# How to start solids

**Should we start solids with purees or baby-led weaning?**

Whether the first foods are spoon-fed purees, finger foods the baby picks up and feeds themselves (called baby-led weaning), or a mix of both.

In short: Parents choose between 4 main approaches: Spoon-fed purees; Combination (purees plus finger foods); Baby-led weaning with coaching on iron-rich foods and choking hazards; Strict baby-led weaning with no coaching. Evidence: your call. No outcome evidence picks a winner. Preference, culture, money and logistics decide. Best settled: 0–6 months.

- Area: Feeding the baby
- Evidence: Your call
- Best settled: 0–6 months
- First published: 2026-10-03
- Last updated: 2026-10-05
- Page: https://www.raisingyourchild.com/topics/feeding-the-baby--how-to-start-solids

## How to start solids: what are the options?

1. **Spoon-fed purees**: You feed the baby smooth purees from a spoon, then thicker textures.
2. **Combination (purees plus finger foods)**: You use both: some spoon-feeding and some soft finger foods the baby picks up.
3. **Baby-led weaning with coaching on iron-rich foods and choking hazards**: The baby feeds themselves soft finger foods, and you learn which foods give iron and which are choking risks.
4. **Strict baby-led weaning with no coaching**: The baby feeds themselves from the start, with no purees and no special guidance.

## How to start solids: what does the evidence say?

**Your call.** No outcome evidence picks a winner. Preference, culture, money and logistics decide. (Values, with safety rules)

A 2025 review found no added choking risk or growth difference when parents are coached. The main trial, BLISS in New Zealand (206 babies), tested a coached version: babies gagged more often at 6 months but less at 8 months, there was no significant difference in BMI at 12 or 24 months, and the baby-led group was less fussy about food. The coaching is the point: that trial pushed iron-rich foods early, and the exact choking figures could not be retrieved here

Sources:

- [Nutrition Reviews](https://academic.oup.com/nutritionreviews/advance-article/doi/10.1093/nutrit/nuaf288/8424368)
- [BLISS, Pediatrics](https://publications.aap.org/pediatrics/article-abstract/138/4/e20160772/52372/A-Baby-Led-Approach-to-Eating-Solids-and-Risk-of)
- [Healio](https://www.healio.com/news/pediatrics/20170714/baby-led-weaning-results-in-less-food-fussiness-with-no-difference-in-bmi)

## What else is worth knowing?

In the traditional approach an adult spoons in purees and moves to lumpier food over time. In baby-led weaning the baby picks up soft pieces and feeds themselves. Most families mix the two, and the safety rules about choking apply either way.

## Questions to ask each other

- Which of these sounds closest to what we would like to try?
- How comfortable are we with a baby gagging and feeding themselves?
- Who will learn the choking-safety rules before we start?

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General information, not medical advice. Two parents can each answer this and compare: https://www.raisingyourchild.com/explore?cat=feeding-the-baby&topic=feeding-the-baby--how-to-start-solids