between the ages of 7 and 10 months, your baby will develop the pincer grasp, which is the ability to pick up small items between their thumb and forefinger. This is big news: being able to pick up food puts them on the road to independent self-feeding.

How should I increase the variety of their diet?

Mix up the flavours and textures.

If your baby loves oatmeal mixed with peaches, that’s great—but broaden their horizons by offering them mild-flavoured pureed squash and stronger-flavoured mashed peas. Or let them sink their fingers into a small bowl of mashed potatoes. If your baby turns up their nose when you offer them something new, keep trying; often it takes several exposures to a new food before a baby will take it. The more variety you introduce now, the more likely they'll grow up to be an adventurous eater.

My 8 month old is eating like a champ. Are they ready for cow’s milk?

Not yet.

Wait until they're 9 to 12 months old, and then introduce them to whole cow’s milk. Milk does not provide all the nutrition young babies need. It’s low in iron, vitamin C and vitamin E. Formula, on the other hand, does contain nutrients for normal growth and development. For these reasons, breast milk or formula should continue to be the main source of nutrition for your baby until they are at least 9 months old. If you’re using formula, consider switching now to a next stage formula such as Enfamil A+ 2, which has DHA; a type of Omega-3 fat and a brain-building nutrient, plus age-appropriate levels of iron, calcium and protein.

Baby bites

What to serve now

Soft cooked pasta (elbows and spirals are easiest to pick up)

Mashed veggies or fruit (banana, peach, pear, mango, and melon)

Small bits of toast

Teething biscuits

Mashed potatoes or bits of soft cooked sweet potato

Toasted oat cereal

Time to switch to a next stage formula?

If you’re formula feeding, think about switching now to a next stage formula like Enfamil A+^® 2. Why? Because Enfamil A+ 2 has age-appropriate levels of iron, calcium, protein and contains DHA; a type of Omega-3 fat and a brain-building nutrient.

Feeding Milestones at 9 to 12 Months

Your baby may begin to use a sippy cup, finger feed and try to use a spoon. Their grasp will be stronger as well.

If your baby is eating 3 meals of solids a day, should they still be nursing or drinking formula?

Yes. They

may be eating more kinds of food now, in larger quantities, but babies have tiny tummies and they still need nutrition from breast milk or formula. If they are drinking formula, by now it could be a next stage formula, like Enfamil A+ 2, designed to meet their changing nutritional needs.

What kinds of foods should your baby be eating now?

Offer them cottage cheese, yogurt and soft combination foods like casseroles and macaroni and cheese. They’ll probably enjoy the increased variety in flavour and texture. If you’re using jarred food, move on to chunkier, less pureed varieties. Give your baby lots of practice chewing—or gumming—their food. They can eat just about anything you can, though some foods may need to go through a blender or food processor. Expect a mess—it’s an inevitable part of learning to eat on their own.

If I delay introducing certain foods, like fish and shellfish, will my baby be less likely to develop allergies?

Experts such as the Canadian Paediatric Society recommend that you not delay introducing potentially allergic foods, such as peanuts, fish or eggs, to your baby because doing so will not lower their risk of developing food allergies.

Learn more about making the transition to solids

What to know about starting solids

Baby bites

What to serve now

Bite size pieces of pancakes

or soft French toast

Bite size pieces of grilled cheese

Hard cooked egg

Yogurt

Bits of meatloaf

Soft cooked chopped vegetables

and soft fruits

Pasta and rice

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