Somewhere around six months, your baby starts staring at your toast with an intensity that borders on rude. That look isn't just curiosity — it's one of several signals that the weaning window is opening. The tricky part is that readiness is a package deal, not a birthday. A baby who sits steadily but still shoves everything back out with their tongue isn't ready yet, and that's completely normal. Here's how to read the signs, what to put on the spoon first, and how to keep mealtimes safe while you both figure it out.

The 10 Signs of Readiness

Most babies show these somewhere between five and seven months. Look for the whole picture rather than one or two items on the list.

1. Sits upright with support and steady head control. They can hold their head up and turn to look around without wobbling.
2. Sits well enough to lean forward slightly toward food rather than slumping or sliding sideways.
3. The tongue-thrust reflex is fading. Food stays in the mouth instead of being pushed straight back out.
4. Everything goes to the mouth. Toys, fists and fingers are chewed with real purpose.
5. They watch you eat. Leaning in, tracking your fork, reaching for your plate.
6. They open their mouth when food approaches and close their lips around a spoon.
7. They can move food from the front of the tongue to the back and swallow it.
8. They make chewing motions even before any teeth appear.
9. They seem hungry after a full milk feed, and this happens more than once.
10. They've roughly doubled their birth weight, alongside the signs above rather than on their own.

What Readiness Isn't

Age alone doesn't decide it. Nor does night waking, chewing on fists, or a sudden growth spurt — those are ordinary baby behaviour at four months, five months, and many months after that. Watching you eat is a clue, not a green light.

If your baby still pushes food out with their tongue or seems baffled by the whole business, wait a week or two and try again. Some babies click at five and a half months; others are closer to seven. Premature babies often need extra time, and it's worth asking your pediatrician about adjusted timelines. Until around twelve months, breastmilk or formula is still the main source of nutrition — solids at this stage are practice, discovery and a slow top-up.

First Foods Worth Trying

Start with soft textures and iron-rich options, since iron stores begin to run low around six months. There's no rule that says you must begin with purées; both spoon-feeding and soft finger foods work well, and you can mix the two.

If you're starting with purées

• Cooked and blended sweet potato, carrot, butternut squash, parsnip or peas
• Mashed avocado, ripe banana or pear
• Cooked apple or peach, blended smooth
• Plain full-fat yogurt or well-mashed lentils and beans
• Puréed chicken, beef or lamb — bland but excellent for iron
• Iron-fortified infant cereal mixed to a thin, drippy consistency at first

If you're starting with finger foods

• Soft-cooked vegetable sticks about the length and width of your finger
• Ripe banana cut into thirds, or avocado in thick slices
• Well-cooked pasta shapes, or toast strips with a thin smear of nut butter
• Soft, shredded meat or flaked fish with bones carefully removed

Keep honey off the menu until after the first birthday, and skip added salt and sugar. Cow's milk works in cooking but shouldn't replace breastmilk or formula as a drink before twelve months.

Setting Up for Safe Eating

Choking prevention is mostly about position, preparation and attention. Gagging, by the way, is not choking. A gagging baby is usually loud, red-faced and coughing — they're moving food forward, which is a skill they need to learn. Choking is quiet: no sound, no cough, possibly unable to breathe. That distinction matters, and an infant CPR class is worth the evening it takes.

• Sit your baby upright in a high chair with their feet supported, not reclined.
• Stay within arm's reach for every bite. No eating in the car seat, the pram or while crawling.
• Cut round foods — grapes, cherry tomatoes, large blueberries — lengthwise into quarters.
• Grate or thinly slice hard raw foods like apple and carrot.
• Thin nut butter into porridge or yogurt instead of offering a spoonful of it.
• Avoid whole nuts, popcorn, hard candy, marshmallows and hot dog rounds entirely.
• Offer one texture at a time and let them set the pace.

Allergens: One at a Time, Then Keep Going

Once a few basic foods are going well, introduce common allergens: peanut, egg, dairy, wheat, soy, sesame, fish, shellfish and tree nuts. Offer one new allergen at a time, earlier in the day, and watch for a couple of hours afterwards. Once a food is tolerated, keep offering it a few times a week so tolerance sticks.

Mild reactions — a few hives, a rash around the mouth — deserve a call to your pediatrician. Difficulty breathing, swelling, repeated vomiting or unusual lethargy needs emergency care. If your baby has severe eczema or a strong family history of food allergy, talk to your pediatrician before you start. This article is general guidance, not a substitute for advice from your own healthcare team.

A Realistic First Month

Begin with one meal a day, timed when your baby is alert and pleasantly hungry rather than frantic. A little milk first, then food. Expect very little to be eaten and quite a lot to be worn — the first weeks are about texture, taste and the mechanics of swallowing. Move gradually from smooth to lumpy to soft finger foods over a month or two, and add a second meal once the first feels routine. Offering water in an open or straw cup with meals from around six months helps, too.

When to Pause and Ask for Help

Reach out to your pediatrician or a feeding specialist if your baby keeps pushing food out after a couple of weeks of trying, arches away in discomfort, gags on every texture, coughs constantly at meals, or isn't gaining weight as expected. The same goes if you feel anxious about choking — a professional can watch a feed with you and give you specific, personalised pointers. Trust your instincts, keep meals calm and unhurried, and remember that almost every baby gets there in their own time.

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