Starting solids: how do the first two weeks go?

The question I hear most often in clinic from parents of babies approaching six months is this: "What should we start with?" The second follows straight after: "What if they won't eat?" Both answers are calmer than you might expect. The first two weeks are not about filling your baby's tummy; they are about meeting the spoon, new tastes and the family table. During this time the main source of nutrition is still breast milk, or the formula your doctor has recommended. Two spoonfuls of purée in a bowl are not a meal but a moment of learning.

The World Health Organization (WHO) and the Turkish Ministry of Health stand on the same line: exclusive breastfeeding for the first six months, starting complementary foods at six months, and continuing breastfeeding up to two years and beyond. What I write below is about how that framework fits into everyday life. If your baby was born early, if their growth is being monitored, or if they have a known health condition, always decide on the starting point together with your baby's doctor.

Is your baby ready? Look at the signs, not the calendar

Six months is a guide, not a switch. Some babies are ready to sit at the table on the first day of the month, others a few days later. Rather than the calendar, watch for these signs:

Sitting upright: they can hold their body upright in a high chair without support or with very little support.
Head control: they hold their head steady and can lean towards the spoon and pull back.
A fading tongue-thrust reflex: they no longer push everything out with their tongue; they can move a soft purée to the back of the mouth and try to swallow.
Interest in food: while you eat, they follow your bite with their eyes, reach for the plate and open their mouth.

If these signs are not yet showing together, waiting a few days and trying again costs nothing. There is no need to start earlier because night waking has increased or because the baby "looks very hungry"; those wakings usually have to do with another developmental step.

The first day: timing, setting and two spoonfuls

For the first meal, choose a time when your baby is neither sleepy nor very hungry. In many families this is some time after the morning feed, towards midday. If your baby is hungry enough to fuss, breastfeed a little first, then move to the table. A hungry, grumpy baby has no patience for a new texture.

Make sure the high chair is upright and the baby's feet rest on something. Television off, phone in another room. Sit facing your baby and, if you can, eat something from your own plate. Babies learn by imitation; watching you chew helps them understand what the spoon is for.

On the first day, a teaspoon or two is enough. Bring the spoon to their lips and wait for them to open their mouth. If they don't, don't push; if they turn their face away, that is it for the day. A wrinkled face doesn't mean "I don't like it"; it simply means "this is new". Many babies accept a taste after meeting it a few times.

Add foods one at a time and observe

The most useful habit of the first two weeks is introducing new foods one by one. After offering a food for the first time, staying with it for a few days before adding the next makes it easier to find the cause if there is a reaction. If you notice redness on the skin, swelling around the lips, vomiting, marked fussiness or a clear change in the stools, pause that food and talk to your baby's doctor. With serious signs such as difficulty breathing or swelling of the face or tongue, seek emergency help without waiting.

An example of the first two weeks could look like this. It is not a prescription, just an idea:

Days 1–3: rice porridge or well-cooked, finely mashed pumpkin. One meal a day, a few spoonfuls.
Days 4–6: red lentil purée, kept loose and smooth.
Days 7–9: courgette or carrot, boiled and mashed with a little of the cooking water.
Days 10–12: well-cooked, mashed egg yolk, mixed into one of the earlier vegetables.
Days 13–14: homemade yoghurt or plain full-fat yoghurt, with a little apple purée stirred in if you like.

Banana, avocado, peas and sweet potato can also easily join these first weeks. It matters more that the order fits your kitchen than that it fits my list. A ladleful set aside from the courgettes in olive oil you are already cooking, taken out before the salt goes in, is just as valuable as a purée made specially for the baby. And your baby starts getting to know the family's food from the very first weeks.

Why does iron come first?

Babies are born with a certain store of iron, which starts to run low around six months. Breast milk is unique in many ways, but after this age it cannot meet the baby's growing iron needs on its own. That is why it is important to put iron-rich foods on the plate regularly from the first weeks.

Turkish cuisine is generous here. Red lentils, egg yolk, well-cooked and finely minced red meat and chicken, and in the following weeks chickpeas and fine bulgur are all close at hand. To improve the absorption of iron from plant sources, it helps to add something containing vitamin C to the same meal: a few spoonfuls of peeled, mashed tomato next to lentil purée, or a few drops of orange juice in a carrot purée.

Grape molasses, pekmez, is another food I am often asked about. It is traditionally known as a source of iron, but it is a form of sugar, and we don't add sugar to a baby's food in the first year. Meeting iron needs with lentils, eggs and meat rather than molasses is the sounder path. If your doctor has started your baby on iron drops, continue them as your doctor has advised.

Move textures on step by step

In the first days, a smooth purée makes swallowing easier. But staying at this texture for weeks can make the later move to lumpier foods harder. Progress roughly goes like this:

Purée: the first days. Smooth, slowly sliding off the spoon.
Mash: from the second week. Mashed with a fork, with small soft bits left in; like mashing a banana with a fork instead of blending it.
Small soft pieces: once the baby swallows mash comfortably. Pieces of boiled courgette, carrot or sweet potato that squash easily between your thumb and forefinger.

Gagging is common in this process and is usually part of learning: the baby learns to push forward a bite that is too big. Gagging is noisy; the baby coughs, goes red in the face and brings the food forward. Choking is silent: the baby cannot make a sound or breathe. To recognise the difference, I see attending an infant first aid course as one of the most valuable preparations you can make before starting solids.

What stays off the plate

In the first year, some things stay off the plate, and there is no flexibility here:

Honey: not given in any form before twelve months, including baked into cakes or cooked into dishes.
Salt and sugar: not added to baby food. If you set aside a portion of the family meal, do it before the salt, tomato paste and spices go in.
Cow's milk: not given as the main drink before one year. Yoghurt and small amounts of milk cooked into food are fine, but drinking milk from a cup waits until after the first birthday.
Choking hazards: whole nuts such as hazelnuts, walnuts and peanuts; whole grapes and cherry tomatoes; hard raw carrot or apple slices. Nuts can be ground to a fine powder and mixed into food; grapes and cherry tomatoes should be quartered lengthways.

There is no need to delay foods known as allergens, such as egg and peanut, "just in case". The current approach is to introduce them during the complementary feeding period, in a suitable texture and one at a time. However, if your baby has severe eczema or has reacted to a food before, plan in advance with your doctor when and how these foods will be given.

Breast milk, water and the end of two weeks

Starting solids does not mean breastfeeding will decrease. In these first weeks, keep breastfeeding on demand as before. The amount of solid food increases slowly over the months; breast milk remains the cornerstone of nutrition throughout the first year and, as the WHO recommends, can continue to two years and beyond.

Alongside solids, you can start offering a few sips of water at meals. Sipping from an open cup or a straw cup teaches both drinking and the use of the mouth muscles. Fruit juice is not needed at this stage; it is better to offer the fruit itself, mashed.

At the end of two weeks your baby may be eating a few spoonfuls, or half a bowl. Both are normal. The real gain is that you learn to read their signals: carrying on when they open their mouth, stopping when they turn their head. Seeing the bottom of the bowl is not the goal of this stage. A calm, curious baby at the table and an adult across from them who is in no hurry: that is the picture I hope to see after the first two weeks.