Baby food by age
Find simple meal ideas for first foods, thicker stage 2 combinations, and soft finger foods. This guide is built for how many US parents feed at home: spoon-fed purees, soft mashes, and baby-led self-feeding once the texture is safe.
First foods
This first-food stage is built around how many US parents actually start solids: iron-fortified infant cereal, smooth vegetable and fruit purees, yogurt, egg, beans, avocado, and other baby-safe foods served by spoon. The focus is not on volume. It is on readiness, safe texture, and repeated exposure.
Stage 2 foods
Stage 2 is where many babies move from single ingredients into thicker textures, combination meals, and early finger foods. In US kitchens that usually means yogurt bowls, oatmeal combos, beans, eggs, chicken, turkey, pasta, and vegetables served thicker and less uniform than early purees.
Stage 3 foods
This stage is closer to real family meals. Many US parents start serving softened versions of breakfast foods, pasta, tacos, bowls, meatballs, quesadillas, soups, and snack plates. The goal is helping your baby join normal family eating while keeping texture and size safe.
First foods
Very smooth puree, thin mash, or a loose spoonable texture with no firm lumps. If your baby is starting with baby-led weaning, foods still need to be soft enough to mash easily between your fingers.
Prioritize iron-rich foods, continue breast milk or formula, and introduce a variety of common foods in baby-safe textures. Peanut and egg can be offered in age-appropriate forms rather than delayed, unless your pediatrician gives different advice.
Stage 2 foods
Thicker mashes, soft lumpy purees, very soft diced foods, and finger foods that squash easily between two fingers. Preloaded spoons and graspable soft foods both work well here.
Keep iron-rich foods in rotation, expand flavor variety, and build texture skills without rushing. This is also a practical time to keep allergen foods in the regular meal pattern after they have been introduced safely.
Stage 3 foods
Soft finger foods, moist small pieces, shredded proteins, tender pasta, mashable fruit, and family meals cut into baby-safe bites. Foods should still be soft enough to mash with gentle pressure.
Build self-feeding confidence, offer meals from the family table whenever possible, and keep meals balanced with protein, grain, produce, and healthy fat. Water in a cup can be offered with meals while breast milk or formula remains important.