- Around 6 months
- 7 to 9 months
- 10 to 12 months
- Over 12 months
Your baby should now be enjoying a wide variety of food and textures, and find it easier to pick food up and feed themselves.
Feeding at 10 to 12 months
Your baby should now be used to having 3 meals a day – breakfast, lunch and tea – in addition to their milk feeds.
Lunch and tea can include a main course and a pudding (such as fruit or unsweetened yoghurt). Try to eat together as much as possible, babies learn from watching you eat.
Remember, your baby does not need salt or sugar added to their food or cooking water. Babies should not eat salt as it isn't good for their kidneys and sugar can cause tooth decay.
Food groups
Make sure you include a wide variety of the following food groups in your baby's meals.
Have a look at our baby weaning recipes and YouTube channel for inspiration!
Vegetables
Your baby should now be able to manage mashed, lumpy, chopped and finger foods.
Cook veggies to soften them, where necessary, and offer them as chopped or finger foods. Offer a variety of vegetables, including ones with bitter flavours.
Veggies include:
- asparagus
- avocado
- broccoli
- butternut squash
- cabbage
- carrots
- cauliflower
- courgette
- green beans
- kale
- parsnips
- peas
- peppers
- spinach
- swede
Fruit
Your baby should now be able to manage mashed, lumpy, chopped and finger foods.
Wash fruit and remove any pips, stones or hard skin – chop the fruit up or offer as a finger food.
Fruit includes:
- apples
- bananas
- blueberries
- kiwi
- mango
- melon
- nectarines
- oranges
- papaya
- peach
- pears
- pineapple
- plums
- raspberries
- strawberries
Starchy foods
These can be cooked, where necessary, and offered as mashed, chopped or finger foods.
Cereals can be mixed with breast milk or first infant formula – or with pasteurised whole (full-fat) cows' milk (or goats' or sheep's milk) once your baby is over 6 months old.
Starchy foods include:
- baby rice
- bread
- chapatti
- cornmeal
- maize
- millet
- oatmeal
- oats
- pasta
- pitta bread
- porridge
- potato
- quinoa
- rice
- sweet potato
- toast
Protein foods
This food group includes meat, fish, eggs, beans and pulses, and is suitable from around 6 months.
As well as giving your baby protein, these foods contain other useful nutrients, such as iron and zinc, which are important for babies.
For eggs, make sure you buy ones stamped with the British Lion stamp mark. There have been improved food safety controls in recent years, so infants, children and pregnant women can now safely eat raw or lightly cooked hen eggs (as long as they have the British Lion stamp), or foods containing them.
If you have a severely weakened immune system or are on a medically supervised diet prescribed by health professionals, you should cook all eggs thoroughly. Read about the healthy way to eat eggs.
Protein foods include:
- beans
- beef
- chicken
- egg
- fish (no bones)
- lamb
- lentils
- pork
- pulses, such as chickpeas
- tofu
- turkey
Dairy
Pasteurised dairy foods,like pasteurised full-fat yoghurt and cheese, are suitable foods for your baby from around 6 months.
Full-fat, unsweetened or plain yoghurts are a good choice because they do not contain added sugars.
Whole pasteurised (full-fat) cows' milk, or goats' or sheep's milk, can be used in cooking or mixed with food from around 6 months old, but not as a drink until your baby is 12 months.
Chunky, lumpy and tasty
Your baby should be enjoying a wide range of tastes and textures, with bigger chunks of soft food and a wider variety of finger foods.
They should be finding it easier to pick up small pieces of food and feed themselves.
Should I still give my baby breast milk or first infant formula?
Yes. To begin with they will still be getting most of their energy and nutrients from breast milk or first infant formula. Breast milk or first infant formula should be their main drink during the first year. You can continue breastfeeding for as long as you both want.
At this stage of weaning, your baby may be down to about 3 milk feeds a day.
If you're breastfeeding, your baby will adapt their feeds according to how much food they're having. If your baby has first infant formula, they may need around 400ml per day, but just use this as a guide.
Drinks
Your baby should be using their cup with more confidence now, helping themselves to sips of water as and when they need it.
Sweet drinks like squash, fizzy drinks, milkshakes and fruit juice can have lots of sugar so avoid these to help prevent tooth decay – even baby and toddler drinks can be sugary.
Video: Weaning top tips
Hear tips, advice and stories from other parents weaning their babies in this video.
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