A Feeding Roadmap for 6 to 12 Months
One through-line for the second half of year one: milk eases down, texture steps up, meals multiply — always tracking the baby's chewing.
6–7 Months: The Tasting Phase
Solids run once or twice a day, starting from a spoonful or two per meal. The texture is smooth purée and fine mash, with iron-fortified cereal as the base and vegetable purées, fruit purées, meat purées and egg yolk joining in one by one.
Milk keeps its full schedule in this phase. Solids are a daily lesson, not a replacement — if a solids meal starts cutting into the milk feeds, pull the solids back.
8–9 Months: Chewing Comes Online
Meals step up to two or three a day, and texture moves from purée to thick mash with soft bits and soft small pieces. Finger foods enter in volume — steamed vegetable sticks, soft fruit strips — and the baby should be doing the grabbing.
Expect and allow the mess: the baby who eats more chaotically at this stage is usually the one learning faster. Soft congee, broken noodles, steamed egg custard and tofu all fit this window.
10–12 Months: Rehearsal for Family Meals
Three solid meals a day now approach a breakfast-lunch-dinner structure, with soft rice, small dumplings and meatballs joining the roster. Texture coarsens again into soft grains and small chopped pieces — and still no added salt or sugar before the first birthday.
Strong preferences and outright refusals appear around now, and both are normal. Respect hunger and fullness signals, keep mealtime calm, and drop the habit of chasing the baby with a loaded spoon.
Principles That Hold the Whole Way
Texture upgrades follow chewing ability, not the calendar — staying on purées past their time slows the skill more than any single food choice does. New foods need repeat appearances; a food refused ten times is a normal food, not a banned one.
Eating together is the best teaching there is: same table, same time, the same dish in a low-salt version. And the growth curve is a more honest judge than any single meal — bring your questions to the regular checkups instead of scoring one lunch.
Related foods
Sources
General guidance from the public sources above — not medical advice. For your baby’s specific situation, ask your pediatrician. See our medical disclaimer.