2. It is recommended that your child
should begin eating solid
food by the age of 6 months.
However it's important to
determine whether
your baby
is ready for solids
before you introduce them.

3.  Your baby's tongue-thrust reflex is gone
or diminished. This natural reflex, which
prevents infants from choking on foreign
objects, also causes them to push food
out of their mouths.

4.  Your baby can support his or her own
head. Even if your baby can't quite sit up
on her own yet, he or she needs to be
able to hold his or her head up in order
to start eating solids.

5.  Your baby seems interested in food. If he or she is
watching the food you're eating, reaching out to
grab your food, or licking their lips when they smells
new foods, they are probably craving the variety
that comes with starting solids.
 Baby can hold food in their mouth and swallow
instead of pushing it back out on
their chin.

6.  Leaning back
 Turning away
 Pushing food out of their mouths
 Sealing their lips together
 Playing with the food
 Pushing the bottle or spoon away

7. Babies’ development does not always match their
actual age. Babies may be developmentally delayed
in their feeding skills due to:
 Prematurity
 Multiple hospitalizations
 Low birth weight
 Abuse or neglect
 Not having eaten by mouth for a long time (i.e., fed
only from a tube in the stomach or inserted in a vein).

8. Feeding solid foods too early may increase the risk
that babies will:
 Choke on the food
 Develop food allergies
 Consume less breast milk or formula

9. Delaying the introduction of solid foods beyond the time when a baby
is developmentally ready for them increases the risk that babies will:
 Not learn to eat solid foods properly
 Become malnourished
 Have low iron levels
 Not grow normally
Most babies are ready to eat solid foods at 6 months
of age.

10. Do not feed babies these foods, which present a choking
hazard:
 Snack potato or corn chips
 Pretzels
 Cheese twists
 Cookies or granola bars
 Crackers
 Breads with seeds, nut pieces, or whole grain kernels such
as wheat berries
 Whole kernels or cooked rice, barley, or wheat. These
should be finely ground or mashed before feeding to
babies.

11.  Raw milk: cow’s milk could be contaminated with harmful
substances. Only pasteurized milk products should be used
once milk is introduced at 12 months of age.
 Raw or undercooked eggs, meat, poultry, or fish: These foods
can contain harmful bacteria, parasites, and other harmful
substances.
 Home-canned foods: These foods can contain harmful
bacteria if improperly canned.

12. Sweeteners (e.g. sugar, syrups), eaten alone, added to foods,
or in prepared foods, promote the development of tooth
decay in babies. Therefore, avoid feeding babies:
 Commercially prepared baby food desserts
 Commercial cakes, cookies, candies, and sweet pastries
 Added sugar, molasses, maple syrup, and corn syrup, or
other syrups in the baby’s food, beverages, or water.

13. Honey should NEVER be fed to babies less than 1 year of age.
Honey may contain substances that can cause “infant
botulism,” a serious type of food-related illness that can
make a baby very sick. Do not feed babies honey alone or in
cooking or baking or as found in prepared foods such as:
 Yogurt with honey
 Peanut butter with honey
 honey graham crackers

14. Do NOT feed artificially sweetened foods or
beverages to babies.
 Babies have no need for low calorie foods.
 Artificial sweeteners have not been proven safe for
consumption by babies.

15. During a baby’s first year, good
nutrition and good eating habits will
help the baby to grow up happy
and healthy.

16. DO WHY
Wash the baby’s hands To clean any dirt or germs off the
before feeding. hands and keep the baby’s
food clean.
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Use a small spoon or let the baby To help the baby learn proper
use his or her fingers. eating habits.
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Place food on the tip of the spoon and put food To make it easy for the baby to
on the middle of the baby’s tongue. swallow.
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Remove food from the jar before feeding. Do not feed To prevent the saliva from the
the baby from the jar. baby’s mouth spoiling the
remainder of the food in the jar.

17. If you have any questions, please talk
to a WIC nutritionist.