Between six and twelve months your baby goes from one taste a day to three meals and a couple of snacks. Milk is the main food until about eight to nine months and then decreases gradually. Here are examples of what a day can look like at six, nine and twelve months. Your baby's appetite sets the pace, not the clock.
Seven in the morning in a flat in Solna: an eight-month-old has breastfed, is sitting in her chair banging a spoon on a bowl of porridge while her big brother eats cereal. At eleven she wants food again, at two she falls asleep halfway through the bottle. How many meals is reasonable? How much milk? The answer changes every month, which is why a schedule helps: not to be followed to the letter, but to know roughly where you are.
The basic principles, whatever the age
- Milk first, food after until about eight to nine months. Then the other way round.
- Your baby decides how much. You decide what is offered, when and where.
- Iron-rich food every day from six months: meat, fish, egg, beans, lentils, iron-fortified porridge.
- Water in a cup with meals. No squash or juice.
- Same place, roughly the same times. The high chair at the table, ideally when you eat yourselves.
- Vitamin D drops every day, however much food goes down.
- No salt and no honey during the first year. Set aside your baby's portion before you season.
Six to seven months: one meal becomes two
For the first few weeks it is one meal a day, usually in the middle of the day when your baby is alert and not too hungry. After a few weeks, when your baby opens wide for more, you add a second meal, often porridge in the evening or a small dinner. Milk carries on exactly as before. This is what a day can look like:
| Time | What |
|---|---|
| 06:30 | Breastfeed or bottle |
| 09:00 | Breastfeed or bottle, perhaps a few spoonfuls of porridge |
| 11:30 | Lunch: vegetable purée with meat, fish or lentils, from a few teaspoons up to a couple of tablespoons. Water in a cup. Breastfeed or bottle afterwards |
| 14:30 | Breastfeed or bottle after the nap |
| 17:30 | Porridge or a small dinner purée, a few spoonfuls. Breastfeed or bottle |
| 19:00 | Breastfeed or bottle at bedtime |
| Night | Breastfeed or bottle as needed. Most babies still wake |
Eight to nine months: three meals and finger food
Now your baby can handle coarser textures: mashed with a fork instead of smooth, soft pieces to pick up alone, bread to gnaw on. Three meals becomes the norm, and at eight to nine months milk and food swap places: food first, milk after. Many babies have two naps a day at this age, and the meals settle naturally around them.
| Time | What |
|---|---|
| 06:30 | Breastfeed or bottle |
| 07:30 | Breakfast: porridge with fruit purée, or bread with a soft topping |
| 10:00 | Snack: pieces of fruit, then breastfeed or bottle |
| 12:00 | Lunch: family food mashed or in soft pieces, water in a cup |
| 14:30 | Breastfeed or bottle after the nap |
| 17:00 | Dinner: soft-cooked pasta, fish, vegetable pieces, potato. The same as the family, without salt |
| 19:00 | Breastfeed or bottle at bedtime |
| Night | Many still breastfeed or give a bottle once. That is normal |
Ten to twelve months: almost like the family
Your baby eats more or less what you eat, with less salt, in smaller pieces and without whole nuts, whole grapes and anything else that gets stuck in the throat. Three meals and two snacks is typical. Milk is now a supplement, often in the morning, after the nap and in the evening. At twelve months your baby can switch to ordinary milk in a cup if you want to stop formula, and välling (the Swedish cereal drink) is not needed at all.
| Time | What |
|---|---|
| 07:00 | Breakfast: porridge, fil (Swedish soured milk) with berries, bread with a topping, milk or breastfeed |
| 09:30 | Snack: fruit, a sandwich, water |
| 11:30 | Lunch: family food in pieces, water |
| 14:30 | Snack after the nap: yoghurt, a sandwich, or breastfeed or bottle |
| 17:00 | Dinner: family food |
| 19:00 | Breastfeed, bottle or milk in a cup at bedtime |
How much is enough?
It cannot be given in grams, and that is deliberate. Appetite varies from day to day and week to week, and a baby who ate a whole bowl yesterday may be content with three spoonfuls today. The measure is the growth curve at BVC (the child health clinic every family in Sweden is enrolled in), not the plate. Offer small portions and top up, which is less off-putting than a wall of food. Your baby shows when they are full: turning the head away, closing the mouth, starting to play with the food. Respect that, even when you know they only ate two spoonfuls.
After the age of one, about half a litre of dairy a day is reasonable. More than that fills them up on milk and crowds out the iron-rich food, which is the most common cause of iron deficiency in small children. Read more about Food for children once your child is older.
Night feeds, välling and bottles at night
Breastfeeding or giving a bottle at night is normal throughout the first year. Somewhere between nine and twelve months, most babies no longer need the night feed nutritionally, but the habit remains, and it is your choice whether and when to break it. What does apply from the first tooth: no välling or milk in a bottle in bed. Milk that sits around the teeth all night causes decay, even in milk teeth. Brush teeth after the evening meal, and give the night feed at the breast or in your arms, not in the cot.
Common problems in practice
- No to the spoon. Let your baby hold a spoon of their own and give finger food. Control is often what is missing.
- Only wants the breast. Common at eight to nine months. Let someone else give the food for a while, and offer food when your baby is not hungry for milk.
- Throws food on the floor. It is a game of cause and effect, not a verdict on the food. Put less on the tray, say calmly that food stays on the table, and end the meal when the throwing takes over.
- Eats only one thing. Keep offering the rest without nagging. One food on the plate your baby will definitely eat, the rest as an offer.
- Stopped eating when the first tooth came. Sore gums. Cold pieces, softer food, and it passes within a week.
How we do it with our families
With a family in Nacka, Denise is in charge of lunch and the afternoon for a ten-month-old. She warms what the parents cooked the evening before, serves small portions so it does not become a wall of food, and sits down with a plate of her own. After the meal a bottle, then a nap. On the note she writes the times and roughly how much went down, not in grams but as half the portion, mostly chicken, did not want broccoli. When the parents see the same thing three Tuesdays in a row, they know it is a phase and not a bad mood on the day.
This text is general information and does not replace advice from BVC, your vårdcentral (local health centre) or 1177 (the national healthcare helpline). If you are worried about your child, call 1177. In an emergency, call 112.
Would you like a nanny who knows your child, knows what is normal for them and notices when something is different? Book a free first meeting with the nanny in your home.
Read more: Starting solids · Homemade baby food · Food for children · Frequently asked questions
Frequently asked questions
How many meals should a six-month-old have?
One meal a day for the first few weeks, usually at lunchtime, and then two when your baby seems to want more, at around seven months. Milk carries on as usual. There is no point rushing; your baby misses out on nothing by taking a month over it.
When should food come before milk?
Around eight to nine months is usually the time to reverse the order: food first, milk after or between meals. That is when food starts to take over as the main source of nutrition and milk becomes a supplement. Until then it is the other way round, so your baby does not fill up on food and drink too little milk.
How much milk should a one-year-old drink?
About half a litre of dairy a day is plenty, including fil, yoghurt and porridge made with milk. More than that fills your child up on milk and crowds out the iron-rich food. Many children drink considerably less and are perfectly well on it.
Do I have to give välling?
No. Välling is a Swedish tradition, not a nutritional need. Porridge gives the same iron fortification and trains eating. Breast milk or formula, and from one year ordinary milk, is enough as a drink. Many families give välling in the evening out of habit; it is not wrong, but it is not something your baby needs either.
Does my baby need water?
A little water in a cup with meals from six months, mostly to practise drinking. Breast milk and formula give your baby the fluid they need. When it is warm outside you can offer more. Squash, juice and sweetened drinks are not needed at all during the first year.