Make feeding your baby easier with this easy-to-use baby food chart. It has nutritious ideas for what to feed baby from when they start solids on up to 1-year-olds—including purees, baby-led weaning (BLW) foods, finger foods, and more.

horizontal baby food chart with white background and black text.

Baby Food Chart

Starting solids with a baby can be so fun and often a little challenging—but this baby food chart is here to help. I’ve compiled my best ideas for which foods to serve based on age and development of the baby to make it easy for you to make decisions in the kitchen.

This infant feeding chart is meant to help remind you of options you have at each age. It is not meant to add any pressure or function as a checklist of foods you have to serve (unless you want to do that!).

TIP: Access your free printable baby food chart to make this even easier.

Table of Contents

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What baby foods should you start with?

Whether you are starting solids with homemade baby food purees or baby led weaning first foods, starting with flavorful and nutrient-dense foods is a simple way to think about introducing foods to a baby. I love simple foods like sweet potato baby food, avocado baby food, banana puree, and apple puree as first foods for a baby.

Remember that a first food is just that—a first food. It is not going to be the sole thing that determines how your child likes all foods. It can be sweet or savory, or from a variety of food groups. I would make sure the food is easy to eat, has some flavor, and offered in an environment free from pressure and maybe even joyful!

baby hand with blueberries on highchair tray

What age should baby start eating foods?

The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends waiting to start solids until a baby is 6 months and to go with wide variety of foods introduced one at a time. But many pediatricians still say it’s OK to start rice cereal at 4 months.

If your pediatrician recommends this at the 4-month check up, ask their thoughts on the recommendation from the AAP.

TIP: Learn more about starting solids.

How much food should I feed my baby?

The best way to know the right amount of food to give to a baby is to follow their lead. It should be very clear when a baby is done eating—they will close their mouth, turn their head, and generally make it very hard to feed them. (They may also play with their food, which is a fine way for them to interact with the foods at this early stage.)

It’s OK if baby eats very little to start. It’s also OK if they surprise you by being very interested in food!

TIP: Access your free printable baby food chart.

no-cook-baby-food-purees-in-bowls

6-Month Baby Food Chart for Purees

If you’re ready to start solids with your baby, here are some foods you may want to start with. This list is perhaps more broad than you expect, but more recent research shows it’s a good idea to introduce potential allergenic foods earlier and that lots of flavor is a great way to set up baby for eating a range of foods as they grow.

Don’t feel like you need to serve all of these foods (you 100% don’t!), but it should give you a range of ideas to consider based on season, availability, and your own preference.

blw-first-foods-on-countertop

6-Month Baby Food Chart for Baby-Led Weaning

If you decide to use the baby-led weaning feeding method, you’ll want to cut these foods into the shape of a finger or larger. The foods should also be soft and easily squishable between two fingers—like the texture of a roasted sweet potato wedge or ripe avocado.

You don’t need to feel like you have to serve all of these foods by any means, but it should give you a range of ideas.

TIP: Find my Ultimate Guide to Baby-Led Weaning to help.

7-Month Baby Food Chart

With a 7-month old baby, you can add in a few more foods including those with more acid like citrus. Continue serving the foods on the 6-month list, or introduce ones that you didn’t get to in that first month.

TIP: Try my 10 easy No-Cook Baby Foods.

baby finger foods on gray plate.

9-Month Baby Food Chart

As a baby nears the 9- and 10-month mark, they will begin to be able to pick up small, pea-size pieces of foods with their fingers. This development of the “pincer grasp” means they are ready to start sampling table foods.

A good rule of thumb is to cut foods to about the size of a pea and to serve them very soft and easily squishable between your fingers.

Bread-like textures in foods like pancakes and muffins may be difficult for your child, so you may want to moisten them with water, applesauce, yogurt, breastmilk, or formula.

Remember that babies learn to eat a variety of paces, so follow the lead of your baby and avoid pressuring them to eat foods or amounts of foods that they aren’t ready for. If a baby turns their head away, closes their mouth, shakes their head, or cries, they are done with food and it’s OK to end the meal.

baby food chart horizontal (1)

Continue serving foods from the previous months. And try adding:

  • Banana, diced and mashed slightly as needed
  • Barley, cooked until very soft
  • Beans, slightly mashed
  • Beef, ground
  • Blueberries, diced
  • Cheese, shredded
  • Chex cereal
  • Chia seed in smoothies, yogurt, or oatmeal
  • Chicken, ground
  • Chicken, shredded and chopped into small pieces
  • Clementines, diced (you may want to remove the slightly tough membrane)
  • Cottage cheese
  • Flaxseed in smoothies, yogurt, or oatmeal
  • Goat cheese, soft crumbles
  • Grapes, diced (never whole)
  • Kefir, plain
  • Healthy meatballs, diced
  • Muffins, diced (moistened if needed)
  • Millet
  • O cereal
  • Oatmeal with fruit
  • Overnight oats with applesauce
  • Baby Pasta
  • Petite peas
  • Potatoes, roasted or mashed
  • Baby puffs
  • Raspberries, diced
  • Baby Pancake, diced (moistened as needed with applesauce)
  • Quinoa Baby Food
  • Cheesy Rice
  • Salmon, small pieces
  • Tofu, diced
  • Tomatoes, fresh
  • Tilapia, small pieces
  • Turkey, ground

TIP: Find my best Finger Foods for Baby, which will cover this stage and early toddlerhood.

diced toast and raspberries on plate

Best First Finger Foods for Baby

I put together my go-to first finger foods for babies, which may help you narrow down which foods to start with. Each of these is a nutritious whole food that’s soft and easy for baby to eat. It’s helpful that many of these foods are ones that us grownups like, too, so it should make meal planning and prep for the little ones easier on you!

Baby Food Chart

Printable Baby Food Chart

Grab your free copy of my printable Baby Food Chart, which comes with access to my entire Resource Library of printable charts by signing up for my newsletter.

baby-snacks-on-countertop

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I’d love to hear your feedback on this chart, so please comment below! I always love to hear from you guys.

This post was first published Jan 2019.

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Comments

  1. I just really need to ask as I am new to feeding baby. Chopped pieces.. are they possible choking hazards in too little pieces?? I really need someone to ease my mind of what is safe for 9 to 11 month olds. Ground meat, chicken shredded/chopped and shredded carrots (slightly softened) make me nervous I think because it takes more chewing to break down… I just need some reassurance 😅

    Thank you

    Reply

    1. Generally speaking, if the pieces are very small and very soft, they are not considered to be a choking hazard. With shredded meat, it should also be very soft and shredded finely so it shouldn’t required much chewing at all. I would wait to do shredded fresh carrots until after a year, but you can soften them in very hot water for a few minutes, then drain and serve.

      Reply

    1. If they have good head control, you can help them sit supported—but you want to make sure they are sitting very upright and not slouched back in a chair. Some people use a bumbo chair, or you can use towels or a small pillow to help them sit upright in their highchair.

      Reply