Ingredients
• 1 small sweet potato, peeled and diced
• 1 sweet apple, peeled and chopped
• A splash of your baby's usual milk or cooled boiled water

Method
1. Steam the sweet potato and apple together for 12-15 minutes until very soft.
2. Blend to a smooth purée, loosening with a little milk or water until you reach a silky drop-off-the-spoon texture.
3. Cool to lukewarm and serve. Freeze any extra in ice-cube trays for up to one month.

Ingredients
• 150g frozen peas
• 1 ripe pear, peeled and chopped
• 2 fresh mint leaves (optional)

Method
1. Simmer the peas and pear for 5 minutes until tender.
2. Add the mint and blend until smooth, adding a little cooking water if needed.
3. Pass through a sieve for the smoothest finish, then cool and serve.

Ingredients
• 3 tbsp porridge oats
• 150ml your baby's usual milk
• ½ ripe banana, mashed

Method
1. Gently simmer the oats and milk for 4-5 minutes, stirring, until creamy.
2. Stir through the mashed banana and warm for another minute.
3. Cool to lukewarm, check the temperature, and serve. A pinch of cinnamon works beautifully for older babies.

Ingredients
• ¼ butternut squash, peeled and diced
• 1 carrot, peeled and chopped
• 3 tbsp red lentils, rinsed
• 300ml unsalted vegetable stock or water

Method
1. Add everything to a pan and simmer for 15-18 minutes until the lentils are soft.
2. Blend or mash to your baby's preferred texture.
3. Cool and serve. This one freezes brilliantly in single portions.

Ingredients
• 3 tbsp full-fat natural yoghurt
• A small handful of soft berries (blueberries, raspberries)

Method
1. Gently crush the berries with a fork.
2. Swirl through the yoghurt.
3. Serve straight away. For younger babies, blend smooth and skip whole berries.

Ingredients
• 1 small head of broccoli, finely chopped
• 1 egg, beaten
• 30g grated mild cheddar
• 2 tbsp fine breadcrumbs

Method
1. Steam the broccoli for 5 minutes, then chop finely.
2. Mix with the egg, cheese and breadcrumbs and shape into small bites.
3. Bake at 190°C for 15 minutes until golden and firm. Cool fully before serving.

Soft and creamy when cooked, sweet potato is packed with beta-carotene for healthy eyes and skin. Its mild natural sweetness makes it one of the most loved first foods, and it blends to a beautifully smooth purée.

Bright, fresh and full of fibre and plant protein, peas bring a gentle savoury note that helps babies discover green veg early. We blend them smooth so there's nothing for little gums to struggle with.

A brilliant base for first purées, apple brings natural sweetness and gentle fibre that supports healthy digestion. We cook it down until it's perfectly smooth and easy to swallow.

Silky-smooth once roasted, butternut squash is a creamy crowd-pleaser loaded with vitamin A to support a growing immune system. Its mellow flavour pairs beautifully with almost everything.

Naturally sweet and rich in beta-carotene, carrots cook down to a velvety texture made for little spoons. A reliable favourite that introduces babies to everyday veg.

These little green trees are big on vitamin C and iron, helping build strong little bodies. Introducing broccoli early helps babies grow up happy to eat their greens.

Gentle, filling and full of fibre, oats give little ones slow-release energy to power busy mornings. They cook into a soft, creamy porridge that's easy to spoon.

Sweet, creamy and rich in potassium, banana is a perfect grab-and-go first food. Simply mashed, it's one of the easiest tastes for babies to love.

Tiny but mighty, blueberries are full of antioxidants and a gentle sweetness babies adore. We blend them smooth or fold them through yoghurt for a fruity treat.

Mild and leafy, spinach is a brilliant source of iron and folate. We blend it smooth into purées so babies get a nutrient boost without any bitterness.

Most babies are ready to start solids at around six months, but age is only part of the picture. There are three clear signs to look for, and a baby usually shows all three together.

First, they can stay sitting up and hold their head steady. Second, they can coordinate eyes, hands and mouth, looking at food, picking it up and moving it to their mouth. Third, they can swallow food rather than pushing it back out.

A few things are often mistaken for readiness: chewing fists, waking in the night, and wanting extra milk are all normal and rarely mean a baby needs solids early. If you're unsure, your health visitor is the best person to ask.

It would be easy to make baby food taste 'better' with a pinch of salt or a spoon of sugar. We never will, and here's why.

A baby's kidneys are still developing and can't process much salt, so official guidance is to avoid adding any in the first year. Added sugar is just as unnecessary: it offers no nutrition little ones need and can nudge them towards a sweeter tooth over time.

The upside of leaving both out is that babies learn what carrots, peas and apples actually taste like. Those early, honest flavours help build a more adventurous eater later on.

From around six months, the iron stores babies are born with begin to run low, so iron-rich foods become really important for growth and brain development.

Great sources include red lentils, beans, well-cooked eggs, soft-cooked meat and iron-fortified cereals. A handy tip: pairing these with vitamin-C-rich foods like sweet pepper, tomato or fruit helps the body absorb more iron from plant sources.

Our butternut, carrot and red lentil mash is a firm favourite for exactly this reason, gentle on tummies, rich in iron, and genuinely tasty.

If your kitchen looks like a food fight every mealtime, take heart: mess is part of how babies learn to eat.

Squishing, dropping and smearing helps little ones explore textures, build hand control and feel in charge of their food, all of which support confident eating later. The flying broccoli is frustrating, but it's progress.

A few sanity-savers: a large bib with sleeves, a splash mat under the highchair, and offering small amounts at a time. Try not to wipe their face constantly during the meal, save the big clean-up for the end. And remember, this phase passes faster than it feels.