3 Signs You're On the Right Track With Starting Solids

Starting solids can feel like one giant question mark… wondering if you’re offering the “right” foods, stressing about portion sizes, and constantly questioning whether your baby is getting what they need.

If you’ve ever found yourself overthinking every feeding decision, comparing your baby’s meals to what you see online, or wondering if you’re somehow falling behind in the feeding journey, you’re not alone. Starting solids is often portrayed as something you need to perfect, but in reality, building a strong feeding foundation is much more about simple, consistent building blocks than doing everything “right.”

In this episode, Kathy breaks down the three biggest signs that your baby is actually on the right track with starting solids, regardless of how much they’re eating. She explains why focusing on key nutrients, introducing a variety of textures, and exposing babies to flavor early on can make a lasting impact on their relationship with food and eating habits long term.

She also shares why food under one is not “just for fun,” how outdated feeding advice may be creating unnecessary stress, and why feeding your baby should feel less like following a prescription and more like creating opportunities for exploration, nourishment, and confidence at the table.

Tune in to hear:

• Why iron and fat are the two key nutrients to prioritize when starting solids
• Why food under one serves a much bigger purpose than “just for fun”
• How to focus on quality over quantity during the early feeding stages
• Why milk feeds should not intentionally decrease before age one
• The outdated feeding advice parents can stop stressing about
• How to introduce multiple foods at once safely and confidently
• Why texture exposure between six and ten months matters so much
• The connection between texture progression and long-term eating habits
• Why babies benefit from messy eating and sensory exploration
• How flavor exposure shapes food preferences later in life
• Why babies do not need bland food to eat safely
• What to know about honey, added sugar, sodium, and spice in baby food
• How to make starting solids feel simpler and more sustainable
• Why your own nutrition and relationship with food matter in the feeding journey
• The three signs that can help reassure you that you’re already on the right track

Connect with Kathy:

IG: @theminimedietitian

Website: https://theminimedietitian.com/ 

Watch my FREE 60-minute Masterclass: The 5 Habits That Are Sabotaging Your Toddler's Nutrition (and what to do instead)

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Hi there, welcome back to Food for Thai. If you're in a season of feeding a baby and you've ever asked yourself, am I on the right track with starting solids? This episode is for you. Just as a general disclaimer, information shared in this podcast is for educational and informational purposes and does not replace individual recommendations that may be necessary for your child. Okay, so let's jump in because it is equally overwhelming and exciting to be feeding your baby. But what nobody talks about is that it's not just figuring out what to feed that feels hard. It's all of the millions of questions that come with it. So when I start working with a mom, oftentimes the first thing she says to me is, I just want to know that I'm on the right track. Can you just tell me that I am on the right track? I want to set my baby up for success. I want to make sure I'm providing the nutrition that they need, and I want to ultimately prevent picky eating, usually is the long-term goal. And the first thing I tell my clients is that we have to slow down. We have to take this one step at a time and really build the fundamentals first. I see a feeding journey like building blocks. It's not something you have to figure out all in one day. But today, what I'm going to walk you through are the three things that I focus on with my clients when starting solids because these are the signs that you're on the right track. Regardless of how much your little one is actually consuming, that's a question I get a lot too is how do I know if they're getting enough, right? What is the right portion size? What's too much? What's not enough? And really what we have to do is take a step back and look at the bigger pieces, the bigger picture, those building blocks. Are we hitting those building blocks in a way that is meeting your baby where they're at? Because every baby develops on their own timeline and that is also moving them along the feeding journey in a way that is setting them up for success and you up for success. So, number one in the three signs that you are on the right track is that we are prioritizing key nutrients. So when I'm looking at these three signs, I'm looking at this through a dietitian's lens, but also there are so many different layers to feeding a baby. It's not just about what we feed, it's also about how we feed. If we are looking to set a little one up to be adventurous, to be curious about food, and really to build that strong foundation that is going to help them to be a healthy, adventurous eater for the long haul. But priority number one is nutrients when we are starting solids. And a lot of people will say, you know, food under one is just for fun. And while I love this topic, right, I've actually done a whole podcast episode on this. But while I love that statement and the intention of it, because food should be fun, it should be exploratory, it should be playful, but it also serves a huge purpose nutrient-wise. So when babies are in utero, when your baby was in your belly and you were pregnant, they were storing up iron from you while they were in utero. By about six months of age, they have used up those iron stores, and it now becomes important for iron to be coming from their diet. So iron is a key priority nutrient for babies when we are starting solids. The other nutrient that's really important is fat. Babies are growing at a super, super rapid rate, and we need a lot of energy to support that growth that is happening very quickly. And so iron and fat are my top priority nutrients when we're looking at foods to offer, right? A lot of times, and what traditional baby feeding looks like, it's typically starting with fruits and vegetables, which are not bad at all to start with. Or sometimes that looks like starting with an iron-fortified cereal, which can also be a great source of iron. But looking at really variety in this season of starting solids, what we are looking at is nutritional quality, because a lot of times babies aren't going to eat a lot from the very start. So where this comes from to start is by offering a source of iron and a source of fat, ideally, every time that your little one is seeing solid foods when they are starting. Because even when you're starting around that six-month mark, we're really just starting with one meal a day and then advancing from there. So the approach that I like to take with my clients is to even align that one eating opportunity, like when you're getting started, with a time that you are also eating. Because the nutrients that your baby needs, you also need. So if we are allowing your baby to have parts of what you are eating, they're actually more likely to get the nutrition that they also need as long as you are also prioritizing your nutrition. And listen, I know this is so hard to do because if you're feeding a baby right now, you are also still postpartum. Like you are just figuring out life with a baby. And I know how easy it is to get to the end of a day and realize you haven't eaten much yourself, or you've really only focused on feeding your baby and meeting their needs. And that's exactly why I come alongside moms to have a simple, strategic, and sustainable plan that actually puts you at the center instead of as an afterthought. Because as much as your baby's nutrition is important, yours is too. And when we're prioritizing yours first, then your baby's kind of just like falls into place really simply. So going back to the not just starting with fruits and vegetables, what I mean by that is that iron and fat are key nutrients. Let's talk about what foods that look like. So this could look like meat, eggs, beans, that would be sources of iron. Sources of fat would be uh things like avocado, nut butters, oils, full fat yogurt, or full fat milk, not as a beverage, but as an ingredient in things. So iron and fat, key nutrients. I could also do a whole episode on introducing allergens. We should probably do that at some point because those allergens should be introduced for a different reason early. But when we're looking at, okay, well, how do I serve sources of iron and fat to my baby every day if I'm only giving them solids once a day or maybe twice a day? And then we also have all these other milk feeds to fit into. So the first thing that we need to know is that when you're introducing solid foods or table foods to your baby, and guys, this applies whether you are starting with purees or with solid foods. So regardless of the approach that you're taking, these are still nutrients that we can be prioritizing. But when we're looking at those milk feeds, any food, whether it's purees, whether it's solid foods, those are complementary foods. So that is in addition to milk feeds. So we are not decreasing milk feeds like breast milk or formula once we start introducing solid foods. Those milk feeds we do not want to be intentionally decreasing for your little one until after the first birthday. So on the fruits and veggies front, on the iron and fat front, how do we do all of this when we don't have a lot of opportunity in the day? And a big, I would say, myth or feeding recommendation that I still hear to this day that is so outdated is that you have to introduce one food at a time and then wait a few days in between. And that is super outdated feeding advice. That is no longer the recommendation. The only foods that you need to go one at a time on are the top allergens. But with everything else, let's say it was beans and avocado and strawberries and broccoli, for example. That's a source of iron, a source of fat, a fruit, and a vegetable. We could actually offer that all in one eating opportunity. Now we also want to look at your baby's level of readiness, how they're what their demeanor is at the table, how they are interacting with food, because offering four different foods at one time may feel a little bit overwhelming depending on what stage of feeding your little one is at. But that's an example of how even in one meal we could pair multiple nutrients together and create a lot of nutritional bang per bite, so to speak. So that is number one. Sign number one that you're on a good track starting solids is that you are prioritizing key nutrients. And again, when we're looking at that bang per bite in those foods that provide the most nutrition, we are able to focus on quality over quantity so that we're not sitting there thinking, did they get enough? Because we also know that food is complementary to their milk feeds. Sign number two that you're on a good track with starting solids is that you're not staying on one texture too long. So texture is a huge part of exploring food and getting to know food. This is why I have such a love-hate relationship with pouches, which again, I could do a whole nother episode on that. Maybe I will do that someday. My love-hate relationship with pouches because purees or the texture that comes from a pouch is great in terms of providing nutrition, especially if we're choosing iron-rich sources or those that have sources of added fat, they can be really helpful. What we are seeing though is a rise in pouch-dependent babies and toddlers, where we are learning how to eat out of a pouch, or we are staying on that really pureed and thin texture for a long time and not actually learning how to eat solid food or advance in textures and solid foods. We have a lot of evidence to support that the period of time from six to ten months is when babies are the most willing to explore a variety of textures, not only textures, but shapes and colors and flavors. It's when they are willing to kind of get their hands dirty and be interested. And I say the get your hands dirty with total pun intended, because we want them to be getting dirty when they are eating. That's a huge part of learning food is getting messy. But even if you start with puree's, let's say, those are thin textures. We don't want to stay on that thin texture alone for too long. That doesn't mean that purees have to be completely phased out after a month of using them. Really, by nine months of age, we want your little one to be advancing to lumpier, more solid textures. Ideally, I would say way before that is amazing. Like the sooner the better, because we know that window of opportunity from six to ten months is when we are most willing to explore that variety of textures. But different textures can look like a lot of different things. It doesn't just have to be jumping from a thin puree to a solid piece of steak. That could look like utilizing thin purees and mashed avocado that's a little bit lumpier, or mashed beans, or something like cucumber that's a more resistive food, or corn on the cob that's a more resistive food, right? So there's a large spectrum of texture that we could look like. A we could look at a soft steamed vegetable, like broccoli that's steamed to be super soft. That's gonna be a different kind of texture. A raw fruit versus a cooked fruit, like a cooked, soft cooked apple versus a strawberry. Those are gonna be different textures, right? So we really want to utilize this window when your baby is the most willing to explore a variety of textures to offer a variety of textures. Now, when we take into consideration the nutrients that we're also prioritizing, and some of those examples that I gave there, those also directly line up with some of these examples that I just gave regarding texture. So when we're looking at these three signs, what I want you to be thinking about too is how can I be doing all of these three things at once? Because this is not to say you need to do more or you need to be adding more to your plate. It's actually how can I be kind of checking all of these boxes at one time where it still feels simple, where I'm not overthinking every single feeding decision, but I am checking these boxes that I know are going to set my little one up for success. When I say that we have a lot of evidence around this window of opportunity, what that evidence points to is not only that we know babies are more willing to explore before the first birthday, but also that it sets them up for better eating habits, more adventurous spirit around food, more curiosity around food, and less feeding challenges later in life. And so even if or when your toddler's feeding or eating habits change, what we do see is if we have utilized this window of opportunity as best we can to set our little ones up, they are more likely to be more adventurous eaters, not only in toddlerhood, but also to come back around to that later in life as well. So this window of opportunity really does make a long-term impact. Number three, sign number three that you are on a good track feeding your baby or starting solids is that you are seasoning your baby's food. So sign number three is flavor. Babies do not need bland food. We're gonna talk about things to watch for, or maybe things that we need to limit or omit that are important to know for your baby. But by and large, this idea that babies need to eat bland food or that their food just needs to be plain is not true. If we want your little one to be eating the family meal, like if you want to transition into toddlerhood and see your baby just eating the family meal alongside you, then we need to start doing that from the very beginning. If we put too much pressure on your baby's plates looking like everyone else's, okay, so this is a concept that I think about a lot with my clients is there is a lot of noise out there today. So many people are sharing what they feed their baby, how they feed their baby. It can be really intimidating, honestly, and really easy to get sucked into a comparison trap. I also think it's really easy to give yourself a prescription of, oh, this is what my feeding journey should look like based on what this other person is doing. But if we are putting pressure on you to make your baby's plates look like everything else you're seeing online or what you're seeing other people do, then they don't actually set you or your family up for success. And the reason that this applies when we're talking about flavor is because we need to take into consideration your preferences, your culture, your likes and dislikes. Sometimes we need to take these things into consideration so we can help you to branch out yourself a little bit, include a little bit more variety in your diet, if our goal is also to feed the baby what you're eating, but also to know that what your little one's normal is likely going to be, those are the kinds of flavors that we want to be introducing early on. So if you're a person who likes strong flavors, and that is how you cook, and our expectation is that our little one is going to eat the family meal with us too. We don't want to wait until they are toddlers or older children to start introducing those flavors because it's going to be harder for them to develop a preference, or it's just going to take a lot longer for them to develop that kind of preference. And you may get stuck in a, my kid only eats bland food or only likes bland food. So we want to utilize this season again, that window of opportunity where your little one is most willing to explore a variety of textures and flavors so that they can create that preference. So just like I said, we have a lot of evidence around the window of opportunity. We also have a lot of evidence around the first two years of feeding and how much they impact long-term, not only eating habits, but food preferences. So the flavors, the tastes, the types of foods that your little one is exposed to most often and repeatedly as a baby, as a toddler, are going to stick with them through life. So your baby does not need bland food. If we're looking at things to watch for though, because we do want to make sure that we're feeding our babies safely, honey is a big no-no for babies under 12 months. We want to make sure that we are not using any honey due to risk of infant botulism. Okay, so honey as an ingredient in anything should be avoided under 12 months. Another thing to pay attention to is added sugar, right? So honey does fall into that category of added sugar, but there are also a lot of other forms of added sugar as well. When we're looking at developing taste preferences, babies who are exposed to sweeter tastes and saltier tastes. So this applies to sodium as well, repeatedly exposed to higher sugar or sodium foods, do develop a preference, a stronger preference towards those foods later in life, too. This does not include something like fruit. We're talking added sugar, not natural sugars. And then the other thing to consider is spice. We don't want to scare your baby away from food. So if you tend to make spicier food, then keeping the spice on the side, adding yours to your portion and keeping it out of baby's portion is a good idea. But if we want, again, your little one to be eating the family meal, if that is your goal, then we need to start the seasoning early on. Now let's talk about how to do this simply, even if your baby isn't eating part of what you're eating, or if you're in a season of like, I don't even have the capacity to cook the way that I used to love to cook. This could look like, okay, those mashed beans that I was talking about, mashed beans with some olive oil and cumin mixed in. This can be sweet potatoes with cinnamon on them. This could be broccoli with garlic and onion powder on it, right? So it could also be just taking those simple single ingredient foods and adding some flavor to them. It doesn't mean that you need to be making 10-step, 45-minute recipes every time you cook. So if these are all things that you're doing, I want you to know you're on a good track. There are, of course, many layers to feeding a baby. There are so many other aspects that we could look at here, but these are my top three signs that you are on a good track and prioritizing not only nutrition, but also the things that are going to help your little one to be a more adventurous eater longer or later in life. If these are all things you're doing, I want you to know you are on a good track. There are so many different layers to feeding a baby. There's a lot of pressure to get it all right, but I would say it's less about pressure and more about opportunity. If you're ready to have individualized support on your feeding journey, or if listening to this episode made you realize I am on the right track, but maybe there's more I could be doing. And I also need to prioritize my own nutrition to set my family up for long-term success. I'm going to link the application to work with me in the show notes below because when you work with me inside my coaching program, we don't just set your baby up for success, we set you up for success too, so that you can also be the example and role model around food that you want to be long term because you don't have to do this alone. I'm always cheering you on, and I'll see you next time.