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First tastes, one table

The baby weaning meal plan

By David · Updated

A baby weaning meal plan starts around 6 months: bitter vegetables first, an iron-rich food most days, and common allergens like egg and peanut early, one at a time. It also has to fit around the dinners you already cook, with one shopping trip and one base meal serving two plates. This guide covers the complete first week, plus a table for adapting seven normal family dinners into baby meals.

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This is a planning guide. For medical questions, talk to your pediatrician or health visitor: they know your baby, and they should weigh in before you start if your baby was premature or has eczema or a known allergy.

The readiness signs at six months

The NHS and the American Academy of Pediatrics both put the starting line at around 6 months, when three readiness signs appear together. Your baby can sit up and hold their head steady. They coordinate eyes, hands, and mouth: spot the food, grab it, aim it. And they swallow what arrives instead of pushing it back out. Chewing fists and waking at night look like hunger cues, but babies do both at every stage.

Milk stays the meal. Breast milk or formula carries most of your baby's nutrition through these first weeks, so serve tastes after or between milk feeds. And skip the purée-versus-baby-led-weaning debate: reviews of the evidence find no greater choking risk with baby-led weaning than with spoon feeding, and most families mix both, a soft steamed floret at lunch and a spoonable mash at dinner. Pick the texture that fits the food.

A real first-foods week

The week below suits a baby around 6 months and rests on three moves. Bitter vegetables go first: babies accept sweet flavors for free, broccoli needs the head start, and researchers link a savory start to less fussiness later. Iron starts in the first days, because a baby's iron stores run down around 6 months; lentils, fortified oat cereal, and red meat earn their slots. You serve allergens early, one at a time, in the morning, which leaves the whole day to watch for a reaction.

Day The taste Why it's on the plan
Day 1 Steamed broccoli: a soft floret to grip, or mashed with a splash of their usual milk Bitter veg first. One taste after the midday milk feed makes a full first day
Day 2 Steamed cauliflower, same two textures Second bitter veg. Repetition builds acceptance, and one new food a day keeps the week readable
Day 3 Red lentil purée, or iron-fortified oat cereal mixed with their usual milk First iron-rich food. Iron stores dip around 6 months, so iron starts in week one
Day 4 Well-cooked egg, mashed. A morning serving, small at first Allergen #1. A morning slot means any reaction happens while you're awake and watching
Day 5 Spinach and potato mash, plus a repeat of yesterday's egg A new vegetable, and the egg again. Repeating a tolerated allergen is part of the protection
Day 6 Slow-cooked beef, shredded fine and moistened, or stirred through veg mash Heme iron, the best-absorbed kind, and a real texture milestone
Day 7 Smooth peanut butter thinned into warm oat cereal, morning again Allergen #2, two-plus days after the first. Studies tie early peanut to much lower allergy rates

Swap ingredients as you like and keep the pattern: a vegetable most days, an iron-rich food most days, one new allergen every two to three days in a morning slot. Skip the temptation to introduce two allergens at once; when something flares, you want a single suspect. Week two repeats the shape with new ingredients: parsnip and green beans in the veg slots, sardines or more lentils for iron, wheat and yogurt as allergens three and four. Keep serving the foods your baby has tolerated, since regular repeats maintain the protection.

One dinner, two plates

Your baby's menu shouldn't be a separate menu. From the first weeks you can adapt most of what your household already cooks: take the baby's share out before the salt goes in, cook the vegetables a few minutes softer, and mash or slice to match their stage. The picky eaters plan uses the same move, "same dinner, two ways," for the toddler years. A week of family dinners, adapted:

Family dinner Baby's plate The move
Salmon traybake Flaked salmon (checked for bones) and a soft-roasted sweet potato wedge Roast the baby's corner of the tray unsalted; cut wedges finger-length for gripping
Spaghetti bolognese Unsalted sauce folded through well-cooked pasta, chopped or mashed Ladle the baby's portion out first, then season the pot
Roast chicken with vegetables Shredded thigh meat, moistened, with soft carrot batons Thigh stays moister than breast; steam the baby's carrots past family-firm
Vegetable curry night Mild portion with rice mashed in Split the pot before the chili goes in. Spices are fine; hold the heat for now
Sausage and peppers Doesn't adapt: sausages carry too much salt A planned-swap night. Pull a portion of day 3's lentil purée from the freezer

Some dinners won't adapt: takeout night, anything salt-cured, a curry with real heat. Name the baby's swap for those nights in advance, a frozen cube of a food your baby has tolerated. One batch of lentil purée poured into an ice cube tray covers two weeks of swap nights. Make that call on planning day, in the same 15-minute session as the rest of the family meal plan; at 5:45pm with a hungry baby on your hip, you'll grab whatever thaws fastest.

Safety rules for weaning

Weaning leaves most choices to you. A short list of rules stands. No honey before 12 months: honey can carry botulism spores a baby's gut can't handle. No added salt or sugar; season the family's plates at the table instead of the pot. No whole nuts, and nothing hard and coin-round: quarter grapes, cherry tomatoes, and big blueberries lengthwise, and cook raw apple and carrot soft or grate them. Eggs cooked through, white and yolk. Your baby sits upright, strapped in, and you watch each bite. Gagging (noisy, red-faced, self-resolving) is normal learning; choking is silent, so stay within arm's reach for the whole meal. Eczema or an existing food allergy moves the allergen steps to a doctor's desk: some babies should start those earlier or under supervision, and your pediatrician makes that call.

Running two menus on one plan

By week three you're running two menus at once: baby breakfasts and lunches on their arc, family dinners on theirs, plus the adaptation notes and swap nights connecting them. A whiteboard fails at this point, because one parent holds the details in their head while the other guesses. Both caregivers need to see the same week: which allergen landed Tuesday, whether the egg got its repeat, what the baby eats on sausage night.

In FamilyPlate, baby meals are meals in your household's shared library. Save "Baby: lentil purée" and "Baby: salmon + sweet potato" once, next to the family dinners you carve them from, and drop both onto the same week. Whoever does daycare pickup sees today's plan; when your partner swaps taco night, your phone shows the change. The week doubles as an allergen log both of you can check: egg went in Thursday, repeated Saturday, no reaction. One shopping list covers both menus, so the sweet potatoes for the traybake and the lentils for the freezer cubes ride in the same cart. The shared library and weekly plan are free on iPhone (iOS 17+), and the baby meals stay in the library; by the toddler years, "Baby: salmon + sweet potato" will be everyone's Tuesday dinner. If you're still in the newborn fog and solids feel far away, start with the new-parents survival plan. This guide picks up where it ends.

Questions

Weaning weeks, answered

When should I start weaning my baby?

Around 6 months, when your baby can sit up with support, hold their head steady, and bring food to their mouth. The NHS and AAP advise against starting much earlier. Milk feeds remain the main source of nutrition through the first weeks of solids.

Is baby-led weaning better than purées?

Neither. Reviews of the evidence find no greater choking risk with baby-led weaning than with spoon feeding, and most families combine both. Offer soft finger foods when the meal suits them and a spoonable mash when it doesn't. Your baby learns to eat either way.

When should I introduce allergens like peanut and egg?

Early: once first tastes are going down, from around 6 months for most babies. Offer one new allergen at a time in a small morning serving, then keep it in the rotation week after week. If your baby has eczema or an existing food allergy, talk to your pediatrician before starting.

What foods should a weaning baby avoid?

No honey before 12 months (botulism risk), no added salt or sugar, no whole nuts or other hard, round choking hazards, and eggs cooked through. You can adapt most other family foods: soften them, skip the salt, and cut them to a grippable size.

Do I need to cook separate meals for my baby?

No, with a handful of exceptions. Most family dinners adapt: set aside the baby's portion before salting, soften vegetables a little longer, and mash or slice to match their stage. One base meal serves two plates, and you plan swaps for the dinners that don't adapt.

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