Part 2: Steps to Introducing Solid Foods - Soft Solids and More
Your baby is now eating smooth purees, what do you do next? Keep reading to learn the how-tos for advancing your baby’s solid foods. Check out Part 1 of this blog for more information on introducing purees, and oral reflexes and their role in eating solids.
Check out my feeding supplies guide to start solids here!
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What do you do after introducing purees?
It is important to start introducing textured foods as soon as your baby is tolerating smooth purees. Some babies will be ready to move straight to meltable solids (e.g. puffs/melts, teething wafers), and soft solids. Other babies may need a little bit more time with purees, thickened purees, and mashed foods, before introducing soft solids. That being said, research has shown there is a critical window of time between 6-9 months of age when children are most receptive to textured foods, and reflexes are being integrated (as we discussed above), and babies should be introduced to foods that require some chewing (e.g. lumpy mashed foods, meltable solids, soft cubes). According to research, being introduced to foods with texture that require chewing during this critical window results in a greater likelihood of accepting a larger variety of foods as a toddler, and, children that are not introduced to foods that require some chewing until 10 months of age or later are at an increased risk for developing feeding difficulties, such as poor chewing skills and picky eating.
If you and baby are not quite ready for soft solids yet, keep reading to learn what steps to take to get them there. If you and your baby are ready for soft solids, I still recommend introducing hard munchables, and meltable solids. Keep reading to learn about hard munchables, meltable solids, soft cubes, and more!
Steps 1-3 generally overlap, and prepare your baby for Steps 4-5. You may also continue to offer textures from Steps 1-3 (hard munchables, meltable solids, and mashed foods) while beginning to introduce Steps 4-5 (soft cubes/strips and soft table foods). As your baby starts to eat more and more soft solids, mashed foods and purees can and should be faded out (with the exception of typically occurring mashed/puree textures, like mashed potatoes and yogurt).
Step 1: Introducing hard munchables
Alongside your baby’s puree, you can begin to offer a hard munchable. While hard munchables are a food, they are meant for mouth exploration only, and your child should not be able to break off a piece. It is recommended that a caregiver be directly supervising their child the entire time they have a hard munchable, as it can be a choking hazard. A hard munchable is a stick shaped food that is at least 6 inches long. It should be long enough for your baby to hold onto and place in their mouth at the same time (i.e. the whole piece should be too long to fit entirely into your baby’s mouth). It should be thick and firm enough that they are not able to break off a piece, but thin enough to maneuver around their mouth. Great examples include long peeled carrot sticks (not baby carrots), celery sticks, jicama sticks, pepper strips (from a large pepper), and hard dried mango strips (dried mango strips right out of the package may be too soft and you might need to leave the package open to let them harden).
Check out my full guide on hard munchables, or real-food teethers, here!
Hard munchables are meant for mouth exploration only and encourage munching and tongue lateralization needed for more advanced textures.
Hard munchables can help teach your baby munching skills (early chewing - remember the biting reflex we learned about in Part 1), control of their tongue lateralization (as the hard munchable touches the side of their tongue their tongue pushes back against it, and they learn to manipulate the food in their mouth with their tongue), and helps to move the gag reflex further back in their mouth. Dip the hard munchable in a favorite puree to help encourage your baby to place it in their mouths. You can also introduce spoons that your baby can learn early self-feeding skills with. Babies often munch on these spoons in a similar way that they would on a hard munchable. I often recommend letting baby hold onto one spoon, while you spoon feed with another spoon.
Step 2: Thickened puree and mashed foods
Introduce thickened puree and mashed foods after smooth purees.
After introducing smooth purees, if your baby is tolerating them well, you can begin to either thicken smooth puree with baby oatmeal, or add mashed food, to make a thicker consistency. You can gradually make the food more lumpy, moving onto mashed foods and away from purees, which will start to teach your baby to chew. Remember, we want baby to be introduced to foods that require some chewing before 9 months of age. Model big open and closed motions with your mouth, preferably while eating the same food (in the mashed or non-mashed form), to show your baby how to chew. There is significant evidence to support the importance of modeling eating for your baby, and eating the same foods at the same time as your baby.
Be sure not to have “surprise lumps” in your baby’s food, meaning, it should be a consistent lumpy texture, not a smooth puree with stray lumps here and there. This includes mixed texture consistencies, such as broth soups with chunks, or cereal in milk. This non-consistent mixed texture at this stage will likely cause gagging, as your baby will be expecting a puree, and will be surprised by the lump when they try to swallow (this is also why we do not want to “hide” soft solids within smooth puree if your baby is having a hard time transitioning). Babies typically can handle mixed textures around 12 months of age.
Step 3: Meltable Solids
Alongside this increase in texture with mashed foods, you will want to introduce meltable solids, typically by 7-9 months of age. If your child has had good oral development leading up to the introduction of solid foods, they may already be able to manage meltable solids at 6-7 months of age. Meltable solids initially feel hard, which allows your baby to start to learn how to manipulate something solid in their mouth, but they dissolve quickly in saliva. If your baby does not yet use their tongue to move the solid into their molar area, or start munching on it (up and down jaw movements), they should still be able to swallow it without difficulty (as it will quickly melt). Meltable solids include foods such as puffs, yogurt melts, meltable sticks, teething wafers, baby mum-mums, and Bamba. It’s always a good idea to pop one in your mouth first, especially if the container has been opened a few days, to ensure they are not stale. When this food becomes stale, it no longer melts quickly, and can cause increased gagging.
Check out my Ultimate List of Meltable Solids here.
Meltable solids include puffs, teething wafers, and yogurt melts
Show them what to do with their mouth, and placement techniques
Show your baby how you push the food with your tongue to the side, and use big exaggerated chewing to show your child how to move their mouth. If you notice your baby is continuing to keep the meltable solid on the middle of their tongue and suck, help them by placing a piece directly to the side, into their molar area, to teach them where they should move it to. This works well with the stick shaped puffs too, so you can hold it in place as your baby starts to munch.
Introduce baby-safe feeders
This is also a great time to introduce baby safe feeders. You can place soft foods, such as banana, avocado, and boiled carrots, which will come out as a puree as your baby chews on the feeder. You can also place firmer foods, such as apple, cucumber, and frozen blueberries, which can help start teaching your child to chew on firmer foods. They come in both silicone and mesh options. These are not always necessary to introduce, but can be a useful tool for transitioning for some babies, and also can help soothe baby’s gums while teething if you add frozen fruits/veggies! Choose a thinner/smaller sized one so your baby can place it to the side of their mouth to chew on, and not just suck like a pacifier.
When baby chews on soft solids in the baby safe feeder, it will come out as puree.
Step 4: Soft cubes and strips
Once you’re seeing your baby manipulate meltable solids to the side and start munching, start introducing soft cubes. Babies are typically able to transition to soft cubes between 7-10 months of age. A soft cube is a solid cut into a small cube (starting off with the size of a small pinky finger nail, or pea-sized), that will mash down into puree with light pressure. This also helps them work on their pincer grasp. They can also be served as long thin strips, so baby can hold onto them in their whole hand and place them directly to the side into their molar area to chew, as well as trigger their tongue lateralization reflex (which we learned about in Part 1). Soft cubes or strips includes foods such as ripe avocado, banana, ripe peach, steamed apples, steamed carrots, beans (smashed down), steamed cauliflower, sweet potato – any ripe fruit or soft-cooked vegetable cut into a small cube or strip will work.
Cut steamed broccoli into strips or small pieces.
Repeated exposures to a variety of flavors
Remember as we discussed in Part 1, continue to introduce flavors repeatedly, while also introducing a variety of flavors. Research has shown that there is a “flavor window” that starts to close around 18 months of age. The more repeated exposures to a variety of flavors your are able to provide, the more likely your child will continue to accept a variety of foods. While your baby may not appear to like a food the first time they try it, it can take 10+ exposures and tastes before starting to like and accept a new food. When introducing foods, patience is key! Continue to offer small tastes of new foods, and continue to offer more bites if your baby accepts it. Continue to allow your baby to play with new and non-preferred foods on their tray with their hands before they start to accept larger quantities.
How to offer soft cubes and strips
Again, let your child explore the foods with their hands before offering a piece to their mouth, just as you did with purees. This allows them to prepare themselves for the new texture, and understand how much pressure is required to mash the food. Babies are in the sensorimotor stage of learning, and they learn by interacting with the things in their environment. This applies to food and learning how to eat, too!
Let baby get messy while exploring and eating soft solids, this plays an important role to learning to eat.
Just the same as with meltable solids, show your child how to move the soft cubes or strips of food to the side in your own mouth with your tongue and use big exaggerated chewing motions. Babies don’t need teeth to chew these soft foods, but they should be moving the food into their gums where their molars will one day be. If your child is not yet moving the food to the side, and you see them mashing it with their tongue to the roof of their mouth, or sucking on it, help place it in the side for them. You can use co-feeding, letting your baby self-feed, while you offer some pieces directly to their mouth as well, if needed.
Hold the soft strip and place it to the side in your baby’s molar area, and teach them to bite off a smaller piece, rather than placing the whole strip in their mouth.
Gagging is common
Remember, it is likely that your baby will gag while they are learning to eat. It is important to stay calm, and to let your baby work the food out of their mouth on their own. You can tip them slightly forward and model thrusting your tongue out of your mouth. You can calmly say something like, “That was a big piece, push it out with your tongue.” Staying calm will help avoid any bad association with the food. Avoid sticking your finger in baby’s mouth if possible, as this can push the food further back, making the situation worse.
Gagging can be caused due to difficulty with oral motor skills needed to prepare the food (e.g. moving the food to the side with their tongue, chewing), and/or sensory reasons (e.g. due to the texture or taste of the food). If your baby is gagging frequently, they may need more time with Steps 1-3, as well as more time to interact with soft solids with their hands, first. They may also benefit from a feeding evaluation, so speak to your pediatrician if you are concerned.
True choking is when the airway is obstructed and your baby is having trouble breathing. If you suspect your child is choking, immediately administer infant choking first aid and call 9-1-1 on speaker phone so your hands are free.
Learn more here about the difference between choking and gagging. It is also a good idea to be prepared if your baby is choking, by taking an infant CPR course.
Solid food meals
By 7-9 months, incorporate 2-3 solid meals per day. Start meals with meltable solids and soft cubes. If you feel your baby is still hungry, but is having trouble eating more soft solids, you can end the meal with some mashed foods (e.g. mash the soft cubes and present them on an infant spoon), but don’t rely on this for too long, as baby may start to prefer the mashed/pureed foods over the ones that require some chewing. Continue eating the same foods at the same time as your baby, as research has shown the positive effects this has on feeding development.
You can also start offering a small open cup of water with each meal (baby will need your help controlling the cup for a little while). Straw cups can also start to be introduced, which are preferred over sippy cups for oral development and strength building. Learn how to teach your baby to drink from a straw here!
Step 5: Soft solids
As your baby is getting the hang of soft cubes, and you see your baby moving the food to the side with their tongue and chewing the food, you can start to offer other soft table foods, such as scrambled eggs, strips of banana bread, soft cooked pasta, tender meats (e.g. soft ground meat, small pieces of meatballs, moist shredded chicken), tofu, shredded cheese, toast with butter cut into strips, and strips of pancakes. Babies should be transitioned off of purees/mashed foods and onto soft solids by 10-12 months of age, with 3 solid food meals per day. You can continue to incorporate typically occurring purees, such as yogurt, apple sauce, mashed potatoes, and oatmeal.
Try to include one fruit and/or vegetable, one protein, and one carbohydrate per meal (ideally the same foods the rest of the family is eating). Offer at least 1-2 foods you know your baby has been successful with in the past and seems to like, and 1-2 foods that are new or less preferred, to continue your baby’s exposure to a wide variety of foods and flavors. Avoid making or offering an unplanned food if your baby rejects all of the foods you offered (even the ones you thought would be a hit). This can spiral quickly into you playing “short-order cook.”
Try to incorporate one protein, one fruit and/or vegetable, and one carbohydrate at each meal, and cut food into bite-sized pieces, smaller than pictured above.
Step 6: Table foods
Most children will be able to eat most/all textures by 24 months of age, including crunchy and hard to chew foods like raw fruits and vegetables (e.g. carrot sticks, apples), and tougher meats. Continue to follow choking precautions, including cutting round foods into quarters (triangle shaped) so they are no longer circle-shaped (e.g. grapes, cherry tomatoes, hot dogs), cutting tougher meat into small pieces and providing a dipping sauce to keep the meat moist, and avoiding popcorn and whole nuts. Check the CDC for further guidance on choking prevention with foods.
Children eating table foods should be offered foods every 2.5-3 hours, with about 5 meals per day (3 meals and 2 snacks). Limit grazing on snacks (e.g. crackers, cereal) and high calorie drinks throughout the day as much as possible.
Eating the same foods at the same time as your children at least one meal per day can help promote positive feeding development.
Picky eating
While many children do go through periods of picky eating, children should have around 5-10 different foods that they eat in each food group including fruits, vegetables, carbohydrates, and proteins (e.g. as a feeding therapist, I would consider chicken nuggets, baked chicken, and deli-sliced chicken three “different” proteins, as they all have different texture profiles). Children should also be able to tolerate non-preferred and new foods on their plate in small quantities (even if they’re not quite ready to eat it) without much difficulty (i.e. without a full-blown meltdown), and be willing to taste (i.e. lick or take a small bite) foods they have been exposed to at least a few times before. Many children require being exposed to and tasting a food 10 times or more before their taste buds acclimate and they accept the food in significant quantities. If your child says they do not like a food, don’t assume this is forever, and don’t stop serving them this food! According to this study, 90% of caregivers stopped offering a food if the child rejected it 3-5 times. Continue to serve it in small quantities on their plate whenever it is part of your family’s meal. Stay tuned for an upcoming blog on mealtime strategies.
When to get help from a professional
If by 9-10 months of age your baby is having difficulty transitioning to solid foods, speak to your pediatrician and ask for a referral to a feeding therapist (feeding therapists have the title of speech-language pathologist or occupational therapist). Some babies may benefit from an evaluation even sooner if you’re seeing frequent gagging, vomiting, and/or coughing, limited chewing, or rejection of purees and/or solid foods. In some cases, your pediatrician may also refer you to a gastroenterologist (GI doctor), allergist, or other member of a feeding team.
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This website and information on this blog post is provided for educational purposes only. It is not meant as medical advice, intended to replace a speech-language or feeding assessment, therapy from a speech-language pathologist, or serve as medical or nutritional care for a child. It is recommended that you discuss any concerns or questions you might have with your speech-language pathologist, pediatrician, and medical team, and develop an individualized team plan specifically for your child.