Feeding your 7-month-old

Between 7 and 9 months, your baby is likely to make big advances in her eating habits. Once she’s been eating solids for a few weeks, you can gradually increase both the amount she eats and the variety of foods in her diet.

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At seven months, you can build up from two meals a day to three, and move on from fruit and vegetable purees to include new ingredients such as meat, fish, egg and cheese. Find out more about which foods are safe to introduce at this stage.

Try to make sure one meal a day contains one of these protein-rich foods. When she’s ready, you can also introduce a simple pudding (fruit puree, yoghurt or fromage frais) at one mealtime, probably lunch. See our recipe section for some tasty baby meal ideas.

Show me day-by-day meal planners for 7 months old

Feeding your 8-month-old

At eight months, your baby should be growing more adept at chewing and swallowing, so tailor the texture of her foods to suit her stage of development: you should now be able to mash rather than puree fish, cooked vegetables and soft fruit, but will probably still need to blend meat dishes until relatively smooth. If she's struggling, here's are a few tips to help her learn to chew.

Her appetite will be growing, so start giving her a dessert at both lunch and teatime, and introduce a simple finger food snack with her afternoon milk – as much for the eating practice as for nutrition.

Show me day-by-day meal planners for 8 months old

Feeding your 9-month-old

By nine months, your baby is likely to be dropping her lunchtime milk feed, so you’ll need to increase the quantity you offer her at this meal. Most mums find it easiest to give the main meal of the day at lunchtime, with a lighter dish for tea.

You can now introduce more grown-up flavours and ingredients, like baby pasta and rice, and aim to mash foods rather than pureeing them. See more on how to introduce lumpier foods. With the lunchtime milk feed out of the equation, you’ll probably also need to give your baby a more substantial afternoon snack with her milk.

Show me day-by-day meal planners for 9 months old

These meal planners are intended as a guide to weaning from 7 to 9 months, but always be guided by your baby’s appetite: some will want to go faster, whereas others will take longer to move on.

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Mix and match meals across the planner to provide your baby with different tastes and textures. If you have any concerns about your baby’s diet, ask your health visitor’s advice.

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