Best 100 First Foods for Baby & How to Introduce Solids

Baby Bao’s food journey has been one of the most rewarding things for us. Hubby and I are huge foodies (shameless plug for my food blog Kris Craves), so it’s amazing to see our daughter explore different textures and flavors to challenge her palate. When she started to show signs of readiness at 6 months, I did a lot of research on the best finger foods for baby led weaning. Charts and checklists from different moms became really helpful in reaching our goal of 100 first foods before her first birthday, but one thing missing were lists that incorporated Asian foods. That’s why I wanted to publish Baby Bao’s list of her 100 first foods, with tips on how to incorporate your usual diet into your infant’s meals.

How to prepare solids for my baby?

Whether you’re doing baby lead weaning (BLW), purees, or a combo, you can always adapt the list of foods to your comfort level. We did a combo, with purees/mashed foods to start. Then as our daughter became a more advanced eater, we cut foods down to finger strips for easy grasping or pulsed within a food processor until the food could be served via spoon.

The thought process behind BLW is that it makes mealtimes easier, since you can just adapt foods to appropriate serving sizes for your baby. Additionally, it allows your infant to learn at their own pace on how to properly chew and not overstuff themselves. Most mamas are hesitant to try BLW due to potential choking hazards, but there’s a difference between gagging (natural way for them to learn) vs choking. And according to studies, baby led weaning doesn’t increase choking risk. Solid Starts is an amazing app to look up how to prepare different foods for your baby to decrease risk.

If you decide on a combo approach, this small food processor is so cheap, easy to clean, and simple to use. When we served pho and other soup noodles in the beginning, we just threw vermicelli and beef into the machine – pulsed a little and mixed in some broth right before serving. Easy peasy!

How do I know if my baby has a food allergy?

One of the most important things to bear in mind as you introduce foods is to be cognizant of how many you introduce at once. This helps you figure out what foods your baby is allergic or intolerant to. We were hyper aware of this due to Baby Bao’s cows milk protein allergy, so many first foods are introduced one at a time, especially the top allergens.

Allergies and intolerances can develop at any point and sometimes it can take multiple tries before a reaction appears. That’s because some foods need to build up in your system for enough protein to cause a reaction. The top 12 allergens according to Free to Feed are: cows milk protein (dairy), soy, egg, wheat, corn, legumes, peanuts, beef, oats, rice, tree nuts, and chicken.

Reactions can vary, but common ones are vomiting, rash, eczema, reflux, and diarrhea. With Baby Bao, her reactions were eczema flare ups, reflux, and vomiting – depending on the food.

How much should I be feeding my baby?

It really depends on how old your baby is and your baby’s appetite (disclaimer: I’m not a pediatrician)! The following worked for Baby Bao, but remember that every child is different and typically they’re good at regulating themselves when they’re full. Don’t get discouraged if you miss a meal of solids since your baby wants more milk one day or if your schedule gets busy. Weaning your baby doesn’t have to be super rigid, the goal is just to increase more solid intake and try to get to 3 meals with 2 snacks by their first birthday. Essentially, you’ll want their milk and solid intake amounts to swap – so they have more solids than milk when they turn one.

100 First Foods List

We started with easy-on-the-stomach foods that were low risk and then built from there. We knew we wanted to introduce a variety to Baby Bao, so I had a list of “must eat” foods before her first birthday. If the food was cooked vastly different or utilized as a whole food vs a notable dish, I did take the liberty to count it as a separate food (e.g. avocado vs avocado toast, rice roll vs dimsum). Below is what we ended up trying with her! Everything bolded were foods from the Asian side of our diet.

1. Banana
2. Oatmeal
3. Avocado
4. Strawberry
5. Puffs
6. White rice
7. Dragonfruit
8. Watermelon
9. Blueberry
10. Banana & blueberry pancake
11. Wheat
12. Canola oil
13. Oat milk
14. Sweet potato
15. Teething wafer
16. Congee
17. Chicken broth
18. Carrot
19. Chicken
20. Green beans
21. Tomatoes
22. Celery
23. Broccoli
24. Avocado toast
25. Golden kiwi
26. Apple
27. Peas
28. Blackened chicken
29. Cous cous
30. Onion
31. Garlic
32. Rosemary
33. Tumeric
34. Quinoa
35. Rotisserie chicken
36. Boiled Eggs
37. Pork
38. Yuchoy
39. Sunbutter
40. Scrambled eggs
41. Brown rice
42. Sardines
43. Ground beef
44. Curry
45. Corn
46. Pumpkin
47. Pasta
48. Olive oil
49. Rice vermicelli
50. Soup noodles
51. Tangerine
52. Black beans
53. Coconut yogurt
54. Cucumber
55. Spinach
56. Butternut squash
57. Salmon
58. Fried rice
59. Garlic powder
60. Pho
61. Lemon
62. Beef bone broth soup
63. Thyme
64. Spaghetti bolognese
65. Peanut powder
66. Wagyu brisket
67. Ramen noodles (Japanese, not instant)
68. Mac and cheese
69. Ham
70. Taro
71. Hot pot
72. White beech mushroom
73. Chives
74. Dimsum
75. Pan fried taro cake
76. Snow pear and apple drink
77. Rice rolls
78. Sticky rice in lotus leaf
79. Sisig
80. Chicken terikyaki
81. Cauliflower
82. Brussel sprouts
83. Chili
84. Turkey
85. Cinnamon
86. Oregano
87. Cumin
88. Garam masala
89. White/black pepper
90. Herbs de provence
91. Tomato & egg stirfry
92. Chicken katsu
93. Coconut pudding
94. Turnip cake
95. Snap peas
96. Soy sauce chicken
97. Green leaf lettuce
98. Steamed white fish
99. Bagel
100. Cake

I really wanted her 100th food to be her smash cake, so I made sure to slow down on introducing new foods the week prior to her photo shoot. 🙂 Hope this list and tips on how to intro solid foods help your little one’s food journey. Baby Bao is now the biggest little foodie – screaming when you don’t feed her fast enough. Good luck and have fun with your future foodie!

xo Kris