THE texture T I M E L I N E ™

starter guide

Use this starter guide of the Texture Timeline™ to gently expose your baby to a greater
variety of textures to help develop eating skills and prevent picky eating! Whether
you're using finger foods, or purées/mashed foods, the key here is to progress and
advance to the next texture in a timely manner! Follow these steps to get you started on
your solids journey and see the expanded Texture Timeline™ guide , complete with
signs to move on and red flags, inside the Baby Led Feeding Course!

AT A GLANCE

A WORD ON SELF-FEEDING
It’s important to give your baby opportunities to self-feed, just like it’s
important to progress in textures. There are SO many benefits to self-
feeding from a young age, so even if you start out spoon feeding purées,
you’ll want to watch for signs that your baby’s ready to become more
independent in feeding and offer them the opportunity to try finger food
alongside purées at mealtimes. This promotes curiosity and
independence to support positive mealtime experiences!

COPYRIGHT 2022 - MY LITTLE EATER™

 THE texture T I M E L I N E ™
PHASE 0
THIN & SMOOTH PURÉES
Optional phase! HARD WHOLE FOODS
SPEND 1-5 DAYS HERE

If you start with smooth purées, you should only spend 1-5 days
here. These foods do not require chewing or pressure at all for it to
dissolve. They are moved back in the mouth with suckle movement
and swallowed. Once you’re sure your baby can move food to the
back of the mouth and can swallow safely, you can move on! The
consistency is smooth, thin, and generally runny.
Note: Any table food can be blenderized to this consistency, if
serving purées.
You can also offer highly resistive, whole foods as a great way for
your baby to begin to explore their mouth, as well as new flavors
and textures with reduced risk of choking. You can also incorporate
purées onto the foods for an added level of exploration, such as
dipping raw carrot in puréed carrot.
Note: Once baby is using teeth to bite through foods, we
recommend avoiding hard, whole foods to reduce risk of choking.
Once you establish a safe swallow (reduced gagging), which may
only take a couple of days, you are ready to progress to the next
phase as we don't want your baby to get stuck here!

EXAMPLES OF PHASE 0 FOODS

PURÉES FINGER FOODS

- Applesauce - Whole carrot, raw/peeled

- Regular 0%, 1%, or 2% yogurt - Chicken drumstick bone
- Thinned out infant cereal - Mango pit

COPYRIGHT 2022 - MY LITTLE EATER™

 THE texture T I M E L I N E ™
PHASE 1
THICK/MASHED WITH SMALL LUMPS
MELTABLE SOLIDS (OPTIONAL)
VERY SOFT SOLIDS
SPEND 1-14 DAYS HERE

This phase teaches babies how to manipulate a thicker texture around in

their mouth... with minimal chewing required! This phase provides more
sensory input and also helps babies learn how to bite into finger foods, move
their tongue side to side, and use a bit more effort to remove food from a
spoon. The consistency is more thick, creamy, stiff, and may contain small
lumps.
Note: Any table food can be mashed/blenderized to this consistency, if
serving purées.
Meltable solids do not require excessive chewing and dissolve in your month
with pressure from gums or tongue. We recommend caregivers test the
meltable before offering to your child as once stale, these foods can become
similar to hard candy.

EXAMPLES OF PHASE 1 FOODS

PURÉES MELTABLES (FINGER FOODS)

- Avocado/guacamole (mashed) - Arrowroot cookies

- Banana (mashed) - Cheerios, plain (make sure no honey <1 year)
- Egg yolk mashed & slightly thinned with - Meltable puffs (like Baby Gourmet Finger
breastmilk/formula Foods, Bamba snacks, Puffworks snacks)

FINGER FOODS (COOKED)

- Butternut squash
- Eggs (scrambled)
- Eggplant
- Sweet potato (baked)

COPYRIGHT 2022 - MY LITTLE EATER™

 THE texture T I M E L I N E ™
PHASE 2
VERY LUMPY/MINCED
SOFT SOLIDS
SPEND 1-14 DAYS HERE

Foods that fall into this phase are still soft and squishable but
pose more of a challenge for babies because they have to work
harder to manipulate this texture in their mouth. These foods can
be mashed and then swallowed, or break apart easily in the mouth
without the need for heavy chewing - but still has a bit more of a
bite! The food will be lumpier, more irregular in shape, and may
contain mixed, soft textures. Most babies can tolerate this stage
fairly early after starting solids, or even as the first texture offered!

EXAMPLES OF PHASE 2 FOODS

PURÉES FINGER FOODS

- Ground beef (loose & mashed) with marinara - Bean burger
sauce - Blueberries
- Oatmeal made with quick cook or rolled oats - Salmon (or other cooked fish)
- Tuna/salmon salad (made with greek yogurt) - Tofu (medium firmness)

COPYRIGHT 2022 - MY LITTLE EATER™

 THE texture T I M E L I N E ™
PHASE 3
EXPAND!
LIFELONG STAGE

This is an expansion of the mechanical textures listed in

phase 2 to make sure your baby tries all the various
textures, flavors, colors, shapes, etc. out there! It includes
more mixed textures as well. Try to offer a variety from
each texture category (in no specific order).
Note: The foods listed under phase 3 may also include
some foods that were already introduced in phases 1 & 2
(although those are easier to chew). However, here you
can see what texture they are categorized under so you
can try the ranges in one place! Also, sometimes
different cooking methods can produce different texture
experiences!

EXAMPLES OF PHASE 3 FOODS

GRAINY STRINGY

barley, bulgar, cauliflower rice, couscous
RUBBERY
clams, corn on the cob, egg white (boiled,
sliced or quartered), green beans
asparagus (cooked), brussels sprouts (shredded,
cooked), spaghetti squash (cooked)
CHEWY
English muffin, pasta noodle (al denté),
steel cut oats, shredded steak

SPONGY CRUNCHY
bell peppers (lightly cooked), grapes
blackberries, pancake strips, toast with
(quartered), cherry tomatoes (quartered),
light topping, tofu (medium or firm)
broccoli (roasted), cauliflower (roasted)

CRUMBLY MIXED
falafel, hamburger patty, burger, chili, curry, lasagna,
meatball, muffin omelet with cooked veggies

CRISPY LEAFY

baby safe crackers, kale chips STICKY artichoke, arugula, bok choy, kale
(all cooked)
almond butter

COPYRIGHT 2022 - MY LITTLE EATER™

 GET THE EXPANDED
TETURE TIMELINE™ GUIDE
INSIDE

CLICK HERE FOR THE COURSE