Starting solids: a first foods guide for Indian babies

The WHO and the Indian Academy of Pediatrics both recommend exclusive breastfeeding for the first six months, then adding "complementary" foods while breastfeeding continues. "Complementary" is the key word: for most of the first year, solids are practice and extra nutrition on top of milk, not a replacement for it.

Is my baby ready?

Age is a guide; readiness is the test. Most babies show all of these around six months:

• Sits upright with support and holds their head steady.
• Watches you eat and reaches for food.
• Opens their mouth when a spoon approaches.
• Has lost the tongue-thrust reflex — food stays in rather than being pushed straight back out.

Don't start before four months (17 weeks) — a baby's gut and swallowing aren't ready. Waking more at night is not, on its own, a sign of readiness. If your baby was premature, ask your paediatrician whether to count from birth or from the due date.

First foods that work well

The priority at six months is iron, because a baby's iron stores from birth run low around then. Thick, energy-dense foods are better than thin ones — a baby's stomach is small, so every spoonful should count.

• Dal-rice khichdi, well cooked and mashed, with a little ghee.
• Ragi (finger millet) porridge — naturally iron- and calcium-rich.
• Suji or broken-wheat (dalia) porridge.
• Mashed vegetables — pumpkin, carrot, sweet potato, bottle gourd, spinach mixed into dal.
• Mashed fruit — banana, ripe papaya, stewed apple or pear, chikoo.
• Egg (well cooked) and, for non-vegetarian families, finely minced chicken or fish.
• Curd (dahi) — fine from six months.

How much and how often, 6–12 months

Amounts follow WHO complementary feeding guidance. Follow your baby's cues: turning away, closing the mouth or pushing the spoon means done. Milk feeds continue alongside — see our feeding schedule by age.

Allergens: introduce early, one at a time

Current guidance has reversed the old advice to delay allergens. Introducing common ones — egg, peanut, dairy, wheat, sesame, fish — from around six months, once your baby is eating other foods, is associated with lower allergy risk. Give peanut as a smooth paste thinned into porridge, never whole or as chunky peanut butter.

Introduce new allergens one at a time, earlier in the day, and wait a couple of days before the next. If your baby has severe eczema or an existing food allergy, speak to your paediatrician first.

What to avoid before one year

• Honey — risk of infant botulism, even in cooking.
• Added salt and sugar — including salty snacks, biscuits and namkeen.
• Cow's or buffalo milk as a main drink — it is low in iron. Small amounts in cooking are fine.
• Fruit juice and tea — whole fruit instead; tea reduces iron absorption.
• Whole nuts, whole grapes and hard pieces — choking hazards. Grind nuts; quarter grapes lengthways.

Gagging vs choking

Gagging is loud — coughing, spluttering, a red face — and it's a normal reflex as babies learn textures. Let them work it out. Choking is silent or near-silent: the baby cannot cry, cough or breathe. That's an emergency. It's worth learning infant first aid before you start finger foods.

Tracking solids

Logging what your baby ate and how it went makes two things much easier: spotting a reaction to a new food, and answering the paediatrician's "how's the eating going?" with more than a shrug. Araia has a solids log alongside feeds, so you can see new foods, how much went down and any reaction on the same timeline as nappies and sleep.

Frequently asked questions

This guide is general information for Indian parents, written from published paediatric guidance (IAP, WHO, AAP). It is not medical advice and cannot account for your baby specifically. Anything that worries you — feeding, breathing, fever, weight, a rash — is a call to your paediatrician, not a search. In an emergency, go to a hospital.