11 June 2026 · 5 min read
Your baby is watching your plate with fascination. They track the fork with their eyes, lick their lips, and are sitting reasonably steadily. Is it time to start solids? These signs are good indicators that your baby is ready.
The WHO recommends exclusive breastfeeding for around the first six months. For Germany, the Netzwerk Gesund ins Leben recommends starting solids no earlier than the beginning of month 5 and no later than the beginning of month 7, depending on when your baby is ready. ESPGHAN (the European Society for Paediatric Gastroenterology and Nutrition) gives a similar window: not before 17 completed weeks, not after 26 completed weeks.
The exact age matters less than the signs of readiness.
Your baby is likely ready when they: can sit with some support and hold their head steady, show interest in food (watching, reaching), and have lost the tongue-thrust reflex, meaning they no longer automatically push food out of their mouth.
Teething alone is not a sign of readiness. Some babies teethe early but aren't ready yet. Some start solids brilliantly without a single visible tooth.
Offer a variety of different foods over time. There's no need to routinely delay potentially allergenic foods as a precaution. If there's a known high allergy risk or existing allergies, discuss how to introduce them with your paediatrician.
The traditional German approach begins with a vegetable-potato-meat purée, followed by a milk-cereal meal and a cereal-fruit meal. In that milk-cereal meal, cow's milk is an ingredient rather than a drink in the first year, for how much cow's milk for toddlers is right, see our article. Finger foods and purées aren't mutually exclusive. The Netzwerk Gesund ins Leben still recommends the established complementary-feeding plan as a guide, while your baby can also pick up suitable soft foods by hand. If a family wants to do baby-led weaning exclusively, particular care should be taken to ensure enough energy and nutrients, iron among them. If you reach for shop-bought jars now and then, our article covers what to check on ready-made baby food.
Important in both: introduce iron-rich foods early, meat (even as a purée), lentil purée or iron-fortified cereals. Iron-rich foods should be part of complementary feeding from the start. In the second half of the first year, iron requirements rise, and breast milk or infant formula alone is no longer enough to reliably meet them. For a practical overview of the best sources, see our article on iron for toddlers.
Research by Coulthard and colleagues found that children introduced to lumpy textures late (after 9 months) were more likely to have difficulties with solid food at age 7. It's worth moving from smooth purée to soft, textured food around 7–8 months, even if it gets messy at first.
If your baby shows no interest in solid food by 7 months, gags excessively, or has swallowing difficulties, speak to your paediatrician. In most cases everything is normal, but a short consultation is sometimes helpful. For a guide to foods to avoid during this phase, see our article on what foods are unsafe for babies.
Term explained
Tongue-thrust reflex: An innate reflex that causes babies to push foreign objects out of their mouth. It protects newborns from choking and fades around 4–6 months, a key sign of readiness for solids.
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