A Fail-Proof Baby Food Chart: From First Bite to the First Birthday (6–12 Months)

6–12 Month Baby Food Chart (Indian Meal Plan)

The below baby food chart provides a structured meal plan utilizing indigenous Indian grains and pulses.

This infographic is a month-by-month feeding guide for babies from 6 to 12 months. It shows what types of foods to offer at different times of the day (morning, meals, snacks, and night) as your baby grows. It will help parents understand how to gradually transition from milk to solid family foods in a safe, age-appropriate way.

Month-by-Month Feeding Guide (6–12 Months)

The transition from six to twelve months is a sequence of texture and frequency progress designed to move your baby from a purely liquid diet to solids.

Six Months feeding guide

At six months, the goal is to introduce the concept of swallowing solids. Breast milk or formula remains the primary source of nutrition.

• Frequency: 1 to 2 times daily.
  
• Quantity: Start with 1–2 teaspoons, increasing to 2–3 tablespoons.
  
• Consistency: Smooth purees, fine-strained soups, or thin gruels.
  
• Key Foods: Ragi malt, rice kanji, mashed banana, and stewed apple.

Seven to Eight Months Feeding Guide

During this phase, a baby begins to develop the ability to chew using their gums. Thickening the consistency of food is important for increasing nutrient density.

• Frequency: 2 to 3 meals per day.
  
• Quantity: 3 to 4 tablespoons per meal, moving toward half a 250 ML bowl
  
• Consistency: Mashed semi-solids, thick porridges, and well-cooked dal-rice mash.
  
• Key Foods: Moong dal khichdi with ghee, mashed papaya, mashed pumpkin, and suji (semolina) upma.
  

Nine to Ten Months Feeding Guide

By nine months, the baby should be offered lumpy textures to encourage chewing. Delaying this transition beyond ten months is associated with a higher risk of feeding difficulties and picky eating behaviors.

• Frequency: 3 to 4 meals per day plus 1 nutritious snack.
  
• Quantity: Half a cup 125 ML per meal.
  
• Consistency: Finely chopped, minced, or mashed foods with perceptible lumps; introduction of soft finger foods.
  
• Key Foods: Dalia (broken wheat) with vegetables, soft roti soaked in dal, paneer cubes (soft), and steamed carrot sticks.

Eleven to Twelve Months Feeding Guide

The final stage of the first year involves the baby consuming nearly all foods cooked for the family, with minimal adjustments.

• Frequency: 3 to 4 meals plus 2 snacks.
  
• Quantity: ¾ to 1 full 250 ML cup per meal.
  
• Consistency: Chopped family foods; your baby should be able to pick up and eat various textures.
  
• Key Foods: Vegetable pulao, mini idlis, vegetable stuffed paratha (soft), and seasonal fruit slices.
  

Why Does a Baby Need To Be Introduced to Solids at 6 Months?

Starting complementary foods at exactly six months of age, or around 180 days, is recommended because several important systems in your baby’s body are ready at this time. Before six months, your baby’s digestive system is still developing. The gut lining is more open and sensitive, and your baby does not yet produce enough digestive enzymes to properly break down foods like grains, lentils, or other non-milk proteins. By the time your baby reaches six months, their pancreas begins to release more amylase, an enzyme that helps digest complex carbohydrates found in foods such as cereals and pulses, making these foods easier and safer to digest.

At the same time, your baby’s kidneys are more mature. Earlier in life, the kidneys cannot safely handle foods with higher amounts of protein and minerals. Around six months, the kidneys develop a better capacity to manage this increased “solute load,” which means your baby can process more concentrated nutrients without becoming dehydrated or putting stress on their system.

There are also important changes happening with your baby’s nutrient stores. During the last trimester of pregnancy, babies build up reserves of iron and zinc, which support growth and brain development. By about six months of age, these stored nutrients start to run low. Although breast milk contains nutrients that are very well absorbed, it naturally has only small amounts of iron. Because of this, breast milk or formula alone can no longer meet all of your baby’s energy and nutrient needs. This creates what experts call an “energy and nutrient gap,” which must be filled with complementary foods that are rich in iron and zinc. Providing these nutrients at the right time is essential to support healthy growth and to protect your baby’s developing brain from problems such as poor growth and delayed cognitive development.

What Nutrients Does a 6–12 Month Baby Need Daily?

Necessary nutrients and their quantities for a 6-12 month old baby per day. A 6-8 month old baby needs 200 kilocalories, 9-10 mg iron, 1.5-2.0 mg Zinc and 2.0-3.0 g protein. A 9-11 month old baby needs 300 kilocalories, 9-10 mg iron, 2.0-2.5 mg Zinc and 4.0-5.0 g protein.

Neurodevelopmental Milestones and Oral-Motor Maturation

As your baby moves from a fully liquid diet to semi-solid foods, this change happens alongside important developmental milestones. Earlier on, babies naturally have a “tongue thrust” or extrusion reflex, which makes them push anything solid out of their mouth. This reflex helps protect them before they are ready to eat, but it gradually disappears around the time complementary feeding begins. When this reflex fades, it allows your baby to accept food instead of automatically pushing it out.

Developmental readiness is shown by the your baby’s ability to 

• Sit with Minimal Support.
  
• Maintain Head Control. 
  
• Demonstrate "hand-to-mouth" coordination.
  

Between six and nine months, your baby learns to move food from the front of the mouth to the back for swallowing, and by eight months, the "pincer grasp" begins to emerge, allowing for the introduction of finger foods.

Healthy Growth Foods for Babies: Protein, Fats, and Energy

In a vegetarian diet, the main challenge is making sure the baby gets enough good-quality protein and enough calories in the small amounts of food they can eat. No single food can give all the nutrients a baby needs, so it is very important to offer a variety of foods from different food groups to keep the diet balanced.

Most vegetarian proteins come from cereals (like rice and wheat) and pulses/legumes (like dals). On their own:

• Cereals are low in an essential amino acid called lysine.
  
• Pulses are low in sulfur-containing amino acids such as methionine and cysteine.

This means they are “incomplete” proteins when eaten alone.

The traditional Indian solution

Traditional Indian meals solve this naturally. When cereals and pulses are eaten together in a 2:1 or 3:1 ratio. For example:

• Khichdi
  
• Idli

They complement each other and together provide a complete amino acid profile, similar to what animal protein offers.

How much protein does your baby need?

For infants, the ICMR recommends about 1.69 grams of protein per kilogram of body weight per day.

Best Protein Sources for Infants

High-quality vegetarian protein options suitable for babies include:

Pulses and legumes

• Moong dal (preferred because it is easy to digest)
  
• Masoor dal
  
• Chickpeas
  
• Peas
  

Dairy foods

• Curd (yogurt)
  
• Paneer (cottage cheese)
  
• Small amounts of milk used while cooking (not as a drink before 1 year)

Soy products

Tofu, which is rich in protein and calcium, and is a nutrient-dense alternative

Stomach capacity of a baby

A baby’s stomach can only hold about 30 ml per kilogram of body weight.
So, a 7 kg baby can eat only about 210 ml at one time. Because babies can’t eat large amounts, the food they eat must be energy-dense. Complementary foods should provide at least 0.8-1.0 kcal per gram to meet energy needs without increasing food quantity.

Healthy fats for babies

Adding “invisible fats” is a key strategy recommended by NIN to boost calories without increasing food volume. Examples include:

• Ghee 
  
• Butter
  
• Vegetable oils
  
• Oils from oilseeds like sesame or peanut

Fats are important for babies because they:

• Help absorb fat-soluble vitamins: A, D, E, and K
  
• Provide essential fatty acids, especially Alpha-linolenic acid (ALA). ALA is an Omega-3 precursor and is crucial for brain (neuro) development.
  

Nurturing Your Baby’s Vitamins and Minerals Naturally

At 6 to 12 months of age, babies are growing very quickly, and their bodies need iron, zinc, and calcium in forms they can absorb well. Many plant-based foods contain natural substances called phytates and oxalates, which can reduce how much of these minerals the body actually absorbs, so careful food choices are important.

Iron for a 6 to 12 month baby

Iron is especially critical during infancy because a lack of iron can lead to iron-deficiency anemia, which has been linked to permanent problems with brain development, learning, movement, and coordination. Plant-based iron, called non-heme iron, is not absorbed as easily as the iron from animal foods. Because of this, the ICMR-NIN recommends always giving iron-rich foods along with foods that are high in vitamin C. Vitamin C, also known as ascorbic acid, helps by changing iron into a form that the baby’s body can absorb more easily. It does this by converting ferric iron into ferrous iron in the acidic environment of the stomach, improving iron absorption.

This table shows how to enable better iron absorption in babies. Iron-rich foods like ragi, lentils, spinach, and dried fruits support growth and brain development. Adding Vitamin C- rich foods such as lemon, tomato, amla, mango, or guava helps the body absorb iron better.

Calcium, Zinc, and Vitamin B12 for a 6 to 12 month baby

Calcium and zinc are also very important at this stage. Calcium is needed for strong bones and teeth as the baby grows rapidly. Indian nutrition guidelines especially highlight ragi because it contains a very high amount of calcium, about 344 milligrams per 100 grams. Zinc supports the immune system and helps with cell growth and development, and it is found in foods such as pulses, nuts that are finely powdered to make them safe for babies, and dairy products.

Vitamin B12 needs special attention because it is naturally not present in plant foods. Babies can get vitamin B12 from dairy products such as curd and paneer. Supplementation may be needed to prevent problems like megaloblastic anemia and serious effects on the baby’s nervous system, including neurological regression.

How to Successfully Feed Your Child?

Feeding your baby is not just about nutrition. It is also an important part of your baby’s emotional development and social learning. Every feeding moment helps your baby learn trust, communication, and healthy eating habits. This is where the concept of responsive feeding comes. Responsive feeding is a concept strongly recommended by the World Health Organization (WHO) and UNICEF. It means that the caregiver:

• Pays close attention to the baby’s hunger and fullness (satiety) signals.
  
• Responds promptly, gently, and appropriately.

Feeding works best when it is a two-way interaction between you and your baby, not something done to the baby. Scientific studies show that feeding styles that are casual (distracted or inattentive), or forced (pressuring the baby to eat) can result in poor food intake and create long-term eating problems later in life. A calm, loving, and responsive feeding environment supports both nutrition and emotional well-being.

Direct Assistance

• Feed infants directly when needed.
  
• As your baby grows, support and assist them as they begin to explore self-feeding.

Affective (Emotion-Focused) Feeding

• Maintain eye contact
  
• Talk lovingly to your baby
  
• Encourage eating without forcing or pressuring

Offering Variety Takes Time

• Babies may need 11 to 15 exposures to a new food before accepting it.
  
• Repeated exposure should be done patiently and without pressure.

Minimize Distractions During Meals

• Avoid using television or smartphones while feeding.
  
• Screens distract babies and prevent them from recognizing their own hunger and fullness cues.
  

How Do You Know If Your Baby Is Hungry or Full?

Babies communicate through subtle behavior changes, not words. Caregivers need to learn to observe and interpret these signals as a form of communication. Being attentive to these signs helps you:

• Feed when your baby is hungry
  
• Stop when your baby is full

This builds self-regulation and healthy eating habits.

This table explains how babies communicate during feeding by showing the difference between hunger signals and fullness (satiety) signals. It helps parents recognize when a baby is ready to eat, such as showing interest in food, and when the baby has had enough, such as turning away or refusing food. Understanding these cues helps parents feed responsively and avoid overfeeding.

Things to Watch Out

Choking Risks

Babies have narrow airways, approximately the diameter of a drinking straw. The shape and consistency of food are critical safety factors. The swallowing of food into the trachea is a leading cause of accidental injury in the 6- 12 month age group. The following modifications are required for a safe diet:

• Grapes and Cherry Tomatoes: Must be quartered lengthwise; never served whole.
  
• Hard Fruits (Apples/Pears): Must be steamed or finely grated.
  
• Nuts and Seeds: Must be finely powdered or served as a thin spread (e.g., peanut butter diluted with water or breast milk). A "glob" of nut butter is a major choking risk.
  
• Popcorn and Whole Corn: To be avoided entirely until the child can chew effectively, typically after age three.
  

Preventing Food Allergies in 6 to 12 Months Babies

Earlier advice recommended delaying allergenic foods, but major scientific studies have changed this understanding.

• The LEAP (Learning Early About Peanut Allergy) study
  
• The EAT (Enquiring About Tolerance) trials

These showed that delaying allergenic foods may have increased the risk of allergies, not reduced it.

Current recommendations

The Indian Academy of Pediatrics (IAP) and international health bodies now recommend:

• Introducing common allergenic foods after complementary feeding has started
  
• Usually between 6 and 7 months of age

Specific allergen guidance for Infants

• Gluten (wheat):- Can be introduced around 6 months
• Dairy (curd, paneer):- Highly recommended and important sources of vitamin B12 and protein
• Nuts (peanut and tree nuts):- Peanut and tree nut powders should be introduced early to high-risk infants (those with eczema) to build tolerance.
  

Foods and Substances That Must Be Avoided Before 12 Months

Some foods commonly eaten by adults are unsafe or harmful for babies and must be strictly excluded before the age of one year.

Honey

• Can contain Clostridium botulinum spores
  
• These can cause infant botulism, a potentially fatal paralytic illness

Salt

• A baby’s kidneys are immature and cannot handle added sodium
  
• Excess salt in infancy is also linked to high blood pressure later in life

Sugar

• Increases the risk of tooth decay (dental caries)
  
• Leads to early flavor programming, making babies prefer sweet foods
  
• Can replace more nutrient-dense foods

Whole cow’s milk (as a drink)

• Contains too much protein and minerals for infants
  
• Can cause hidden gastrointestinal bleeding
  
• Puts strain on the kidneys
  
• Interferes with iron absorption
  
• (Small amounts used in cooking are different and acceptable)

Fruit juices

• High in free sugars
  
• Very low in fiber
  
• Even unsweetened juice can reduce intake of breast milk/ formula and replace more nutrient-dense solid foods

Conclusion: A Science-Backed Nourishing Your Baby’s Best Start (6-12 Months)

This passage between 6 and 12 months is a very important and carefully timed stage in your baby’s growth and development. Complementary feeding during this time is not random; it follows the baby’s biological readiness and developmental needs. For families, the emphasis is on making the best use of traditional Indian foods that are naturally nutritious. Foods like ragi are valued for their high calcium content, dal and rice eaten together provide complementary proteins that work together to meet protein needs, and ghee helps increase the energy content of foods so babies get enough calories from small portions. At the same time, special care is taken to fill common gaps in diets, especially iron and vitamin B12.

When parents follow the guidelines, they can confidently guide their baby from very simple foods at six months, such as a single-grain puree, to eating a wide variety of family foods by the time the child turns one year old. This process is not just about making sure the baby eats enough calories. It is also about helping the baby learn and accept different tastes and textures, preventing deficiencies of important vitamins and minerals, and building a positive, responsive feeding relationship where the baby’s hunger and fullness cues are respected. Paying close attention to food safety, cleanliness, and slowly increasing food textures as the baby’s chewing and swallowing skills improve helps support healthy development. When done carefully, an approach to complementary feeding can provide a strong foundation for the child’s growth, brain development, and long-term health and well-being.

FAQs about Baby Food Chart

1. What is the best food to feed a baby at 6 months?

The best first foods for a 6 month old baby are soft, mashed, and easy to swallow, such as thick porridges or purees of seasonal fruits and vegetables. Malted ragi or ragi sattu gruel, rice kanji (rice flour porridge), mashed banana, and stewed apple are some excellent food options to feed your 6 month old. To ensure high nutrient density, porridges should be thick enough not to run off a spoon.

2. Can I give my 4-month-old stage 1 baby food? 

No, It is strongly recommended as per government and WHO guidelines to offer exclusive breastfeeding/ formula for the first 6 months (180 days). 

3. How many feeds should a 6-month-old baby have in a day? 

A 6-month-old baby should typically have 2 to 3 meals of solid food per day. These meals should be given in addition to frequent breast milk, which remains a vital source of nutrition and should be continued on demand.

4. What should I feed a 4-month-old baby? 

At 4 months, a baby should be fed exclusively with breast milk/formula. Breast milk/formula provides all the essential nutrients needed for physical and mental development during this stage, and no other foods, liquids, or even water should be given unless medically required. 

5. What is the 3-6-9 rule for babies? 

The "3-6-9 rule" is a common guideline used to remember the typical ages when babies experience growth spurts or significant developmental shifts. These occur at 3 weeks, 6 weeks, and 9 weeks, followed by another pattern at 3 months, 6 months, and 9 months. During these periods, babies may be particularly fussy, show an increased appetite (requesting more frequent feeds), and experience temporary changes in their sleep patterns.

6. Which foods help support a baby’s brain development? 

Key nutrients for a baby’s brain development include iron, iodine, choline, and healthy fats.

• Iron-Rich Foods: Essential for brain development; sources include iron-fortified cereals, beans, lentils, and green leafy vegetables like spinach and broccoli.  
  
• Choline: Important for memory function; found in egg yolks.
  
• Dairy: Yogurt and cheese provide calcium, which is part of the brain's electrical signaling system.
  
• Healthy Fats: Omega-3 fatty acids from oils (like olive or canola), walnuts, and tofu support cognitive growth.

Disclaimer: This content is provided for general informational purposes only and does not constitute medical advice. It is not intended to replace consultation with a qualified healthcare professional. Always seek the advice of a pediatrician or other qualified medical provider with any questions regarding a child’s health, nutrition, or development.