6 months baby food chart (baby food recipes)
By Swasthi on August 6, 2022, Comments,
6 months baby food chart with baby food recipes. The best time to start solids for babies is after 6 months. There are many sources suggesting introduction of solids from 3 to 4 months. But an early introduction of solids can lead to more colic, digestive troubles and allergies.

A baby develops digestive enzymes in between 4 to 6 months which are crucial for digestion of foods. It is a good choice to wait until the baby develops these enzymes completely.
A baby typically begins to develop head control from 3 to 4 months and gains strong head to neck muscles by 6 months. A strong head to neck control helps the baby to accept solids well and can easily swallow.
So by 6 months a baby has a better digestive system and a good head control which are needed before the introduction of solids.
Breast milk is the best bet for the overall growth of a baby. It is recommended to exclusively breast feed a baby for the first 6 months.
As an exception, formula milk is an alternate for women who cannot breast feed baby due to professional, personal or medical reasons.
If you have a baby older than 7 months, you can follow this complete
baby food chart for 8 months old and above
How do you know your baby is ready for solids?
1. The baby’s head & neck are stable. This means baby can accept food and swallow.
2. Baby must be able to sit stable with or without support.
3. Shows interest in food when others are eating.
4. Baby must be able to open the mouth when food is offered.
5. Baby is still hungry after breastfeeding or formula feed.
Tips on how to start solids for baby
First consult your pediatrician to confirm if your baby is ready for solids. It is very important to plan well before you introduce any other foods apart from breast milk.
Make your own feeding schedule along with the foods you intend you try and get an approval from your pediatrician. Most clinics and hospitals also provide a diet chart or at least a guide.
I have made this from the guidelines I got from the Clinics here in Singapore. I have followed the same for both my babies.
1. Always start with a single food. Either a fruit, vegetable or grain. Avoid a mixture of foods. You can start with mashed fruit first. The presence of digestive enzymes in fruits helps the baby to digest them better.
2. After a week, while you continue feeding fruit, you can start rice water (kanji), after a week clear dal soup or boiled vegetable broth / water.
3. Always follow the 3 day wait rule for every food you introduce. Wait for the results until the 4th day. Please see the doctor immediately if your baby develops rashes, runny nose, watery eyes, colic etc.
4. Introduce new foods to your baby during breakfast or lunch. Avoid trying new foods during the later time of the day as it is easy to get a control over the problems.
5. A 7 month old baby can eat only a tsp of mashed food initially. Slowly by 4 weeks increase the quantity to a tbsp and then more.
Helpful tips – introducing solids for baby
1. Use stainless steel or glass bowls and cups for preparation of baby foods. Avoid plastic ware even made of any superior material, including virgin plastic or graded as BPA free. Any kind of plastic ware consists of plasticizers that are used to make the containers flexible.
Plasticizers are similar to BPA and are an endocrine disruptor. Even BPA free plastic and virgin plastic ware have chemical plasticizers. Please use google search for more info.
2. Always feed the baby in a calm, quite environment and in a steady place like – on the lap, in a high chair or on the floor.
3. While feeding, refrain the baby from activities like watching a TV show, playing with a hand held gadget like mobile, and tablet or game devices. Some of these emit radiation that is not good for the baby.
4. Meal time has to be a learning for the baby, speaking to your baby about the food – its texture, taste and color helps the baby to develop a liking for the food. Or narrate a good story to the baby, do not encourage the baby to talk while eating. This may seem to be over disciplined but this is the only way i have found to grow fuss free kids. They will begin to love any food that is served.
5. Introduce water from a steel cup or a glass not from a feeding bottle or sipper. A 90 ml cup is best suited. This makes the transition from teat to cup easy when the baby grows up.
6 months baby food chart
To follow this baby chart please ensure your baby has completed 6 months and you have an approval from your pediatrician for the same.
A baby usually consumes milk every 2 to 3 hours. Solids should be served in between the feeds. Use plain boiled and cooled water to puree the fruits if needed. Avoid mixing milk or any other ingredient with fruit.
The combination of fruit and milk products results in indigestion, loss of appetite, no weight gain and accumulation of toxins.
Clear soups can be used to make pureed rice, oats or ragi cereal. Feeding only clear soups regularly is not a good idea as they lack the nutrition that is provided by a semi solid food or milk.
I have shared a sample baby food chart below which shows the quantities of fruits and vegetables. From the chart (day 13 to day 20), you can replace potato with rice porridge (kanji) or dal soup or ragi porridge.
This is an alternate table which you can follow if your baby is in between 6 and 7 months.
Breastfeed or formula milk. What ever time your baby wakes up. |
7.30 to 8 am fruit puree |
One of the following: (only after 1½ to 2 hours of milk). You can use boiled cooled water to thin down the puree. 1. Banana- mash with a fork or run in a blender. 2. Apple- peel,core,steam for about 5 to 6 minutes. Puree in a blender 3. Chickoo (sapota)- mash with a fork and spoon 4. Pear- peel and core, steam for 5 to 6 minutes 5. Papaya – mash with a fork or blend 6. Ripe avocado – add it to a blender and puree |
11.30 to 12.30 pm |
After introducing fruits, you can try these. Continue to feed fruits for breakfast. first 1 week – rice cereal 2nd week apple rice or rice cereal with boiled carrot 3rd week ragi porridge Or apple ragi or oats porridge Or apple oats Or clear moong dal soup 4th week – Repeat the foods mentioned above. You can also introduce soupy khichdi. You will have to make it following the same method I mentioned for rice cereal above. |
Breast feed or formula (only after 1.5 to 2 hours of lunch) |
Baby food recipes for 6 months old along with ingredients and instructions to prepare
These are the quantities i followed for my kids i got from the Health Promotion Board,Singapore.Use any one
Quantity of fruits for 6 months to 9 months
½ small apple
½ small pear
½ cup sapota
½ cup papaya
½ medium banana
How many times can the same fruit be given in a week?
Including a variety of fruits will provide different kinds of nutrients to the baby.
Banana – 3 to 4 times
Apple – daily
Chickoo- daily
Pear- 3 to 4 times
Papaya – 4 to 5 times
Avocado- 3 to 4 times or daily
Do read the complete post before you attempt any of these recipes
More tips on preparing Lunch
from 3 rd week – Rice, ragi or oats. Clear dal soup with veggie.
first 7 days (from 3rd week) -Single grain with milk (formula or breast milk). You can also use gluten free or baby oats or ragi to make porridge.
next 7 days – Rice with a single veggie or apple. You can use steamed or boiled carrots.
VEGETABLES to prefer
1. carrots
2. pumpkin
LENTIL/ DAL to prefer
1. moong dal
2. toor dal

About Swasthi
I’m Swasthi Shreekanth, the recipe developer, food photographer & food writer behind Swasthi’s Recipes. My aim is to help you cook great Indian food with my time-tested recipes. After 2 decades of experience in practical Indian cooking I started this blog to help people cook better & more often at home. Whether you are a novice or an experienced cook I am sure Swasthi’s Recipes will assist you to enhance your cooking skills.
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Thanks Swasthi… It really helps
Thanks swasthi
Thanks Swasthi, for the information…It was really very helpful
Hi mam can I give biscuit to my 6 months baby
Hi Reena,
6 months is too early for biscuit. Ask your doctor if you can give baby biscuits.
Thanks Swasthi for giving the information it’s really helpful.
Glad it helps Moni
Hi ma’am
My baby boy is now 6 months now his weight is 5.8kg.how to gain weight for baby ma’am
Hi Lavanya,
Please check with your doctor. Get a growth chart done and track that regularly so you know if it is normal. Also check if you can start with solids. In India usually Doctors suggest solids from 5th month and this helps to gain weight. Hope this helps
Now he weight only 5.8kg.so I’m worried about baby weight please let me know ma’am what should be done for weight gaining.
Hi ma’am
My baby boy now 6 months what should be proper weight .bcoz my baby looks like too weak
Hi ma’am my beby is now completed 5 month and 2days & her weight is 6.5kg can I start solid food for her weight gain.plz guide to me.
Hi Aishwarya
Consult your doctor once and then start slowly with vegetables/fruits
Hi,
Is it good to give dal soup water, because i feel that it will be gas/digestion problem for 6 months old baby boy??????????????
Hi Sharmila,
Sorry! I think I am too late. You can consult your pediatrician and then start dal water after your baby completes 6 months. A baby can only consume a few tsps when you start so it won’t cause gas. But ask your doctor as 6 months may be too early for some babies to start on solids. Hope this helps
Hi ,
I have gone through all conversation and it is very useful, thank you so much for your great job and am mother for 2 baby boy and now he is just completing 5 months, we started giving cereal wheat and fruits flavor , i just want to know in a day how many times we can feed sloid food and what are all they…………please help me with this
Hi mam,
I have twin girl baby.one baby not take proper breastfeeding. She take only 3 to 5 min.after she will cry.I give any alternate food to my baby mam.pls give any solution. Now 5 month running mam.correctly 141 days.
Hi Pavithra,
Staring solids this early at 5 months should be done only on a pediatrician’s’ suggestion. Or you can also move to formula. If a baby cries while breastfeeding it is mostly due to colic or not enough milk. I am thinking this to be a colic issue. Some babies need to be burped after every 2 mins of feeding. With the current situation I don’t know whether you have been trained to do this or no by your pediatrician or nurse. Try burping after every 2 to 3 mins of feeding. Wait for the burp and then only continue to feed. The next thing to focus is the posture while feeding. Last one is to focus on your diet and avoid foods that may cause colic. I think your elders in the family should be able to help you with the diet. For feeding postures, pls look online to know the correct postures. Hope these help.
Hi Swati,
Could you please tell how to make banana puree. As there are different types of bananas (nenthra pazham) in Kerala, do we need to steam it before making the puree. Help appreciated
Hi shabna
Yes kerala banana are steamed first until 10 mins, cooled and then pureed. Steaming helps in easy digestion. Other kinds of bananas don’t need to be steamed.
My 6 month old baby likes to sleep right after a solid meal by sucking on my breast for a few minutes. So even if I give him rice cereal or banana, he likes to suck milk for a few minutes after that and falls asleep on my chest.
If I don’t feed him breast milk after any fruit or rice cereal, he just refuses to sleep and keeps on crying.
You have mentioned not to add milk while feeding solid- which I don’t but he drinks breast milk after any meal. Is that fine ?
Yes it’s fine
Nice helpfully
Hi Swathi
As you mentioned above for making puree can we use breastmilk instead of water to make the thin consistency? Please.
Hi Soundarya
I always used warm water/ dal water/broth or clear soup.
How will I know my baby’s tummy is full. Some says when she burps dat means it’s full.. some say no it’s only gastric…. pls help me
Hi Nasha,
Yes most times a burp means colic. I would maintain a time schedule for feeding 20 mins is max. This worked out very well for me. When the baby completes 1 year then 35 mins. Try this. It works.
Hi Swasthi
My 6 month old baby spits food out .he only sucks water properly. Rest all semi liquid or semi solid he spits. But he shows keen interest in our food such as roti ,rice etc.What must be done.pls guide
Divya
Hi Divya,
6 months is too early for a baby to eat solids. So go slow and feed only fruit and vegetable purees first. 1/8 tsp or even lesser must be given for each bite. The purees must be of free flowing consistency otherwise the baby cannot swallow. Hope this helps.
Thank you for your useful and much needed post on nutritious food and teaching your child to Love Good Food! This BS of parents claiming that they’re children are picky eaters is out of hand, parents act as if their child was born with a chicken nugget/cookie/fries/chips/so on in hand. They gave it to their kids and now do not want to be held responsible for their poor decisions. Our children need us to be responsible parents. I discovered your blog through Google. My sweet little one has recently reached 6 month, so we’ll be starting to introduce some nutritious foods to him. Thank you so much, and please keep up the great work! You’re my blog to go from now on for his menu, and also for us because both my husband and I love Indian food. Much Love to you and your family! ?
Hello Tamara,
You are most welcome! Glad you liked the blog! Thanks much! Hope your little one enjoys the food.
Sorry for the late reply! Just got a bit busy with the Diwali celebrations.
🙂
Plz tell me right amount according to the bowl for 6th month starting to 7th month..
Hi Neha,
A 6 month baby cannot eat a lot. May be a tsp to tbsp initially. You should not feed a lot as it leads to colic and digestion problems. We usually start with only a tsp. This helps to analyse well if the particular food is suitable to your baby. I have mentioned the quantities in the image. You can also download it for your reference. Hope this helps
Hii.. my baby is 8 months old and when I give banana puree i. e, half banana in evening snacks she eats it complete and again she asks.. can I give one full banana one one apple.. plz suggest me
Hi Deepika,
We usually give only the yellow small bananas. I had fed my babies 1 full banana from 6 to 7 months, 2 small bananas after 8 months. But it depends. many elders say too much banana can cause wheezing and phlegm problems. If you live in a hot place then 1 full banana should be okay. Just limit to 4 days a week. 1 full apple is fine. Hope this helps
Hi my son is seven months. It is very useful to me thanks dear
Welcome Sumitha