Easy baby meal ideas for every stage of weaning
5 min read
Quick answer
Easy baby meal ideas are mostly ordinary family food made soft, unsalted and the right size: porridge with mashed banana, scrambled egg on toast fingers, lentils with mashed sweet potato, or fish with potato and broccoli. Match the texture to your baby's stage and leave out salt, sugar and honey.
- Start from what the family is eating, then soften, mash or cut it
- Do not add salt or sugar to food or cooking water
- Include fruit or vegetables at every meal
- Under 12 months, offer extra milk rather than snacks
- Always stay with your baby while they eat
What makes a good baby meal?
A good baby meal is soft enough for your baby's stage, has no added salt or sugar, and mixes a few food groups. You do not need a separate cookbook.
Aim to build each plate from a starchy food, a protein, and a fruit or vegetable. Over the week, include iron-rich foods such as meat, fish, eggs, beans, lentils, fortified breakfast cereals and dark green vegetables.
- Starchy foods: oats, pasta, potato, rice, toast, chapatti, couscous
- Proteins: eggs, fish without bones, chicken, minced meat, beans, lentils, tofu
- Vegetables: broccoli, cauliflower, peas, carrot, courgette, spinach
- Fruit: banana, pear, mango, peach, melon
- Dairy: plain full-fat yoghurt, pasteurised cheese
Easy baby breakfast, lunch and tea ideas
These ideas come from NHS baby and toddler meal suggestions. They suit babies who are already used to a range of foods, rather than very first tastes.
- Breakfast: unsweetened porridge made with whole milk, topped with mashed ripe pear or banana
- Breakfast: toast fingers with scrambled egg and sliced tomato
- Lunch: cauliflower cheese with soft cooked pasta pieces
- Lunch: scrambled egg with pitta or chapatti and soft vegetable fingers
- Tea: soft chickpea and cauliflower stew with mashed sweet potato
- Tea: lentil or lamb mince with a mashed potato topping and soft green vegetables
- Tea: flaked white fish cooked gently in milk, with mashed potato and soft carrot
- Pudding: plain full-fat yoghurt with fresh, tinned or stewed fruit
How do I adapt family meals for my baby?
Take your baby's portion out before you add salt, stock cubes, gravy or spicy sauces. Then change the texture to suit their stage.
Around 6 months, mash or blend soft food and offer soft finger foods. From 7 to 9 months, move to lumpier mash and more finger foods. By 10 to 12 months, most babies manage mashed, lumpy, chopped and finger foods.
Cook hard vegetables and harder fruit until soft. Remove bones, pips and stones. Cut small round foods such as grapes and cherry tomatoes into quarters.
How many meals a day does my baby need?
Around 6 months, one small meal a day is plenty, and milk is still the main source of nutrition. From 7 to 9 months, babies gradually move towards 3 meals a day: breakfast, lunch and tea.
By 10 to 12 months, babies have 3 meals a day plus milk feeds, and lunch and tea can include a main course and a pudding such as fruit or unsweetened yoghurt. Babies under 12 months do not need snacks. If your baby seems hungry between meals, offer an extra milk feed instead. From 12 months, the NHS says your child will be eating 3 meals a day and may also need 2 healthy snacks.
Foods to leave out of baby meals
A few foods need care or should be avoided in the first year and beyond.
- Salt and salty foods: stock cubes, gravy, bacon, sausages, crisps, ready meals and takeaways
- Added sugar, syrup and honey (no honey before 12 months)
- Whole nuts before 5 years (crushed, ground or smooth nut butter spread thinly is fine)
- Mould-ripened soft cheeses such as brie, and unpasteurised cheese, unless cooked in a recipe
- Raw or lightly cooked shellfish, and shark, swordfish or marlin
- Eggs without the British Lion stamp unless the white and yolk are cooked solid
Easy tips for tired days
Repeat what works. It can take 10 or more tries before a baby accepts a new food, so a refused meal is still worth offering again.
Batch cook and freeze small portions in ice cube trays or small pots. Shop-bought pouches and jars are fine occasionally, but squeeze them onto a spoon rather than letting your baby suck from the pouch. TinyMeals can suggest recipes matched to your baby's stage when you are short on ideas.
Sources
We check this guide against these sources. It is general information, not medical advice: speak to your health visitor, GP or paediatrician about your own baby.
Questions parents ask
Do I need to make separate baby recipes every day?
Usually not. Most baby meals can come from the family meal. Take your baby's portion out before adding salt, stock or strong sauces, then mash, chop or cut it into finger foods to suit their stage. A few batch-cooked portions in the freezer cover the days when the family meal does not work.
Can my baby eat the same meal twice in a day?
Yes. Repeating meals is fine, especially when you are tired. Over the week, try to include a mix of starchy foods, proteins, fruit, vegetables and full-fat dairy, plus iron-rich foods such as meat, fish, eggs, beans and lentils. Variety across days matters more than a different plate every meal.
Can I use jars and pouches for baby meals?
The NHS suggests using shop-bought pouches, jars and trays only occasionally rather than as everyday food. When you do use a pouch, squeeze it onto a spoon instead of letting your baby suck from it, which can increase the risk of tooth decay. Wait until around 6 months before using them, even if the label says from 4 months.
What drink should I give with baby meals?
From around 6 months, give your baby a little water at mealtimes, in an open cup or a free-flow cup with no valve. Breast milk or first infant formula stays the main drink until 12 months. Avoid sugary drinks such as fruit juice, squash and fizzy drinks, and do not give cows' milk as a main drink before 12 months.
How much food should my baby eat at each meal?
Let your baby lead. Start with a few spoonfuls or a few pieces and offer more if they seem keen. Signs they have had enough include closing their mouth firmly or turning their head away. Appetite changes from day to day, so do not force food or worry about one small meal.