From six months your baby can eat almost the same food as you, mashed or in soft pieces and without salt and sugar. Start with tastes from four months at the earliest if your baby shows interest, according to Livsmedelsverket (the Swedish Food Agency), and from six months with proper portions. Honey, whole nuts, whole grapes and unpasteurised products wait until after the first birthday.
It is Saturday morning in a flat in Årsta, and a seven-month-old is sitting in the high chair with an avocado in one fist and a bib that covers half the chair. Half of it ends up on the floor. That is exactly as it should be. Here is how to make baby food at home without it turning into a project, what is off limits, and how a nanny with infant experience handles an ordinary morning.
When it is time
Livsmedelsverket says tastes from four months at the earliest, if the baby seems interested, and proper portions from six months. Breast milk or formula is enough until then and remains the main food until closer to one year. The signs that your baby is ready are clear: sits with support, holds their head steady, watches your food and opens their mouth when the spoon comes. A baby who pushes the food out with their tongue is not ready. Wait a week and try again.
Purées to make at home
Everything is boiled soft in water or steamed, mashed with a fork or blended, and thinned with cooking water, breast milk or formula to the right consistency. A little rapeseed oil makes the purée richer in energy, which babies need. No salt, no sugar, no stock cubes.
- Carrot and potato
- Sweet potato
- Parsnip and apple
- Broccoli and potato
- Cauliflower with a little rapeseed oil
- Green peas, blended and sieved if the skins get in the way
- Avocado, mashed as it is, needs no cooking
- Banana, mashed
- Pear, cooked or very ripe
- Meat or fish, cooked and blended with potato and a little cooking water, from six months for the iron
Finger food without choking risk
Pieces should be soft enough to squash between your thumb and forefinger, and big enough to grip: a stick the length of your baby's palm. Round and hard is what gets stuck. Always sit with your baby, and let them feed themselves. Adults who pop pieces into the baby's mouth interfere with the chewing and swallowing coordination that finger food is meant to train.
| Good from six months | Wait with |
|---|---|
| A steamed broccoli floret, the baby holds the stalk | Whole grapes, cherry tomatoes, blueberries (cut them) |
| A soft carrot stick, cooked | Raw carrot, apple pieces, hard pears |
| An avocado stick, half a banana | Whole nuts, popcorn, hard biscuits |
| Soft cooked pasta, large pieces | Sausage in round slices (cut lengthways) |
| Omelette in strips | Honey and anything containing honey, under one year |
| Soft bread in sticks, without crust | Salted snacks, crisps |
How much and in what order?
The first weeks: one or two teaspoons once a day, ideally at lunch when the baby is alert. Increase to several tablespoons and then to two meals around seven to eight months. At nine months many babies eat three small meals plus breast milk or formula. There is no longer a set order for foods. Vegetables, fruit, potato, meat, fish, eggs, dairy, gluten: all of it can come in the first weeks. Iron is what matters from six months, so meat, fish, eggs, beans and iron-fortified porridge should come in early.
Allergens: early and often
Current knowledge is that early introduction of egg, peanut (as butter, never whole), fish, milk and wheat reduces the risk of allergy, and that they should be given regularly once introduced. Give one new allergen at a time, in the morning, in a small amount, so you can see if anything happens. If there is allergy in the family, talk to BVC (the child health clinic every family is enrolled in) first. Reactions such as swelling, trouble breathing or a severe rash mean 112.
Cook a week in an hour
- Boil three vegetables and a potato in separate pans, blend with a little rapeseed oil and pour into ice cube trays. One cube is one portion to begin with.
- Cook meat or fish, blend with cooking water, freeze in cubes.
- Thaw one vegetable cube and one meat cube in the fridge overnight or in the microwave, stir together, check the temperature.
- Frozen baby food keeps for a month. Label the trays.
- Finger food is made alongside your own dinner: set pieces aside before you add salt.
Porridge, välling and drinks
Porridge and välling (a Swedish milk-and-cereal drink for babies) are practical and iron-fortified, and many babies have them for breakfast and in the evening. They should not replace ordinary food, and a baby who gets välling five times a day is full of välling. Choose unsweetened varieties. With meals, give water in a small cup or sippy cup from six months, a few sips. Juice and squash have no place in a baby's first year. Breast milk or formula continues as the main drink, and the amount goes down by itself as the food goes up. Ordinary milk as a drink waits until one year, but it is fine in porridge and cooking before that.
Jars and pouches
Jar food is safe, practical and good for travelling. As everyday food it has a drawback: the taste is smooth and uniform, and babies who have only eaten jars often find ordinary food harder at one year. Fruit purée pouches are dessert, not a meal, and a baby sucking on a pouch is practising nothing. Mix it up: jars when you need them, homemade when you have time. Nobody is counting.
How it works with our families
Aleksandra has looked after babies for thirteen years, and what she does on a morning with a seven-month-old looks like this: the baby is in the high chair at eleven, alert after the nap. One cube of potato and carrot, thawed, with a little rapeseed oil. The baby gets a spoon of their own to wave about and a broccoli floret in hand while Aleksandra gives a few spoonfuls. Ten minutes, then the interest is gone. On the note to the parents: what was given, how much went down, whether anything new was introduced and whether the baby reacted. Next time the same nanny comes and knows where they left off.
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 usual and notices when something is different? Book a free first meeting with the nanny in your home.
Read more: Starting solids · Baby feeding schedule 6 to 12 months · Food allergies in children · FAQ
Frequently asked questions
When can my baby start on solids?
Tastes from four months at the earliest and by around six at the latest, according to Livsmedelsverket. At six months the baby should start on proper portions regardless. The signs that it is time are that the baby sits with support, holds their head steady and shows interest in your food.
Purées or finger food, which is best?
Both work and most families mix them. Purées make it easy to get iron and quantity into your baby, finger food trains motor skills and chewing. Our advice is purée on the spoon plus a soft piece to hold, from six months. The baby sets the pace.
What can my baby not eat?
Honey under one year because of the risk of botulism. Whole nuts, whole grapes and hard raw vegetables because of the choking risk. Salt and sugar should be minimal. Unpasteurised milk, raw fish and raw meat are avoided. Livsmedelsverket's list is updated, so check it before you introduce anything you are unsure about.
How do we handle allergies?
Introduce common allergens such as egg, fish, milk, wheat and peanuts in small amounts early, from six months, and keep giving them regularly. According to current knowledge that reduces the risk of allergy. If there is allergy in the family, talk to BVC first and do it at home, not at förskola (municipal preschool).
Does the food have to be organic or labelled as baby food?
No. Ordinary food you cook at home, without salt and sugar, is just as good. Baby food labelling is about limits for certain substances, and jar food is practical, but a homemade mash of carrot and potato is every bit as much baby food. What matters is that it is unsalted, soft and that your baby gets to taste lots of different things.