What Can I Do to Help Get My Baby Ready to Start Solid Foods?

Are you looking forward to starting solids with your little one?

It’s important to make sure your baby is showing all of the readiness signs before starting solids, including sitting upright with good core stability when provided some support, holding their head up with good head and neck control, bringing objects to their mouth, and showing an interest in food. Most babies are ready around 6 months of age.

Is there anything I can do to help get my baby ready to start solids?

Yes! There are a few activities you can incorporate into your daily routines that will help baby get ready to start solids, you’re likely already doing some of them! Rest assured that these activities are getting your baby one step closer to their first tastes and bites of food. Most of these activities are great for 3-6 month olds to start getting them ready for solids.

Stick Shaped Teethers

Ezpz has a great stick shaped and textured teether!

They help by working on…

Tongue lateralization and biting reflexes

One way to get your baby ready for starting solids is to introduce stick shaped teethers from 3-6 months of age. These teethers help activate your baby’s tongue lateralization and biting reflexes so they will have a better understanding of how to handle food when it’s introduced. The tongue lateralization reflex helps babies learn how to push food to the sides of their mouth to chew, and the biting reflex helps babies learn to munch and chew food. By activating these reflexes frequently, baby will learn to do these motions on purpose. Then, when baby is introduced to food, they will more easily know how to handle the food in their mouth.

Bringing objects to their mouth

Teethers also help with other readiness skills, like bringing objects to their mouth. By providing baby with fun textures and objects they can easily hold onto and bring to their mouth, they are getting ready to grab food and bring it to their mouths.

Mapping their mouth

Teethers can help also babies map their mouths. This means by placing objects in their mouths, they are learning to feel all the different parts of their mouth, which in the future will help them know where their tongue is in space, and how to accurately move food throughout their mouth.

Becoming accustomed to new textures

The different textures on teethers also help babies become accustomed to different sensations in their mouths. While teethers are not the same as food, it still allows them to get used to having a new feeling in their mouth.

Tummy Time

Tummy time is super important so your baby continues to strengthen their neck and core muscles in order to hold their head up, as well as have core stability while eating. During tummy time, your little one’s forearms are also touching new textures, such as the floor, mat, and toys, which helps prepare your baby to tolerate different textures on their forearms while they’re learning to eat.

Sitting practice

baby sitting while playing — This is an example of baby sitting upright independently.

Sitting upright

It’s important for baby to be able to sit upright with good trunk control when in a supported sitting position in order to start purees/mashed foods around 6 months of age, and to sit independently or with minimal assistance when transitioning to soft solids. 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, meaning babies should be introduced to foods that require some chewing during this time frame to reduce the risk of developing feeding difficulties. This means, the sooner your baby is sitting upright independently or with minimal assistance, the sooner you can safely introduce soft solids.

Practicing sitting will help your baby increase their stability and independence with sitting in order to safely manage food and advanced textures in their mouths. You can practice by seating baby on the floor in front of you while you play (bonus tip: place a mirror in front of you so you can still see each other’s faces for language development), sitting with a toy in front of baby to rest their hands on to help balance, and sitting on the floor with baby with a boppy or soft surface around baby.

Sitting in the highchair

Using a rolled towel can help support baby from slumping over to the side. Introduce baby to their high chair with teethers and toys before introducing solid foods.

Practice sitting in the high chair, as well, so they are not introduced to their high chair and food for the first time at the same time! You can set your baby up for success by getting them used to sitting in the high chair before offering them their first foods, so that there are not too many new elements being introduced at the same time. Many babies only tolerate sitting in the high chair for a few minutes at first, so patience and consistency is key.

Let them sit in their chair and provide teethers or toys while they watch you eat. This is also a good time to see if your baby needs extra support in the high chair, such as rolled towels, to make sure they are fully supported when you do offer food. Babies will eat best when their body is supported and they are not struggling with core stability while they’re trying to eat. Make sure your baby has support under their feet, that the tray isn’t too high, and that they’re not slumping over to either side of the chair.

Eating in front of baby

eating soup in front of baby and baby grabbing mom's hand — Eating meals in front of your baby starts getting them interested in food and learning how to eat!

Eating in front of your baby is so important so they can start learning about food, how to chew, and becoming interested in what you’re eating! Even if baby isn’t eating foods yet, it’s still so valuable to include them in meal times. Try to get them interested in the sounds different foods make when you bite into them, the smells of foods, and even how you cook. Babies learn to eat by watching you eat, so give them plenty of opportunities to watch you eat before they start solids (and continue to do so once you introduce solids!).

Hard munchables

Celery sticks are a great hard munchable.

Hard munchables, or real food teethers, are resistive and unbreakable sticks of real food that can significantly increase your baby’s oral motor skills to get them ready for chewable solid foods. 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. A caregiver should be directly supervising their child the entire time they have a hard munchable, as it can be a choking hazard, as it is still always possible that a piece of the food could break off.

A hard munchable is a firm stick shaped food that 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), typically at least 5-6 inches long (or double the length of your baby’s palm). It should be thick and firm enough that they are not able to break off a piece.

You can either introduce hard munchables right when you start offering purees, or if your baby is showing readiness signs before 6 months, but you are waiting to introduce solid foods until 6 months due to potential impacts of early food introduction on gut health. This was the case with my daughter - she was so interested in food, and still working on her independent sitting, so we introduced hard munchables around 5.5 months.

Either way, hard munchables have the same benefits as stick shaped teethers, with the added benefit of providing even more sensory experiences for your baby, since they are actually food (just not meant to be eaten), and can advance your baby’s oral motor skills and to get them ready to safely eat soft solid foods.

Check out my ultimate list of hard munchables here.

Happy eating!

Need some guidance for starting solids? Check out my blogs Part 1 and Part 2 for starting solids.

Do you live in the Palm Beach Gardens, FL area and want some guidance on starting solids? Click here to learn more about my parent coaching services. Interested in feeding therapy? Click here.

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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.