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Solid Foods and the Breastfed Baby & Toddler

Most of the literature I've read on starting solids seems to have been written on the assumption that baby will be weaned (or mostly weaned) between 6 and 9 months. The relatively large amounts of solids suggested early on are simply not consistent (for most babies, at any rate) with keeping breastmilk primary in baby's diet for the first 12 months, as is recommended by the American Academy of Pediatrics and breastfeeding experts worldwide.

My purpose here is to offer a guide to starting solids for a breastfed baby, based upon my reading of the current breastfeeding literature. I am assuming that your baby will be breastfed well into the second year (or longer), but these suggestions can certainly be adapted if you plan on weaning earlier. If you're undecided or simply curious about continued nursing past the first year, see the Extended Breastfeeding Fact Sheet.

• Why Delay Solids?
• When will baby be ready for solid foods?

• Vitamins & Iron

• How do we get started with solids?
• First Foods
• Finger Foods
• Food sensitivities in breastfed babies

• Nutrition for nursing toddlers

• Links: Starting Solid Foods

FAQs

• Will giving formula or solids at night help baby to sleep better?
  (also discusses giving cereal in a bottle)
• Is baby’s risk for type I diabetes increased if solids are introduced before 3 months or after 6 months?

• Guidelines for offering water
• Guidelines for offering juice

• Milk (human, formula, cow, goat, soy, rice...)
• What should I know about infant formula?
• Is it safe to use cow's milk or other milks as a supplement to breastfeeding?
• Calorie and fat content of various milks

• Good sources of iron
• Good sources of calcium
• Good sources of vitamin D (sun exposure & foods)
• Good sources of zinc

• Calorie and fat content of common baby & toddler foods

Here is how my children have gotten started on solids:

My first daughter started solids at 6 months, but still ate *very* few solids in comparison to most kids her age at 18 mo. She ate tiny bits of baby food & cereal for a couple of months, but by 8 months would only eat what she could feed herself. By around 20 months, she had increased her solids intake to the point where she was no longer getting most of her calories from breastmilk.

My son also started solids around 6 months (he was mooching from my plate!), and he's always been more interested in food than his sister. He never had baby foods - only table foods (so far mainly meat, veggies, fruit, bread, occasional cheese). At almost 10 months, he was eating solids 1-3 times per day (depending upon what he wanted), but still in very limited amounts overall. He would usually "yell" when he wanted something we were eating, and we'd keep giving it to him (assuming it was something he could eat) until he lost interest and started to seriously play with it. I can't remember when he increased his solid food intake, but it was definitely earlier than his older sister.

My youngest daughter started solids at 7 months. She also never had baby foods or cereal. By 10 or 11 months, she finally seemed to be actually eating the food sometimes (instead of chewing it and spitting it out, playing with it, etc.). At 13 months, she loves to eat and usually eats 2-3 meals a day, but still sometimes ends up actually swallowing very little.

Page last modified: 04/03/2010
Written: 5/21/98