Baby Weaning Schedule UK: First Foods & Allergens (4–12m)

Weaning is the bit of the first year that comes with the most paperwork in your head — when to start, what to give, which allergens, baby-led or puree, and how on earth to log it all. This is a UK-friendly weaning schedule for 4–12 months: NHS-aligned first foods, the eleven allergens worth introducing early, the differences between baby-led and puree, and a week-by-week plan you can actually follow without a spreadsheet.

When should I start weaning my baby? (UK guidance)

The NHS recommends starting solid foods at around 6 months, not before 4 months. This is later than the WHO/US "4–6 months" line you'll see on American sites — UK guidance is firmly six.

The three "ready to wean" signs (all three, not one) are:

Baby can sit up and hold their head steady.
Baby can coordinate eyes, hands and mouth — they look at food, pick it up and put it in their mouth themselves.
Baby can swallow food (rather than push most of it back out — that's the tongue-thrust reflex, and it fades around 6 months).

Things that are not signs of readiness, despite what your auntie says: waking more at night, watching you eat, chewing fists, being a "big" baby. Every baby does these from about 3 months.

UK weaning schedule by age (4–12 months)

This is the rough shape of the first six months of weaning. It's a guide, not a contract — your baby is the only baby who matters, and signs of readiness trump the calendar.

Age	What's happening	Milk vs food
0–6 months	Milk only — breast or formula. No solids, no water, no baby rice.	100% milk
~6 months (Stage 1)	First tastes. Single ingredients, soft textures, once a day building to twice.	~95% milk
7–9 months (Stage 2)	Three meals a day. More textures, finger foods, lumps, mixed flavours.	~75% milk
9–12 months (Stage 3)	Three meals + 1–2 snacks. Family-style food, chopped or mashed.	~50% milk
12 months+	Full family meals. Whole cow's milk as a drink is now OK.	~30% milk

Best first foods for a 6-month-old (UK)

Forget baby rice. Start with strong-flavoured, single-ingredient vegetables and fruits — research suggests babies who get bitter veg early are less fussy later.

Soft-cooked vegetables: broccoli florets, carrot batons, sweet potato wedges, parsnip, courgette, cauliflower.
Fruits: banana, ripe pear, ripe avocado, soft-cooked apple.
Iron-rich foods (important from 6 months): lentils, well-cooked egg, soft-cooked meat, beans, fortified baby cereal.
Carbs: toast fingers, pasta, rice, oats.

Cut to finger-length, finger-width for baby-led weaning, or mash/puree for spoon-feeding. Both work. Most UK parents end up doing a bit of both.

Foods to avoid before 12 months

Salt — kidneys can't handle it. No stock cubes, no gravy, no ham.
Sugar — including honey (botulism risk under 12 months).
Whole nuts and round hard foods — choking. Whole grapes and cherry tomatoes must be quartered lengthways.
Whole cow's milk as a main drink (fine in cooking from 6 months).
Raw or partially cooked eggs not stamped with the British Lion mark.
Rice drinks — too much arsenic for under 5s.
Shark, swordfish, marlin — mercury.

Baby-led weaning vs purees vs combination

The three approaches, in plain English:

Baby-led weaning (BLW): baby self-feeds finger foods from day one. Pros: baby controls pace, develops chewing earlier, eats family food sooner. Cons: messy, harder to track quantities, scarier when it comes to gagging (which is normal — choking is silent).
Spoon-fed purees: you spoon mashed/blended food in. Pros: easier to know how much went in, less floor-cleaning. Cons: slower transition to lumps, more pots and pouches.
Combination: some finger food, some spoon-fed. The most common UK approach in practice. The NHS doesn't endorse one over the other.

The 11 allergens to introduce early (UK)

Old advice was to delay allergens. Current NHS guidance — backed by the LEAP and EAT studies — is the opposite: introduce common allergens early and often, from around 6 months. Delaying them increases allergy risk, particularly for peanut and egg.

Introduce one new allergen at a time, in the morning or at lunch (so you can spot any reaction during waking hours), and wait a couple of days before adding the next. Once an allergen is "in", keep offering it about twice a week — that's what maintains tolerance.

Peanut — smooth peanut butter thinned with water, or peanut puffs. Never whole nuts.
Egg — well-cooked. Scrambled, omelette strips, hard-boiled.
Cow's milk — yoghurt, cheese, in cooking. Not as a main drink yet.
Wheat / gluten — toast, pasta, Weetabix, porridge with wheat.
Sesame — tahini thinned into yoghurt or spread on toast, hummus.
Soya — tofu, edamame (mashed), soya yoghurt.
Fish — flaked white fish, salmon. Check carefully for bones.
Shellfish — well-cooked prawns, finely chopped.
Tree nuts — almond, cashew or hazelnut butter, thinned. Never whole.
Celery / celeriac — soft cooked.
Mustard — small amounts in cooking.

If your baby has eczema, an existing food allergy, or a strong family history of allergies, talk to your GP or health visitor before introducing peanut and egg — they may suggest doing it in a clinical setting.

What an allergic reaction looks like

Mild: hives or red blotches around the mouth, mild swelling, runny nose, vomiting. Stop the food, antihistamine if your GP has prescribed one, and avoid until you've spoken to a clinician.

Severe (anaphylaxis): swelling of lips/tongue/throat, difficulty breathing, persistent cough or wheeze, going pale or floppy. Call 999.

A simple week-by-week weaning plan (first 6 weeks)

Use this as a starting framework. Skip ahead if your baby is flying; slow down if they're not. Always offer milk first for the first month — solids are practice, not nutrition yet.

Week 1: One "meal" a day (lunch is easiest). Two or three single-ingredient veg and fruits — broccoli, sweet potato, banana. The aim is tasting, not eating.
Week 2: Still one meal. Add a couple more vegetables and an iron-rich food (lentils, well-cooked egg yolk).
Week 3: Move to two meals (breakfast + lunch). Introduce your first allergens — start with peanut and egg. One per day, in the morning.
Week 4: Two meals. Introduce dairy (yoghurt, cheese), wheat (toast, pasta), and fish. Keep peanut and egg going twice a week each.
Week 5: Add tea (so three meals). Introduce sesame (hummus), soya (tofu), and tree nut butters.
Week 6: Three meals a day. Round out the remaining allergens (shellfish, celery, mustard) and start mixing flavours and textures.

How much should my baby actually eat?

Less than you think. At 6 months, "a meal" can be two florets of broccoli and a finger of toast. The honest answer for the first month is: however much they want. Milk is still doing the work nutritionally. Your job is to offer; theirs is to decide.

By 9 months, most babies eat roughly:

Breakfast: a few tablespoons of porridge or a slice of toast plus fruit.
Lunch: a small palm-sized portion of protein + carb + veg.
Tea: similar to lunch.
500–600ml of breast or formula milk across the day.

Signs something is off (and when to call your GP/HV)

Persistent refusal of all food past 7–8 months despite multiple approaches.
Faltering growth (your health visitor will track this).
Repeated vomiting, blood in stools, or worsening eczema after a particular food.
Any suspected allergic reaction.
Strong gag/choke distinction concerns — gagging is normal and noisy, choking is silent.

How CubTrack helps with weaning (without the spreadsheet)

This is exactly what CubTrack's Meals tracker and weaning checklist are built for. Log a food once and it's marked off your allergen list automatically. Tag reactions in seconds. See at a glance which of the eleven allergens you've introduced, which need a top-up this week, and what your baby actually liked. Both parents see the same timeline in real time, so you don't end up double-introducing peanut on the same day.

Download CubTrack free on Android — iOS is coming soon. The weaning checklist and allergy tracker are part of CubTrack Pro at £4.79.

Weaning FAQs

Can I start weaning at 4 months in the UK?

NHS guidance is to wait until around 6 months. Some babies show readiness from 17 weeks, and your health visitor may advise earlier in specific medical cases — but never before 4 months, and never on your own initiative without the three readiness signs.

Do I need to do baby-led weaning or purees?

Neither is "better" by NHS standards. Most UK parents combine the two. Pick whatever you'll actually keep up with.

Should I give my baby water with meals?

Yes — a small open cup or free-flow beaker of tap water with meals from 6 months. It helps with swallowing and is part of learning to drink from a cup.

How do I introduce peanut safely?

Smooth peanut butter (about a teaspoon) thinned with warm water or stirred into yoghurt or porridge. Never whole peanuts under 5 — choking risk. Offer it twice a week once introduced.

What if my baby just plays with the food?

Completely normal for the first few weeks. Eating is a skill, not an instinct. Keep offering, keep it low-pressure, and let them lead.

Can I batch cook for weaning?

Yes. Ice-cube trays of pureed veg freeze brilliantly for the first month, and from 7 months most family meals (cooked without salt) work fine for baby with a bit of mashing.

Ready to track weaning the easy way? Get CubTrack free on Android and tick off all eleven allergens, log meals in seconds, and share the timeline with whoever's feeding your baby today.

Baby Weaning Schedule UK: First Foods, Allergens & a Week-by-Week Plan (4-12 Months)