At this age, add more texture to mashed foods to support the development of chewing skills.
Your baby is ready for more textures and lumpy foods if they:
- are learning to crawl and may pull themselves up to stand
- are interested in a wider range of food and varied texture
- still needs some help to eat
- can bite well and can chew soft lumps.
Spoon foods
Examples of appropriate spoon foods are:
- mashed food with:
- minced or finely chopped meat, chicken, kaimoana (seafood) or egg
- slightly mashed legumes
- chopped noodles or pasta
- rice
- breakfast cereals (ensuring they do not contain nuts, large seeds, dried fruits or other small hard foods)
- yoghurt or custard with chopped soft fruit.
Finger foods
Introduce slightly firmer finger foods, such as:
- ripe fruit such as kiwifruit, orange, avocado, peach, apricot, pear or cooked apple
- cooked pumpkin, kamokamo, cassava, taro and kūmara
- finely grated raw apple and carrot
- toast fingers
- puffed crispbread
- grated or thin slices of cheese.
Find out more from the Ministry
The Ministry works to ensure that nutrition recommendations for New Zealand health practitioners and consumers have a sound evidence base.
Visit the Nutrition section in Our work to find out more, or read the Healthy Eating Guidelines for New Zealand Babies and Toddlers (0–2 years old).
