• can sit up with support
• has better control of his head and neck
• can move food safely from the front to the back of her mouth
• shows a desire to eat by leaning forward and opening her mouth, sometimes with a wide-eyed expression
• watches and reaches for the food that you put into your mouth
• can signal "I'm full" by turning away, fussing or arching his back

How to feed your baby solid foods

1. Put only the amount of solid food you plan to give into a bowl or warming dish instead of feeding baby right from the jar. Put the jar with the remaining food in the refrigerator.
2. Place the dish of food into a pan of hot water or warming dish to warm. Use caution when heating food in a microwave—do not heat in the jar. After heating, stir well. Whichever method of heating is used, always check the food temperature before feeding your baby.
3. When feeding your baby, sit in a comfortable position and hold your baby in the curve of your arm. Keep baby's head and back raised to prevent choking. A high chair may be used when your baby can sit upright. Always secure baby safely in the high chair.
4. Put a small amount of food on the tip of the spoon. Let your baby taste it.
5. If your baby spits it out, place the food midway back on his tongue and let him swallow it.
6. Have patience and let him learn how to swallow. Feed him slowly, allowing plenty of time to swallow the food between bites. Remember, feeding will take time and be messy for a while.
7. If your baby resists taking the food, do not force him. Stop and try again the next day. Or, if your baby is extremely hungry, try to give part of his breastfeeding or formula first and then offer the baby food. This allows your baby time to relax.
8. Throw away any leftover food after your baby is finished eating.

Some tips to remember:

• Feed solid foods from a spoon. Spoon feeding helps your baby get used to sitting up, taking mouthfuls from a spoon, resting between bites, and stopping when full. These skills are important for developing good eating habits.
• As a first food, choose an iron-fortified infant cereal. Begin with rice cereal, followed by barley, and then oat grain cereals for best results.
• At first, make the consistency of the cereal very thin so it's easy to swallow. Try mixing three tablespoons of liquid with one tablespoon of cereal. Once he gets used to the texture of solid food, make the cereal thicker by adding less liquid. This thin-to-thick approach will help prepare him for the introduction of more solid foods over time.
• Begin by feeding small amounts—one or two teaspoons of cereal at a feeding—and slowly increase to four tablespoons.
• Try to be flexible when it comes to feeding times since there's really no right or wrong time to offer cereal. You may discover that the best feeding time is when your baby is hungriest or bored, or when you are most relaxed and don't feel pressured.
• Don't worry if he won't finish the cereal. The breast milk or formula you also feed will provide the calories and nutrients your baby needs.
• Reinforce your baby's new skill. Talk to him during mealtime: "Mmmm, see how good this is?" 
• Increase the size of the spoonfuls very gradually, until your baby gets the idea.
• Introduce one new food at a time and wait several days before introducing another. This step-by-step approach helps you identify the cause of a food reaction if one develops and lets your baby learn to enjoy each new flavor and texture.
• Similac Step 2 or Isomil Step 2 can help you bridge the nutritional gaps and be sure that you are providing a source of complete nutrition for your baby. Definitely don't feed cow's milk until after your baby reaches 9-12 months.
• Talk to your baby's health care professional about appropriate weight gain for your baby and how to achieve it.
• Complementary solid foods should be introduced between 6 and 9 months, depending on the infant's developmental readiness.
• Introduce one single-ingredient new food at a time and do not introduce anything else new for 2-3 days to watch for allergic reactions.
• Neither breastfed nor formula-fed infants require extra water.
• If juice is given (after 6 months), it should be limited to a total of 4-6 oz/day.
• In the first year, foods should be sufficiently mashed or pureed so that they can be swallowed without risk of aspiration (choking).
• Hotdogs, nuts, grapes, raisins, raw carrots, popcorn, and rounded candies should be avoided in children less than 4 years of age.
• Whenever heating any food or liquid in a microwave, be aware that microwaves may not heat evenly so food should be well stirred. Also, the temperature of the food should be tested before giving it to an infant or child.

How much is enough?

In the first few months of eating solid foods, how much your baby eats is not as important as the experience of eating. When your baby first starts eating solid foods, she should still be getting the majority of her nutrition from breast milk or an iron-fortified infant formula. She may only eat one or two teaspoons of solid food at a meal.

Later, when she has a little more experience with solid foods, she may eat three or four tablespoons at a meal. Even then, the majority of her nutrition will come from breast milk or infant formula.

As babies make the transition to solid foods, it can be tough to ensure they're getting the nutrition they really need. An American research has shown that about half of babies between the ages of 1 and 2 years are not getting the Recommended Dietary Allowance of iron and calcium.¹ When you supplement solid foods with Similac Step 2 or Isomil Step 2, you can help bridge the nutritional gaps and be sure you're providing a source of complete nutrition for your baby.

Every baby is different. You'll be able to tell if your baby is regularly getting enough, too little, or too much to eat by his weight at check-ups. Your health care professional can tell you if your baby's weight gain is in an acceptable range.

Remember that now is the time to teach good eating habits that will carry into later life. Your baby will tell you when he's had enough. Do not encourage him to eat more than he wants to.

Avoid getting fed up

Just about every developmental stage has its joys and frustrations. These tips can help feeding time go more smoothly:

• Use a baby-sized spoon.
• Keep plenty of easy-to-wash bibs handy.
• Hold your baby in your lap like you do when breastfeeding or bottle feeding, except a little more upright.
• Place a little bit of food on the tip of the spoon, and gently place it on the middle of her tongue. Be patient and try again if she rejects the food.
• If she rejects the solid food, try offering your milk or formula beforehand to help her adjust to the new feeding.

Feeding don'ts

• Don't add sugar or salt to your baby's food.
• Don't give your baby honey during the first year. It may contain bacteria that can cause a very serious illness called infant botulism.
• Never put your baby to bed with a bottle. He could choke. What's more, after teeth come in, using a bottle during sleep can cause "nursing caries"—unsightly decay of baby teeth that may interfere with later dental development. This can also lead to ear infections.
• Don't put anything in a bottle except breast milk or formula. At about 7 months, try offering your baby a sippy cup of juice, formula, water or breast milk.
• Don't feed cow's milk until after your baby's first birthday.

Finger foods

By the ninth month, a baby has usually mastered the pincer grip—how to hold finger foods and other objects between the thumb and index finger. To help your baby develop coordination skills and promote independence, choose finger foods that can easily dissolve in his mouth without a lot of chewing or gumming. Good examples include crunchy toast, well-cooked pasta, cereals, crackers, small chunks of banana, cooked and tender vegetables, and soft, cooked chicken. Avoid hard, round foods such as nuts, grapes, hot dogs, and pieces of raw carrot, which can easily cause choking.

Allergic reactions

By the ninth or tenth month, diarrhea, a skin rash, or persistent vomiting that follows the introduction of a new food can mean your baby is allergic to that food. Don't offer the food again until you talk to your baby's health care professional.

Choke alert

Most parents worry about their baby choking during the early days of finger feeding. The foods most likely to cause problems are those that are slippery or round. To be on the safe side, stay away from the following foods for now:

• Nuts
• Globs of peanut butter
• Pieces of raw carrot, grapes, popcorn, or nuts
• Hot dogs—if you'd really like to offer this popular food, cut one lengthwise and then into smaller pieces.

Reference:
1. USDA: Food and Nutrient Intakes by Children, 1994-1996 & 1998, Table Set 17. (Numbers have been rounded.) Based on 1989 RDA levels.