Key takeaways
- Month one is about sensory exploration, learning jaw mechanics, and tasting novel flavours—milk remains the primary source of calories and hydration.
- Week 1 starts with a single daily vegetable taste at 11am; by Week 4, baby enjoys two daily tastes including early iron and an introduced allergen.
- Expect 90% of the food to end up on the tray, bib, or floor during the first fortnight. Swallowing is a brand-new physical skill.
Opening the fridge on day one of starting solids is surprisingly paralysing. You have read the guidelines, bought the suction bowl and silicone bibs, and your baby is sitting in their high chair staring at you. What actually happens now?
The secret to month one is dropping all expectations of volume. Your baby is not eating for calories yet—breast milk or formula supplies more than 95% of their daily energy and hydration. Month one is sensory play with taste buds, tongue coordination, and discovering that the world contains flavours other than sweet warm milk.
Week 1: Single vegetable tastes (One meal a day)
Start with savoury and bitter-leaning vegetables rather than sweet fruits. Babies already love sweet tastes from amniotic fluid and breast milk; introducing roots and brassicas early takes advantage of the critical flavour window.
- Timing: Around 10:30 or 11:00 AM, roughly 45 to 60 minutes after a morning milk feed. Never feed a ravenous baby their first solids; hunger causes tears and frustration when they can't get calories quickly. Feed when they are cheerful and alert.
- Day 1–2: Steamed broccoli floret (with a long stalk to grasp) or broccoli purée thinned with breast milk.
- Day 3–4: Roasted butternut squash or sweet potato baton.
- Day 5–6: Steamed parsnip or zucchini spear.
- Day 7: Steamed carrot baton.
Week 2: Adding iron and healthy fats
In week two, introduce iron-dense foods and healthy fats to support brain myelination and replenish dipping congenital stores (read our guide on why iron matters at six months).
- New foods: Avocado (healthy monounsaturated fats), dark chicken thigh mash or bone broth purée, steamed apple slices (cooked soft), red lentil dahl.
- Portion size: 1 to 2 tablespoons per meal. If they turn their head away, close their mouth, or push the spoon away, mealtime is over. Respecting fullness cues prevents fussy eating later.
Week 3: Your first allergen introduction
Week three is the ideal time to introduce your first major allergen, provided your baby has tolerated simple vegetables and proteins without digestive complaints. (Review the full protocol in our 9 common allergens guide).
- Allergen 1 (Peanut or Egg): Serve at breakfast. Mix a quarter-teaspoon of smooth peanut butter thinned with warm water into familiar oatmeal, or offer a strip of well-cooked egg omelette.
- Observe for 2 hours: Keep the child awake to watch for hives or swelling. Serve the allergen again 3 days later to reinforce tolerance.
- Other foods this week: Rolled oats, blueberries (flattened), steamed cauliflower, green peas mashed with olive oil.
Week 4: Two meals a day and expanding textures
By week four, most babies understand the rhythm of eating. Transition from one daily taste to two small meals (breakfast and lunch or dinner).
- Breakfast: Plain whole-milk Greek yoghurt (introducing cow's milk protein) topped with mashed raspberries, or oatmeal with thinned nut butter.
- Lunch or Dinner: Flaked steamed salmon (introducing the fish allergen), sweet potato wedges, and steamed spinach mash.
- Introduce an open cup: Offer 15 to 30 ml of water in a small silicone open cup at mealtime so they can practice sipping (see our guide on cups and water limits).
By day thirty, your baby will have explored roughly 20 to 25 distinct ingredients and introduced two or three major allergens. You are well on your way to 100 foods before one—without a single jar of preservative-packed commercial baby food.
Feeding your baby shouldn't feel like an exam. 100 Bites gives you three fresh ideas every morning, tracks all nine allergen groups, and remembers what happened so you don't have to keep a mental spreadsheet at 7am.
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