Baby-led weaning
First foods
Good places to start, with how to serve each one and what is in it. There is no order you have to follow — the simplest approach is to cook what you were already cooking, and lift out your baby’s portion before you season it. 47 of 58 carry serving guidance from a published source.
Iron, most days
If your baby has formula, this is already covered — formula contains iron, and you can read the rest of this for interest rather than action. It matters most if you are breastfeeding.
The iron your baby was born with runs low at around six months and breast milk carries very little, so from then it starts coming from food. It is one of the reasons the guidance settles on around six months.
It does not mean a supplement or a special product — just that on most days, one thing on the tray is iron-rich: beef, tofu, oats, lentils, chickpeas, spinach, peas. Iron from meat and fish is absorbed much more easily than iron from beans, lentils or cereal — so if you eat meat, slow-cooked beef or lamb does more here than anything else. Cook it until it shreds rather than serving a firm strip, or press mince into a soft patty, which is easier for a baby to manage. For the plant sources, serving them alongside something rich in vitamin C — red pepper, tomato or a few berries — helps the body take up more.
The lever that works in the other direction: large amounts of cow’s milk make iron deficiency more likely, which is part of why it is not a main drink before twelve months.
The iron your baby was born with runs low at around six months, and breast milk contains very little — so from now iron needs to come from food. Aim for something iron-rich most days: well-cooked red meat, chicken, oily fish, beans, lentils, chickpeas, tofu, or fortified cereal. Iron from meat and fish is absorbed far more easily than iron from beans, lentils, tofu or cereal — serving those plant sources alongside something rich in vitamin C — fruit, tomatoes or red peppers — helps the body take up more of theirs. Large volumes of cow's milk make iron deficiency more likely, which is part of why it is not a main drink before twelve months. Formula already contains iron, so this matters most for breastfed babies.
Applies everywhereNHS Start for Life — Vitamins and minerals for babies
Breastfed babies should have a daily vitamin D supplement of 8.5 to 10 micrograms from birth, and formula-fed babies once they are taking less than 500ml of formula a day. This carries on through the first year whatever else they are eating. Healthy Start vitamins are free if you are eligible.
“Iron” marks foods whose dataset entry lists at least 1 mg per 100 g. That cut-off is ours, not a published standard, and per 100 g is not per portion — a small strip of beef delivers a fraction of the number shown. Iron from meat and fish (marked animal) is absorbed several times more readily than iron from plants, so this is ordered by what a baby is likely to absorb rather than by the raw figure.
Vegetables and fruit
Cook until soft, or grate. Raw apple is a choking risk.
rule hard-raw-veg · NHS: raw apple named as a choking risk
- Vitamin C
- 4.6mg
- Fibre
- 2.4g
- Potassium
- 107mg
Ripe, in thick wedges. Roll in a little ground oat if too slippery to hold.
NHS: soft finger foods from around 6 months
- Fat
- 14.7g
- Fibre
- 6.7g
- Folate
- 81µg
Leave a section of peel on as a handle — a whole peeled banana is slippery.
NHS: soft finger foods from around 6 months
- Potassium
- 358mg
- Vitamin B6
- 0.4mg
- Vitamin C
- 8.7mg
Squash each berry flat before serving.
rule round-foods · NHS: squash blueberries
- Vitamin C
- 9.7mg
- Vitamin K
- 19.3µg
- Fibre
- 2.4g
Steam a whole floret until the stalk squashes easily between your finger and thumb. The stalk is the handle.
NHS: soft-cooked finger foods from around 6 months · rule hard-raw-veg
- Iron
- 0.7mg
- Vitamin C
- 87mg
- Vitamin K
- 102µg
Roast or steam into soft wedges.
NHS: soft-cooked finger foods from around 6 months
- Vitamin A
- 532µg
- Vitamin C
- 21mg
- Fibre
- 2g
Steam batons until soft enough to squash. Never raw.
rule hard-raw-veg · NHS: raw carrot is a choking risk
- Iron
- 0.3mg
- Vitamin A
- 835µg
- Fibre
- 2.8g
Steam a whole floret until soft, stalk as the handle.
NHS: soft-cooked finger foods from around 6 months · rule hard-raw-veg
- Vitamin C
- 48mg
- Folate
- 57µg
- Fibre
- 2g
Steam into soft finger-length batons.
NHS: soft-cooked finger foods from around 6 months
- Vitamin C
- 17mg
- Fibre
- 1g
- Folate
- 24µg
Cooked and crushed into food. Flavour is fine from the start — it is salt that babies should not have.
NHS: flavour with herbs and spices instead of salt
- Vitamin C
- 31mg
- Manganese
- 1.7mg
- Fibre
- 2.1g
Quarter lengthways, never in rounds. A round slice is windpipe-shaped.
rule round-foods · NHS: cut round foods lengthways
- Vitamin C
- 3.2mg
- Vitamin K
- 14.6µg
- Fibre
- 0.9g
Used as juice or zest in cooking rather than eaten as a wedge. Sourness may get a face, which is a reaction and not a problem — citrus is not a food to delay.
NHS: fruit and vegetables from around 6 months; citrus is not on the NHS foods-to-avoid list
- Vitamin C
- 58mg
- Fibre
- 2.8g
- Folate
- 11µg
Wash, peel and remove the stone, then cut into finger-length strips of soft, ripe flesh — or mash if it's very ripe.
NHS: mash or blend soft ripe fruits, or offer as finger foods, from around 6 months
- Vitamin C
- 36.4mg
- Vitamin A
- 54µg
- Fibre
- 1.6g
Finely dice and cook until softened, then mix into a soft palm-sized cake.
NHS Best Start in Life: cheese and mushroom cakes, age 6 months and older
- Potassium
- 378mg
- Selenium
- 17µg
- Folate
- 40µg
Softened in cooking rather than served on its own — raw onion is sharp and firm.
NHS: vegetables cooked soft from around 6 months
- Vitamin C
- 7.4mg
- Fibre
- 1.7g
- Folate
- 19µg
Ripe and soft, mashed or in soft wedges. Cook a hard pear first.
rule hard-raw-veg · NHS: hard pear named as a choking risk
- Fibre
- 3.1g
- Vitamin C
- 4.3mg
- Potassium
- 116mg
Peas
Iron · plantCooked soft and squashed between finger and thumb — whole peas can roll and are easy to miss chewing.
NHS: vegetables cooked to soften, mashed or blended, from around 6 months
- Iron
- 1.5mg
- Protein
- 5.4g
- Fibre
- 5.1g
Boil, steam or roast until soft all the way through, then offer as a finger-length wedge or mashed. Cook it in unsalted water.
NHS: starchy foods from around 6 months · rule salt (under 12 months)
- Iron
- 0.8mg
- Vitamin C
- 11.4mg
- Potassium
- 421mg
Cooked soft into a dish rather than offered on its own — the flavour is strong and raw allium layers are firm and slippery.
NHS: vegetables from around 6 months, cooked soft · rule hard-raw-veg
- Vitamin C
- 8mg
- Folate
- 34µg
- Potassium
- 334mg
Spinach
Iron · plantCooked (steamed or boiled) and mashed or blended smooth.
NHS: vegetables cooked to soften, mashed or blended, from around 6 months
- Iron
- 2.7mg
- Folate
- 194µg
- Vitamin K
- 483µg
Roast or steam into finger-length wedges, soft all the way through.
NHS: soft-cooked finger foods from around 6 months
- Iron
- 0.6mg
- Vitamin A
- 709µg
- Fibre
- 3g
Quarter cherry tomatoes lengthways, never whole or in rounds.
rule round-foods · NHS: cut round foods lengthways
- Vitamin C
- 14mg
- Vitamin A
- 42µg
- Folate
- 15µg
Protein
Beef
Iron · animalCook until well done, then offer as a thick strip to gnaw, or finely minced and mixed into a soft meal.
NHS: soft cooked or finely minced meats from around 6 months, offered mashed/blended or as finger foods
- Iron
- 2.6mg
- Protein
- 26g
- Zinc
- 6.3mg
Cook until no longer pink inside, then offer as a thick strip your baby can hold and gnaw, or finely minced and mixed into a meal.
NHS: soft cooked or finely minced meats and chicken from around 6 months, offered mashed/blended or as finger foods
- Iron
- 0.9mg
- Protein
- 27.3g
- Zinc
- 1.3mg
Cook until no longer pink inside, then offer as a thick strip your baby can hold and gnaw, or finely minced into a meal. Breast dries out easily — poach it, and check a fork pulls it apart into soft shreds before offering.
NHS: soft cooked or finely minced meats and chicken from around 6 months, offered mashed/blended or as finger foods
- Iron
- 0.9mg
- Protein
- 27.3g
- Zinc
- 1.3mg
Chickpeas
Iron · plantCooked until soft, skins squashed off, and mashed into a meal.
NHS: soft cooked lentils, beans and chickpeas from around 6 months
- Iron
- 2.9mg
- Protein
- 8.9g
- Fibre
- 7.6g
Lentils
Iron · plantCooked until soft and mashed into a meal.
NHS: soft cooked lentils, beans and chickpeas from around 6 months
- Iron
- 3.3mg
- Protein
- 9g
- Folate
- 181µg
Cook until no longer pink inside, then offer as a thick strip to gnaw, or finely minced and mixed into a soft meal.
NHS: soft cooked or finely minced meats from around 6 months, offered mashed/blended or as finger foods
- Iron
- 0.9mg
- Protein
- 27g
- Zinc
- 2.4mg
A thick strip, cooked through and cooled. Check by hand for pin bones every time.
NHS: soft-cooked finger foods from around 6 months
- Iron
- 0.3mg
- Protein
- 20.4g
- Omega-3 (DHA)
- 2.3g
UK allergen · Fish
Tofu
Iron · plantFirm tofu cut into finger-length strips, or soft tofu mashed into a meal. Introduce early and keep offering it — soya is one of the 14 allergens.
NHS: beans and pulses from around 6 months, offered mashed/blended or as finger foods
- Iron
- 5.4mg
- Protein
- 8.1g
- Calcium
- 350mg
UK allergen · Soya
Grains and starches
Oats
Iron · plantCooked soft as porridge, with breast milk, formula or water.
NHS: starchy foods from around 6 months
- Iron
- 3.8mg
- Protein
- 11.2g
- Fibre
- 9g
UK allergen · Cereals containing gluten
Cooked soft. Rice itself is fine — it is rice DRINKS that are not.
rule plant-drinks · NHS: rice drinks not under 5 years
- Iron
- 0.2mg
- Protein
- 2.6g
- Fibre
- 0.4g
Dairy
Fine for cooking — babies need proportionally more fat than adults. Use unsalted where you can: salted butter is a real source of sodium in a baby's day.
NHS: babies need more fat proportionally than adults · rule salt (under 12 months)
- Fat
- 81.7g
- Sodium
- 606mg
- Vitamin A
- 887µg
UK allergen · Milk
Pasteurised hard cheese in soft strips from around 6 months.
NHS: pasteurised full-fat hard cheese from around 6 months
- Protein
- 25.4g
- Calcium
- 739mg
- Fat
- 34.9g
UK allergen · Milk
Plain full-fat yoghurt. Avoid the added-sugar varieties.
rule sugar · NHS: plain full-fat yoghurt from around 6 months
- Protein
- 5.7g
- Calcium
- 200mg
- Vitamin B12
- 0.4µg
UK allergen · Milk
Per-100g values from CoFID (Open Government Licence) and USDA FoodData Central (CC0), each with its dataset row id on the food’s own page. Weaning guidance from the NHS. Always a companion to your health visitor’s advice, never a replacement for it.