Stage4–6 m
4-6 months
Two months of preparing for the first real meal
Sitting, grabbing, and putting everything in the mouth are all physical preparation for solid food. Your preparation is deciding what the first bite will be, and how you will know they are actually ready.
What to feed
- Milk
- Breastfed: 5-6 times a day. Formula: 150-210ml per feed, 4-5 times a day. Milk is still the entire diet.
- Meal pattern
- No solids before six months as a rule. The day they turn six months, you can start.
Can start eating
- From 6 months: iron-fortified infant cereal is the usual first food
- Continue vitamin D 400 IU daily
Not yet
- Honey (before age 1)
- Salt, sugar, soy sauce or any seasoning
- Whole nuts, whole grapes and other choking hazards
- Juice (not recommended at all before age 1)
Worth knowing
- Iron-fortified cereal comes first because the iron a baby is born with runs out around six months, and iron deficiency affects neurological development directly
- Four readiness signs: sits with support, holds head steady, no longer pushes the spoon out with the tongue, reaches for your food
- Start with 1-2 spoonfuls in the morning so you have the whole day to watch for a reaction
How much sleep
12-16 hours a day
- Daytime
- Three naps, moving towards two. Nights of 6-8 hours are possible
Once rolling starts, still put them down on their back, but if they roll onto their front and can roll back, you do not need to keep turning them. The cot still stays empty.
Vaccines in this stage
Oral polio (bOPV)Dose 3
4 months · National programme (free)
Oral
DTaPDose 2
4 months · National programme (free)
DTaPDose 3
5 months · National programme (free)
What most children do by now
Gross motor
- Pushes up on straight arms with the chest off the floor
- Rolls both ways
- Sits with support, or alone for a few seconds
Fine motor
- Reaches accurately for objects
- Passes a toy from hand to hand
- Rakes at things with the whole hand
Language
- Consonants appear: "ba", "da", "ma"
- Uses sound to get attention
- Turns to their own name
Social and cognitive
- Tells familiar people from strangers
- Smiles and pats at mirrors
- Reaches up to be picked up
This is what most children manage in this window, not a pass mark. A few months either way is common. The signals worth acting on are in the doctor section below.
Height and weight reference for this ageWhen to see a doctor
If any of these apply, do not wait for the next routine check.
- At six months, cannot roll at all, or cannot push up on the arms when on the tummy
- Does not reach for objects, or uses only one hand
- No response to sound or to their own name
- No smiling and no eye contact
- Very floppy or very stiff
- Anaemia found at the check-up
What to practise
- 01
Supported sitting
How · Sit them between your legs or in a support cushion with toys in front to reach for. A few minutes, several times a day.
Why · Sitting steadily is a hard prerequisite for solids — an unstable head and trunk makes swallowing a choking risk.
- 02
Hand to hand
How · Give them a toy, and once it is held, offer a second one to the same hand so they have to transfer the first.
Why · Transferring means both sides of the brain are starting to cooperate. It is a real jump in fine motor skill.
- 03
Peekaboo
How · Cover your face with your hands or a cloth, then reappear. Repeat far more times than feels necessary.
Why · This is the beginning of object permanence: out of sight is not gone. It is also the groundwork for handling separation anxiety later.
Day to day
- Get the gear ready: a high chair with back support, soft-tipped spoons, bibs, a bowl
- Peak teething: possible low fever (under 38C), drooling, disrupted sleep
- Start brushing with the first tooth, using a finger brush or soft baby brush and a grain-of-rice smear of fluoride toothpaste
- Six-month check: this one includes a blood count for anaemia, which matters
Common questions
- What exactly should the first food be?
- Iron-fortified infant cereal, mixed with milk or water to a consistency that clings to the spoon but still moves. The reason is iron, not digestibility.
- Can rice water or juice be used instead?
- Neither. Rice water has almost no nutritional density, and juice is sugar and acid. Juice is not recommended at all before age 1 — it raises tooth decay risk and displaces milk.
- Should allergenic foods be delayed?
- The opposite. Current guidance is to introduce common allergens such as egg and peanut (as a smooth butter or powder, never whole) in small amounts between 6 and 12 months, which lowers allergy risk. Children with severe eczema or a known allergy should talk to a doctor first.