Did you know that most pediatricians are unaware that the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) and the World Health Organization (WHO) encourage parents to wait until six months of age before starting a baby on solids? I also recommend delaying purees or baby-led weaning (BLW) until six months to reduce choking risks and respiratory infections. Starting solids is an exciting step for you and your baby, but I also know it’s HARD to wait! So, I made a pre-feeding checklist full of activities to help you with the feeding fundamentals you (and your baby) will need before starting solids. Hopefully, this list will help prepare you (and keep you busy) while you patiently (or not so patiently) wait to start first foods.

To get you started on your feeding journey, you need to know what to purchase and what skills to practice. I find that when parents do this work upfront (at around 4-5 months), the process of eating at mealtime (at 6 months) is so EASY and less stressful for both you and baby because you’ve done all the preparation!