Baby Weaning Food Guide: 4 to 7 months

Created by Puja Sharma Vasisht Updated on Dec 30, 2020

What should I start with for my 6 month old baby? Can I give egg to my child? When can I start with other types of milk? If these are the questions you have regarding your little one, then you are not alone. We all want to feed the healthiest foods to our little ones, but are confused with what, how and when? Don’t worry, read on to find how to go about weaning or introducing solid foods in your infant’s diet.
When a child is born her body is attuned to have milk only. The child lacks digestive enzymes to take other solid foods. But as the child is growing, milk alone doesn’t remain sufficient.
So when is the right time to start weaning?
Ideally a baby should be exclusively breastfed till 6 months of age. But if need be, and after paediatric consultation, some children can be started on other food sources by 4 months. This can vary from children to children depending on their growth and development and behavioural changes such as curioisty and interest towards food.
4-5 months
What to give?
A healthy mother’s milk is sufficient to meet a baby’s nutritional requirements, except iron, in this age. So start with strained vegetable soup including green leafy vegetables (but do not stop the milk feeding). Fresh fruit juice is also given to make up for vitamin C, however the juices should not be from sour or citrus fruits.
How to give— make sure soup is well cooked, strained, and warm. Seasonings are best avoided. Start with a ½ a spoon and gradually increase the amount to 50 ml. If giving fruit juices, it should not be sour. Strain it well to sieve off any pits or fibre.
5- 6 months
The infant is doubling her birth weight. Her needs are increasing. You may start with starchy foods. From clear liquids, it is now flowing semi-solid. It can be rice kheer, suji kheer or phirni (provided you get a clearance from your paediatrician about using cow’s milk). Other altrernatives are mashed fruits such as banana, chickoo, stewed and mashed apples/pears, or boiled and mashed vegetables such as lauki, tinda, tori, kaddu, potatoes etc.
How much- starting from a spoon or two, you may give upto ½ to 1 katori.
Consistency- mash well or blenderise to start with.
6-7 months
What to give- You can continue with giving starchy vegetables like boiled and mashed potato with butter, fruits like banana mashed with milk, half boiled egg yolk and moong dal if your child tolerates it well.
How much – For starchy vegetables & fruits, start with 1-2 spoons and increase to ½-3/4 katori.
Consistency- mash well/blenserise, depending on the infant’s acceptability.For eggyolk (half boilled) start with half a teaspoon and gradually you may give one egg yolk.
When offering an infant some new food, watch out for any distrubances related to digestion such as change in the consistency, unhealhty smell, or colour of stool, or even for a pattern change. This will indicate what foods your child’s body is accepting well.
Disclaimer: Exclusive Breastfeeding is best for babies for the first 6 months. Breast milk provides the ideal balanced nutrition and protection. However there maybe individual instances where introducing first foods maybe required depending on the child's needs and issues related to mother's milk supply. Please consult a pediatrician to make a more informed choice.
This content has been checked & validated by Doctors and Experts of the parentune Expert panel. Our panel consists of Neonatologist, Gynecologist, Peadiatrician, Nutritionist, Child Counselor, Education & Learning Expert, Physiotherapist, Learning disability Expert and Developmental Pead.



| Sep 28, 2015
@Shailaja,@Prabhjot, Hi if you read the blog carefully, it is mentioned that you exclusively breastfeed the child for 6 months. However, sometimes when the child's need may not be met by breastmilk alone, this is specially true for iron and vitamin C needs. A mother's milk may provide upto 3 months only for iron & Vit C needs and then you need iron supplementation. So under the guidance of paediatrician (mentioned in the blog), you may start with green leafy vegetables (good source of iron and fruit juice (not citrus or sour). Fruit juice can be of apple or pomegranate too.

| Sep 29, 2015
Good and informative article! Yes times have changed now. In cases of problem with mother's feed being sufficient for the baby, docs are recommending weaning foods as early as 4 months. I started off with banana and moong dal water at 4. 5 months for my daughter and she loved them both. She is 5. 5 months now and I plan to introduce her to something new from this article.



| Oct 01, 2015
Thx alot puja ..i also wanted to know my baby is suffering from constipation.. m trying to give him fibrous diet.. will fennel seed water help? Or is thr any other home remedy.. i havent started ragi with a fear of my baby getg constipated.. this is d first time he is constipated.. he is 7 n half mnths old..




| Oct 31, 2015
This blog is very informative, but I need to understand basis what we can decide if we should start giving food to the baby. Even my Dr has also suggested giving food to the baby, but I still hesitate to give her anything apart from breast milk. I also want to know if I can give my daughter Nan pro 1... Please help.

| Nov 09, 2015
@Soumya, Hi, your doctor sees your baby's growth and development in person. So accordingly they judge and advice on whether to start weaning or complementary foods before 6 months or not. So if advised you may start with weaning food. Nan pro 1 is formula milk. If you are not lactating enough, then take advice of your paediatrician.











| Jun 01, 2016
hi, my baby is 5 months old. I suffered from poor lactation and therefore started weaning my baby earlier. as per the doctors advise I started giving him nestum rice and isomil formula. He was completely ok with the diet. He has now started refusing feeds completely. He even refuses my feed. the same thing happened to him a month back and he was diagnosed with an indigestion. the same thing has started again . He's very cranky about feeds. please advise.








