Best First Foods for Starting Solids

One of the more common questions I come across in the feeding and SLP spaces is “What’s the best first food for babies?” The short answer is that there is no one “best” first food. There are many factors at play when considering where to start when starting solids–feeding approach, cultural norms, family values, medical advice, etc.

Should I start with rice cereal?

A common first food that is recommended to many parents is rice cereal. This is often because it is a relatively bland, easily digestible food with little texture, so it’s thought to be a good transitional food for babies that are used to drinking just breast milk or formula. But in reality, babies don’t really need bland, textureless foods to be successful when starting solids. In addition, rice cereal tends to have higher arsenic levels with lower nutritional value and minimal sensory input. While it’s not a bad choice, I personally think there are tons of other safe, nutritional options for your baby that will get them excited about starting solids.

So what are some other options?

When recommending first food options to parents, I aim for foods that can easily be served mashed or pureed as well as served whole, depending on what feeding approach you’ve chosen for your family. A few examples are:

• Sweet potatoes
• Avocado
• Broccoli
• Chicken (drumstick with tendons removed, or pureed)
• Mashed beans
• Cooked apples
• Strawberry (whole or mashed)
• Banana (in spears, or mashed)
• Roasted bell pepper (sliced with skins removed, or pureed)
• Oatmeal or buckwheat

A few other favorites would be eggs, yogurt, and peanut butter. These would be considered higher risk for allergy, so they need to be more closely monitored for a reaction. It is recommended to introduce allergens early and often, so safely adding these foods in right away will help give you a base to introduce other foods while moving you forward toward allergen introduction.

Regardless of which foods you choose to introduce first, try to focus on introducing your baby to a wide variety of foods and textures over time, with the overall goal of working towards a robust and balanced diet. It’s especially important for babies to look for good sources of iron and vitamin C. More on that in a previous blog post that you can read here! When you’re first starting out, the emphasis should be on enjoyment, safety, and exploration. So choose what makes the most sense to you as a parent, and have fun with it! 

Looking for More?

It can be tricky to know where to start with solids, and it can be super overwhelming! To take the stress out of starting solids, I'm in the process of creating my Starting Solids course. An evidence-based video course to answer all your questions from should I offer purees first, to what to do if your baby gags or chokes. You can sign up for the waitlist here!

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