Recommended list of first foods for baby
According to Plunket your baby can try a range of foods from about 6 months old. Baby will cope best with one new food at a time, and just small amounts to begin with. If you buy baby food be sure to purchase for the age and stage your baby is at. As your child gets older you can change the consistency, making the food chunkier, and mix up the variety and flavour.
Here is Plunket's recommended list of first foods, and when you can start introducing them:
6 MONTHS
| FOODS | HOW TO PREPARE THEM |
|
Cereals and rice Plain rice. Congee. |
Check labels for the age and stage they suit. Purée. |
| Fruits Apple, apricot, mango, pear, plum, ripe banana, avocado, pawpaw, peach. Remove skins, pips, stones, and seeds. |
Cook fruit to soften it, if necessary. Purée. |
| Vegetables Kūmara, potato, carrot, pumpkin, parsnip, kamokamo or marrow, taro, cassava, manioke(a), yam. Remove skins, pips, and seeds. |
Cook vegetables to soften them. Purée. |
|
Meat Lamb’s liver is a good source of iron, but it is best to offer liver only once a week. |
Do not give salty meat such as corned beef, povi/pulu masima (salted brisket) and tinned fish as first foods. Cook and purée. |
|
Beans and pulses Dried beans, peas, and lentils. |
Cook and purée. |
7-8 MONTHS
Your baby can eat a good and different variety of first foods, which you can see below. You can also offer them foods with more texture to help them learn how to chew. Process the food for a shorter time or mash soft foods with a fork or masher.
Offer your baby 2–3 meals a day.
| FOODS | HOW TO PREPARE THEM |
| A variety of different coloured vegetables. |
Remove stalks and ‘stringy bits’ from leafy green vegetables, such as pūhā, spinach, silverbeet, bok choy—cook and mash them well. |
| Mashed fruit. | Cook to soften if necessary before mashing. |
| Dairy products—cheese, yoghurt, cottage cheese, custard. |
As is, cut into small pieces or grated. |
| Small pieces of toast—white or fine wholemeal, rusks. | Cut small, but stay with them in case they choke. |
| Pasta and noodles. | Cook and mash. |
| Tofu, tempeh. | As is, or cut into small pieces |
| Egg. | Cook and mash. |
| Bought baby food. | Check the labels for the age they suit. |
8-12 MONTHS
Start to offer your baby solids before your baby’s breast milk or formula feed. Giving your baby their breastfeeds or formula is still important for their growth, but you may notice they want fewer feeds.
By this stage, your baby will probably be having 3–4 meals a day, with 1–2 snacks. Your baby may now enjoy a large variety of types of foods, flavours, and textures.
Your baby won’t be ready for cows’ milk and soya milk until they are 1 year old.
Your baby will enjoy mashed or finely chopped foods as they learn to chew. Foods to try include:
| FOODS | HOW TO PREPARE THEM |
| Fruits. | Add pieces of raw fruit as finger foods, such as oranges, kiwifruit, berry fruit. |
| Vegetables. | Include salad vegetables. |
| Meat, fish, shellfish, kai moana. | Cut into pieces. |
| Cereals, such as porridge, wheat biscuits (iron fortified), infant muesli. | Prepared as per packet instruction. |
| Peanut butter (smooth). | In sandwiches or on crackers. |
|
Finger foods such as: ripe fruit (peach, pear, banana, orange) |
Cut into thin pieces of food they can hold on to, not big chunks. |
1 year
By 1 year, your baby will probably be eating many of the same foods as the rest of the family/whānau.
Hold off on high-fibre foods, such as heavy wholemeal bread, wholegrain bread and bran. These foods can fill your baby up too much, leaving less room for other nutritious foods.
During their second year, your toddler will learn how to chew and swallow wholegrain bread without choking on it.
