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At what age should baby have her first bite of solid food? And, when she’s finally ready, what food should it be? Parents often wonder about starting solids, but luckily there is one expert you can always count on: your baby. She will let you know when she is ready to eat, and it may be later than you think.

Elsa, a healthy, breastfed eight-month-old, would vomit violently each time she tried a bite of solid food. Worried, her parents took her to a pediatrician who put their fears to rest. He said some babies don’t eat anything but breastmilk for up to 18 months, with no ill effect. Sure enough, Elsa nursed exclusively until 13 months when she began to eat solids. At 18 months, she is a plump, nursing toddler who eats a variety of foods.

When To Start

There are few rules around starting solid food, but the consensus among breastfeeding advocacy groups is that a healthy breastfed baby needs nothing except breastmilk, not even water, for at least the first six months of life. One reason for delaying foods other than breastmilk is to prevent food allergies. Calgary naturopath Dr. Bruce Lofting explains that an infant’s immature gut lacks the enzymes to fully digest foods other than breastmilk. As a result, the incompletely digested proteins find their way through the irritated gut into the bloodstream, where they can trigger an allergic response. The protein in cow’s milk is particularly troublesome. In fact, a study reported in the New York Times (Feb. 29, 2000) showed that even one bottle of formula can increase a baby’s chance of developing dairy allergies.

La Leche League International, the mother-to-mother breastfeeding support group, recommends introducing solids sometime in the second half of the first year. Some babies are ready at six months, but some are not ready until they are eight or nine months of age or older.

How do you know when your baby is ready? Frequent nursing often signals a growth spurt, and because breastmilk works on a supply-and-demand basis, the baby has to nurse more to increase her supply. It doesn’t necessarily mean she’s starving for solids. Grabbing at food is not always a reliable indicator either, since babies grab at anything that interests them and shove it in their mouths, whether it’s a forkful of broccoli or a set of keys.

Before you offer your baby solid food, she should be able to sit up and hold objects in her hand. If, when you feed her with a spoon, she turns her head or pushes the food out with her tongue, she may not be ready. One of the easiest ways to know if your baby wants to eat is to offer her food, perhaps on a high chair tray, and then let her feed herself. She won’t eat more than she needs.

On the Menu

Carla Miller is a health writer and researcher. She and her two-year-old nursling are active members of La Leche League Canada.

Source: alive #239, September 2002