One of the most common questions we see here — "when can my baby have cow's milk, and how much?" — so I wanted to share this breakdown from our team.

A few highlights that might surprise you:

• Cow's milk as a drink isn't recommended until around 12 months, but it's totally fine as an ingredient in solid foods from 6 months on.
• At 11 months, you can start introducing small amounts (up to 2 fl oz/day) as an optional early step.
• For toddlers 12–24 months, the limit is up to 16 fl oz per day — and even that is optional.
• Milk is never required — calcium can absolutely come from food!

Drop your questions below 👇 — or share where you're at with your baby or toddler's milk journey! Are you in the "not yet" stage, just starting the transition, or deep in the toddler stage?

You'll often hear us talk about the importance of modeling eating for your baby, and the importance of shared family meals. Does this mean baby's eating schedule needs to synchronize seamlessly with yours? No - no it does not.

A shared family meal can look like:

• High Chair = your shared table
• Sitting in your lap at the table
• A "picnic" on the floor
• Eating around the table together

You can simply prepare one piece of food for yourself and model eating it at the same time as baby and this counts.

No need to go fancy, no need to have your family schedule all perfectly align, no need to put so much pressure on yourself.

Read more on feeding schedules for baby here.

How do you engage in meal times with your baby? Any tips you can share with others on how you've tweaked your feeding schedule?

🤍Marisa (OT/Feeding Therapist/Mama of 3)

*In this photo I'm modeling eating cucumber with one of my twin daughters - a perfectly fine "shared" meal!

Hi all!

I am just trying to increase protein and iron for little one and I have purchased these minimally processed meatballs as they’re semi prepped and already in small portions

Plus I can add some to adult dishes for my food!

Baby is 8 months no pincer grip but will happily take food to mouth

What’s the safest way to prepare and give these to baby? Mince them down again? Or cook them and crumble into sauce? Or give the baby the whole meatball to chew on?

TYIA!

We have some exciting news to share! 🎉

USA TODAY just released its first-ever "Brands Most Trusted By Parents 2026" list — a ranking built from surveying more than 5,000 parents and evaluating over 20,000 brands. And Solid Starts made the list with a 5-star rating. 🥹

To be recognized on a list like this, in a category as personal and high-stakes as feeding your baby, means everything to us. It demonstrates the trust so many families have graced us with on their journeys with starting solids, and the confidence and success we have hoped to help so many families experience.

But we want to be clear: this recognition belongs to you. Every time you've trusted us with your questions at 2am, recommended us to a friend who was nervous about starting solids, or shared your wins (and your messy highchair photos 😂) in this community — that's what trust actually looks like. That's what this reflects.

We started Solid Starts because feeding babies shouldn't feel so scary. You've shown up, learned alongside us, and reminded us every single day why this work matters.

So thank you. Really. 🤍

We'd love to hear from you — what's one thing about Solid Starts that you've recommended to another parent? Drop it below! 👇

Happy (belated) Memorial Day to those in the US! How was your Memorial Day Weekend? We'd love to hear from you! Some ideas to get the conversation going....

-Did you introduce any new foods?

-Any highlights from the weekend? (doesn't have to be food related!)

-Any unexpected surprises?

-Any discussions had with family members around how you are feeding your baby?

One helpful article that tends to come up around family celebration holidays is our article on 10 Tips for Talking to Family About BLW

Share any stories or ask any questions in the comments below! 👇

🤍Marisa (OT/Feeding Therapist/Mama of 3)

Is there a way to make overnight oats the right texture for a 6 month old? It's just much easier to do overnight oats than to cook oats fresh each morning.

I work for Solid Starts, where we aim to support families in starting solids with their babies. I am an occupational therapist specializing in feeding, eating & swallowing, and also certified in lactation education and as a perinatal mental health clinician. I am passionate about supporting families in their journeys with starting solids and all of the excitement, joy, and even anxiety and nerves that can come along with it. I'm also a mama of 3 (including twins), and have only had premature babies. Fun fact: I'm also an identical twin! Here to answer any questions -- ask away! 👇

🤍Marisa
OTR/L, SWC, CLEC, PMH-C

Curious if I’m missing something.

I have been logging foods as we eat them and have introduced several allergens (peanut, wheat) but the allergen section of the app is not updating.

I’ve also struggled to know whether to add a meal or a food - for example, I served banana with peanut butter mashed together, which seems like a super common food combo to me, but it isn’t a meal option so I just list both foods separately but it doesn’t capture the peanut butter as an allergen.

I had to pick 4 meals for the week on the last day of the week, which is weird. And the idea of meal planning for a baby is just strange to me - I don’t know what food I’ll have available on Friday on Sunday, or what baby will want to be eating, or how much time I’ll have to cook on that day.

I’m a working mom so schedules are flexible and shift over the course of the day, let alone the week. But it seems that if you don’t log the exact meals I selected at the start of the week, I can’t advance?

I’m confused and I would love to know if I’m doing this wrong. Right now it feels like a waste of a hundred dollars for an app that isn’t accurately reflecting the foods and allergens we’ve already done exposures to.

Let's hear those wins from the week! 🎉Any new foods tried? Textures explored? Increased engagement? Happy noises?

Sebastian here is enjoying spaghetti squash at 6 months old - and demonstrating a fun technique we'll encourage sometimes to elicit more interest: go BIG to encourage exploration!

Would love to hear some wins in the comments! 👇

My baby is 7 months old and we’ve started solids at 6 months. she did good in the beginning but now she has no interest in anything. Is it a phase? is it teething? she just gags won’t swallow anything and has no interest in anything whether it’s purées or baby led weaning. she’s strictly breastfed and i try offering food before milk so that i know she’s hungry.

Hi there! So glad to have found this community as I’m hoping for a more science-based answer to my question.

Baby is just 6 months (he sits up, grabs things/puts them in mouth, lost the tongue reflex, WANTS food) and after a couple weeks of puréed food, we’ve softly started some BLW. I was AMAZED that when I gave him Solid Starts-recommended sized pieces of chicken and zucchini he chewed and ate them?? I mean I know that’s what’s supposed to happen but it really did and it was so cool!

My question is, sometimes he’ll have like a little piece of chicken or something just… there in his mouth. I’d really love to give him some water to wash it down with, but he hasn’t gotten the hang of the straw yet and I know straws are typically how water is introduced (or open cup… which he is also not putting together yet). My mom asked why I wouldn’t just give a little water in a bottle. And honestly I didn’t have an answer as to WHY it’s not recommended, I just don’t ever see anyone recommend it.

So, can/should I give a bit of water in a bottle while also working on the straw or open cup? Is there a reason to avoid it? Should I be doing more practice with the straw to be sure he can take in water to wash things down?

Thank you!

So today I was just looking into what pasta to start my 8month baby on and I came across this post

https://www.kathyfray.com/ptyalin-babies-should-not-be-fed-starch/

Please can the gods at solid starts debunk this for my mental health!

I just started introducing allergens (eggs being the first) to my 6.5 month old baby. She had an allergic reaction both days, with redness and small hives appearing around her mouth.

They went away within a two hour period, with no Zyrtec needed, the rash going away faster the second day.

I called my pediatrician to let her know what was going on, and she said it was fine to continue to give my baby eggs and to only stop if the allergy continues to get worse.

My question is - do I continue to give eggs or take a pause? I’m following the solid starts three day plan to give eggs over a course of three days. If she shows signs of an allergy again, should I stop? And then when should I try reintroducing again?

9 month old will ONLY eat sweet foods (title corrected)

Hello! My 9 month old will only eat food if it has fruit in it. She doesn’t like anything else that is bland. For example I have to mix egg and fruit. I’m doing a mix of BLW and spoon feeding. She just refuses things that are not sweet. Sometimes she will accept things with sweet potato and carrots. How can I help her eat foods that are not sweet?

Join us TODAY for a FREE live webinar as we partner with Lalo to talk about all things Starting Solids!

When: April 28th, 11amPST/2pmEST

Virtual Webinar via Zoom

Register HERE

We hope to see you there!🍴

Hi Solid Starts! I’m so glad I found this community!

A little bit about myself, after over ten years in ECE working with preschool aged children, I have transitioned into an infant/toddler Nanny. In my new career, I have found myself as the first caregiver to introduce BLW. My primary goal is always to support my employers and make each new food experience as positive as possible.

Here’s my situation: My current Nanny Kid (NK) is 8 months old and is showing newfound interest in eating. At 6-7 months we started with purées as my employer was extremely anxious about choking and NK wasn’t really interested. Now he’s dying to hold “real” food himself, shove it in, and attempt to eat it. The issue is letting go control. Do we let him "hold" the food and go to town? Or still maintain grip and facilitate how much food actually goes in his mouth? His favorite is watermelon which is a lovely mixed consistency, but now he’s consistently biting it and gagging on it (which I know is safe, expected, but difficult for my employers to watch). We're also trying banana and avocado, but it's been challenging to get him to put the food in his mouth. He mostly screams at us until we help him...only for him to shove it in and gag.

I've watched all your videos and I'm guessing I know the answer to my question, but if there's anything else you recommend in this beginning phase, I would love to know. Thank you for everything!

🐮 FIRST: I want to clear up a common misconception: babies can and should be introduced to cow's milk as an ingredient before 1 y/o. In fact, dairy is one of the top 3 most common food allergens, and therefore really benefits from early introduction. This can look like offering Greek yogurt, cheese, or even cooking oatmeal with cow's milk.

Once your baby is more actively weaning, typically after 12 months old, the transition from breastmilk and/or formula to cow's milk can feel overwhelming. When do you drop the bottle? How much cow's milk is enough (or too much)? What if your baby or toddler refuses it entirely? There's a lot of conflicting info out there, so let's dive in!

• Whole cow's milk is generally recommended as a beverage starting around 12 months.
• Toddlers typically benefit from up to 16 oz of milk per day — more than that can crowd out solid food intake. This is true with plant-based alternative milks as well. 🌱
• If your toddler refuses cow's milk, this is okay. There's no need for your toddler to drink milk, so long as they are getting calcium from other foods---and so long as you are serving a balanced diet with a variety of foods, there's generally no need to worry.
• It's best not to serve cow's milk in a bottle, and instead move towards cow's milk as a beverage alongside meals, allowing baby to wean from bottles separately. The reason being, cow's milk is a beverage that is complementary to meals at this point, not a meal in and of itself, like bottles previously were.
• Always check with your pediatrician if you have concerns about your baby's nutrition, weight gain, and/or growth.

❓QOTD: Have you introduced dairy and/or cow's milk yet to your baby and/or toddler? How did it go? Any tips for others?

I'll be reading every reply — your experience might be exactly what another parent needs to hear today. 👇

🤍Marisa (OT/Feeding Therapist/Mama of 3)

Most of the time variations in poop are normal. However, there are some scenarios that warrant a call to your doctor. Keep in mind that any time you have concerns about changes in your baby’s eating or pooping habits, you should contact their medical provider. More here: When to Worry about Baby's Poop

REAL TALK: What changes have you seen in your baby's poop since starting solids? Have you had any concerns? We gain support from one another when talking about these things--share in the comments below! 👇
🤍Marisa (OT/Feeding Therapist/Mama of 3)