You've started. The high chair is up, the bibs are in permanent rotation, and a respectable amount of something orange has made it into your baby rather than onto the wall. So what happens now? Almost every 6 month baby food guide tells you how to begin weaning, and then goes quiet on the bit you're actually living through. This is the next chapter: how many bottles a 6 month old still needs, how many meals your baby should be on by which age, and three family meals you can all sit down and eat together.
It’s easy to fall into the trap of comparing what your baby eats with other babies their age - but remember every baby is different and so is their weaning journey.
Medical Disclaimer
This article is intended for general information and guidance only and should not replace advice from a qualified healthcare professional. The NHS recommends introducing solid foods from around 6 months of age, alongside breast milk or first infant formula. Every baby develops at their own pace, so if you're unsure whether your little one is ready to start weaning, have concerns about their feeding, growth or development, or notice signs of a possible food allergy, speak to your GP or health visitor for personalised advice.
How many bottles does a 6 month old have?
There's no set number of bottles for a 6 month old, and any chart that gives you one is guessing. NHS guidance is that breast milk or first infant formula is still your baby's main source of nutrition at around 6 months, so the advice is to keep offering it on demand rather than counting feeds.
Which can feel like a non-answer. So here's the useful version: one small meal a day barely touches a baby's appetite for milk, so most babies are still drinking as much as they were before solids arrived. The change comes later, gradually.
One thing worth getting right now, because it saves a lot of rejected lunches: offer milk feeds after solids, not before. Your baby's stomach is tiny and fills up fast, and a full bottle beforehand means the food doesn't stand a chance.
Here's how milk and food trade places over the next six months, using the figures NHS publishes for each stage.
How milk intake tapers as solid food increases
| Baby's age | Typical milk feeds a day | Guide amount of formula a day | Guide amount of breastmilk a day | Solid meals a day |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Around 6 months | On demand, still the main source of nutrition | No set amount at this stage | Feed on demand | 1 |
| 7 to 9 months | Around 4 | Around 500-600ml | Feed on demand | Building towards 3 |
| 10 to 12 months | Around 3 | Around 400ml | Feed on demand | 3 |
| 12 months and over | Milk becomes a drink alongside meals | Whole cows' milk can now be a drink, but you can also consider Kendamil Toddler milk. | There are still many nutritional benefits beyond 1 year if you want to continue breastfeeding, offer a breastfeed at times that suit you and baby. | 3 meals, plus 2 healthy snacks if needed |
If you are formula feeding and your baby is having less than 500ml of formula a day, NHS advises vitamin A, C and D supplements, which catches most babies somewhere around the 10 month mark. And cows' milk isn't suitable as a drink until 12 months, although you can use it in cooking or mixed into food from around 6 months. The NHS recommends breastfed babies from birth to 1 year are given a daily supplement containing 8.5 to 10 micrograms of vitamin D. Children aged 1-4 years should be given a daily supplement containing 10 micrograms of vitamin D.
If you're breastfeeding, none of the millilitres apply to you. Your baby will simply adjust their feeds as their meals grow, which is a rather elegant system. Either way, following your baby's hunger and fullness cues beats following a schedule.
When to introduce first foods
If you're reading this you've likely already introduced them, so the more useful question is what comes next. Around 6 months is when the whole menu opens up, and the goal from here is variety rather than volume. If you're still at the very beginning, our how to start weaning guide covers the first steps properly.
You're building towards five food groups on rotation:
- Vegetables, including the bitter ones: Broccoli, spinach, cauliflower and cabbage alongside the sweeter carrot and sweet potato, which helps head off fussiness later.
- Fruit: Soft ripe fruit mashed or as finger food, harder fruit cooked to soften. Pips, stones and tough skins off.
- Starchy foods: Baby rice, creamy baby porridge, oats, pasta, bread, rice, toast, potato and quinoa.
- Protein foods: Beef, chicken, lamb, pork, turkey, boneless fish, eggs, lentils, beans, chickpeas and tofu.
- Pasteurised full-fat dairy: Plain unsweetened yoghurt and cheese are both fine from around 6 months.
Protein deserves a moment on its own, and specifically iron. From around 6 months your baby's iron stores are running down and milk alone no longer covers what they need, which makes iron the single most important thing on the plate at this stage. Red meat, boneless fish, lentils, beans, dark green vegetables and fortified cereals all pull their weight here. Our guide to iron-rich foods for babies goes into more detail if you want it.
Keep moving the texture on, too. Purée is a starting point, not a destination. Mashed, lumpy and finger foods teach your baby to chew, shift food around their mouth and swallow properly, and picking things up does wonders for hand-eye co-ordination. It's messy and it's meant to be.
Allergens go in one at a time, in small amounts, so you can spot any reaction. That covers cows' milk in cooking, eggs, gluten, crushed or ground nuts and seeds, soya, fish and shellfish. Once a food has been introduced and tolerated, keep it in the rotation. If you're weighing up a possible milk reaction, our piece on milk allergy and intolerance is a good read. Always consult your health visitor or GP for any suspected allergies.
A few rules to follow:
- No added salt or sugar, in food or cooking water.
- Snacks before 12 months aren’t necessary, so offer an extra milk feed if hunger strikes between meals.
- Try to use pouches and jars occasionally rather than daily, always squeezed onto a spoon.
- Sips of water from an open or free-flow cup at mealtimes.
If you've got more questions, Nanny Louenna answers a lot of the common weaning questions parents send in.
How many solid meals should baby have a day?
Start with one meal a day at around 6 months and build to three meals a day by around 10 months. The move happens gradually across the months in between, usually breakfast joining lunch, then tea joining both.
| Baby's age | Solid meals a day | What that tends to look like |
|---|---|---|
| Around 6 months | 1 | One small meal at whatever time suits you both |
| 7 to 9 months | 2 building to 3 | Gradually working up to breakfast, lunch and tea |
| 10 to 12 months | 3 | Breakfast, lunch and tea, with a pudding of fruit or plain yoghurt |
| 12 months and over | 3 plus 2 snacks | Family meals in smaller pieces, plus two healthy snacks if needed |
Treat that as a direction of travel rather than a deadline. Some days your baby will eat everything in front of them and some days they'll reject food they loved last week, which is entirely normal. It can take ten tries or more before a new flavour lands, so keep offering it without making it a thing.
Easy meal ideas
The genuinely good news about this stage is that you can stop cooking twice. Season your own portion at the table and most family meals work for everyone.
Slow beef and root vegetable stew
Diced beef, carrot, parsnip, swede and potato, low and slow with unsalted stock until everything falls apart. Iron-rich, soft by design and it freezes beautifully. Lift out your baby's portion, chop or mash to suit, then salt and pepper the rest of the pan for the adults.
Blueberry and yoghurt pancakes
Mash a banana into plain full-fat yoghurt, add an egg, a couple of spoons of self-raising flour and a handful of blueberries, then cook small rounds in a lightly oiled pan. No added sugar needed, since the banana does the work, and they're an ideal finger food. Good cold from a tub the next morning, too.
Spaghetti bolognese
The reliable one. Two adjustments make it baby-friendly: leave out the salt and stock cubes, and snip the spaghetti short so it's easier to manage. Grated carrot and courgette melt into the sauce, and a spoon of red lentils adds iron without anyone noticing.
There's also a veggie pasta bake and a batch of heart-shaped banana waffles on the blog if you need more in the rotation.
Kendamil's own baby porridges and baby rice were built for this stage too, and they mix happily with fruit or a splash of your baby's usual milk.
The short version
Food goes up, milk comes down, and it takes about six months rather than a fortnight. At around 6 months your baby is on one small meal a day with milk still doing the heavy lifting. By 10 months they're on three meals and roughly three milk feeds. Somewhere in between you'll stop measuring altogether, which is rather the point.
For what comes after the first birthday, have a read of when to stop formula feeding.
