According to Livsmedelsverket (the Swedish Food Agency), babies can have small first tastes from four months and should start on real food around six months. There is no set order for foods. Start with a teaspoon, increase at your baby's pace, and let breast milk or formula remain the main food until around the age of one.
Half past four on a weekday in a kitchen in Hägersten. A six-month-old sits in the high chair with a bib that is already carrot-coloured, a spoon in each hand and a third in mum's. Half ends up on the floor, some in the hair. That is exactly how it should look, and nobody is meant to end up full. Here is how to start, what can be given when, and what usually goes wrong.
When is your baby ready?
- Sits with support and holds their head steady
- Shows interest: follows the spoon with their eyes, opens their mouth, watches you when you eat
- No longer pushes everything straight out with the tongue; that reflex fades around four to six months
- Grabs things and brings them to the mouth
Age is a rule of thumb; the signs decide. A five-and-a-half-month-old who stares at your plate and smacks their lips is ready. A six-month-old who turns their head away can wait a week and try again. Babies born prematurely are often counted by corrected age; ask BVC (the child health clinic every family is enrolled in) what applies to your baby.
First tastes between four and six months
A first taste is a small amount, roughly a teaspoon, once a day, alongside a breastfeed or a bottle. The purpose is to get the baby used to taste and texture and to introduce foods that can cause allergy early, not to fill them up. The milk should not be reduced. If you would rather wait until six months, that is just as right. What you should not do is give food before four months, or wait much longer than six.
What can your baby eat, and in what order?
There is no proven order. Vegetable purée, potato, porridge, meat, fish, egg, beans, fruit: you can start with any of them. Two things do matter, though. One is iron: from six months the store the baby was born with is no longer enough, so meat, fish, egg, beans, lentils and iron-fortified porridge need to come in early. The other is allergens: egg, fish, milk, wheat and peanuts do not need to wait. Livsmedelsverket says the opposite: they can be given from the first tastes and then regularly, and research suggests this reduces the risk of allergy rather than increasing it.
| Food | From when | Keep in mind |
|---|---|---|
| Vegetables, potato, root vegetables | First tastes from 4 months, food from 6 | Mashed or puréed first, soft pieces after a few weeks |
| Porridge and välling | 4 to 6 months | Choose iron-fortified. Porridge is food; välling (a Swedish milk-and-cereal drink) is a drink and is not needed |
| Meat, fish, chicken | 4 to 6 months | Important source of iron. Finely minced, no salt |
| Egg | 4 to 6 months | Fully cooked. Give regularly once introduced |
| Fil, yoghurt, cheese | From 6 months | Small amounts. Milk as a drink only after one year |
| Peanuts and nuts | From 6 months as butter or purée | Never whole nuts for small children, choking risk |
| Honey | After 1 year | Can contain spores that cause infant botulism |
| Salt | As little as possible in the first year | The kidneys are immature. Set aside your baby's portion before you add salt |
| Rice products such as rice cakes, rice drink | Limit | Contain arsenic. Livsmedelsverket advises against rice cakes for children under six |
Purée or finger food?
Both work, and most families mix them. Purée on a spoon gives you control over the amount and is quick. Finger food, soft pieces the baby picks up themselves, trains grip, chewing and the feeling of being in charge. The right shape is pieces the size of a finger, soft enough to squash between your thumb and forefinger: steamed broccoli, boiled potato, avocado, banana, soft-cooked pasta, strips of chicken. Avoid anything round and hard: whole grapes, cherry tomatoes, raw carrot pieces, popcorn, whole nuts.
The baby should sit upright, never eat in a car seat or lying down, and never be left alone with food. Gagging will happen, often: the gag reflex sits far forward in the mouth in small children and is a protection. The baby coughs, goes red, maybe brings a little up, and then carries on. It is unpleasant to watch but harmless. Choking is something else: silent, the baby cannot get air. Learn the paediatric CPR techniques before you start; it takes an evening and you will sleep better.
What usually goes wrong
- Too much too fast. Lunch, dinner and snacks in the very first week. Then the milk drops, and the milk is still the nourishment. One meal a day is enough to begin with.
- Food when the baby is tired or too hungry. A screaming baby does not eat. Give milk first, or put the meal halfway between two milk feeds, when the baby is alert.
- Pushing. One more spoon, here comes the aeroplane. The baby decides the amount, every time. Babies who are pushed eat worse in the long run.
- Giving up after one no. It can take ten to fifteen tries before a baby accepts a new taste. Offer it again in a few days, without any fuss.
- Salt, honey and milk as a drink. The three most common mistakes. See the table.
- Välling in the evening to make the baby sleep. It rarely works and creates a habit that is hard to break. Sleep is governed by other things.
- A screen at the high chair. More food goes down, but the baby does not learn to feel hunger and fullness. That is the ability you want to build now.
- Pouches for everything. Practical on the bus, but the baby sucks instead of chewing. Spoon and pieces at home.
Water, drinks and vitamin D drops
From six months the baby can have a little water in a cup with meals, mostly for practice. Juice, squash and sweetened drinks are not needed at all. Vitamin D drops continue every day, whatever the baby eats. Cow's milk as a drink waits until the age of one; in porridge and cooking it is fine earlier. How the days then grow from one meal to three is in Baby feeding schedule 6 to 12 months.
How it works with our families
Esther has a family on Lidingö where the baby has just turned six months. She arrives at three and has a routine: bottle first, and half an hour later the high chair with two things on the tray, usually a mashed piece of potato and a few strips of soft chicken or some avocado. She eats alongside, the same thing. On the note she writes what was tried and how it went: egg today, second time, three spoons, no rash. Next time she sees whether it became a new favourite or whether the same thing goes on the floor again. That is how the family builds a list of what the baby actually eats, without anyone having to keep it in their head.
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.
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Read more: Baby feeding schedule 6 to 12 months · Homemade baby food · 4 month old baby · FAQ
Frequently asked questions
Should I start with vegetables or fruit?
It matters less than you would think. Many start with vegetables or potato so the baby does not get used to sweet first, and that is a reasonable way to think, but there is no scientific support for any particular order. What matters is that iron-rich food comes in early and that you vary things.
Can my baby have egg, fish and peanuts early?
Yes. Livsmedelsverket says the common allergy-causing foods do not need to wait, but can be introduced from the first tastes and then given regularly. Research suggests this reduces the risk of allergy, if anything. Peanuts are given as butter or purée, never whole, and egg must be fully cooked.
How much should a six-month-old eat?
A few teaspoons in the first weeks, then according to appetite. The baby decides the amount, you decide what is offered. The milk still provides most of the nourishment, so a day with three spoons and a day with half a bowl are both completely normal. The growth curve at BVC is the measure, not what went down today.
What do I do if my baby chokes?
Tell gagging and choking apart. Gagging is noisy: the baby coughs, brings a little up, goes red and sorts it out alone. Do not put your fingers in the mouth. Choking is silent: the baby cannot get air, turns blue. Then it is paediatric CPR: back blows and chest thrusts, and call 112. Learn the techniques in advance; it takes an evening.
Do I have to buy ready-made baby food?
No. Mashed boiled potato, carrot, meat or fish from your own dinner without salt works just as well and gets the baby used to the family's food. Ready-made jars and pouches are practical when travelling and nutritionally fine, but pouches make the baby suck instead of chewing, so use them as the exception.