Use the tracker after readiness is clear
This page is for tracking starting solids, not deciding the exact day to begin. CDC guidance points to about 6 months and developmental readiness signs such as sitting with support, head and neck control, opening the mouth for food, and swallowing instead of pushing food back out.
Once you and your pediatrician are comfortable starting, the starting solids tracker gives every new food a clean place to live. Instead of trying to remember breakfast from four days ago, you can open the baby food tracker and see the food, texture, amount, response, allergen tag, and notes together.
What to log from the first spoon
For each food, log the date, preparation form, texture, rough amount, baby response, and any notes. A good first foods log does not need a long journal entry. It needs enough detail to answer basic questions later.
That structure matters because early feeding gets blurry fast. Puree, mashed food, soft finger food, mixed meals, tiny tastes, refusals, gagging, rash notes, and pediatrician questions all start to blend together when the record is scattered across photos and memory.
- Food tried: banana, oatmeal, avocado, egg, yogurt, lentils, or whatever was actually offered.
- Texture and form: puree, mashed, minced, soft strip, preloaded spoon, or mixed into another familiar food.
- Response: tried, liked, refused, retry later, or possible reaction note.
- Context: amount, timing, symptoms, and anything you want to ask at the next pediatric visit.
Track textures without turning meals into admin
Texture is one of the most useful details in a starting solids tracker. A baby may reject roasted carrot sticks but accept mashed carrot, or enjoy oatmeal plain but refuse the same food when it is too thick. Without the texture note, the food log can make a food look like a failure when the serving style was the real issue.
Keep the note short. “Mashed, two spoons, liked” is enough. “Soft strip, held it, did not swallow much” is enough. The point is not perfect data. The point is a record that helps the next meal feel less random.
Keep allergen and reaction notes attached to the food
When a food is a common allergen, the tracker keeps that context visible before and after you log it. Milk, egg, fish, shellfish, peanuts, tree nuts, wheat, soy, sesame, and other common allergen categories should not disappear inside a random meal note.
Reaction notes belong with the food record: what was served, when it was eaten, what you noticed, when symptoms started, and what action you took. The tracker does not diagnose allergies. It helps you keep a clear timeline for conversations with your pediatrician or allergist.
Where the 100 foods before 1 goal fits
Once solids are underway, 100 foods before 1 can be a fun variety goal. It should stay flexible. Your baby is not failing because they hate broccoli this week, and you do not need to introduce new foods just to fill a chart.
Use the 100 foods goal as a variety prompt, not a pressure system. The tracker keeps open foods near the top, moves logged foods down, and keeps retry foods visible so refused foods can come back later in a calmer form.
What this starting solids tracker is not
It is not medical advice, a readiness test, a choking-safety encyclopedia, or a diagnosis tool. It is the record layer for families who are already starting solids and want one place for first foods, textures, allergen exposures, reactions, retries, and notes.
If you need help deciding when to begin, ask your pediatrician and read the readiness guide first. If you are ready to track meals, use the app as the memory system.
