A six-month-old's tray can begin with one very committed piece of broccoli. A few months later, that same tray might hold oatmeal, yogurt, fruit, and part of the family dinner.
We grouped recorded Tummi food occurrences into five broad categories to see how the mix changed across the best-sampled ages. The comparison covers produce, protein and dairy, grains, prepared or mixed foods, and other foods from month 6 through month 9. It describes what caregivers recorded, not what every baby should eat.
The clearest pattern is expansion. Produce stayed in front, but it occupied less of the recorded mix as protein and dairy, grains, and prepared or mixed foods gained ground. That is a useful view of how app records change with age, but it is not a complete picture of a baby's diet, intake, or nutrition.
Key Findings
- Produce remained the largest recorded category at every published age from month 6 through month 9.
- Produce declined from 63.4 percent of recorded occurrences at month 6 to 46.8 percent at month 9.
- Protein and dairy showed the largest gain, rising from 23.7 percent to 31.7 percent.
- Grains rose from 7.2 percent to 10.5 percent, while prepared or mixed foods rose from 0.7 percent to 2.2 percent.
- The analysis covers recorded solid foods only, not breast milk, formula, portions, calories, or nutrients.
What changes most from month 6 to month 9?
Produce accounted for 63.4 percent of recorded food occurrences at month 6. Its share declined in every published age cell, reaching 46.8 percent at month 9. Produce did not disappear. It simply shared more of the recorded plate with other categories.
Protein and dairy moved in the other direction, from 23.7 percent at month 6 to 31.7 percent at month 9. Grains and prepared or mixed foods also gained share. The figure therefore shows a broadening mix rather than one category replacing another.
Source: Aggregated Tummi product data. Later age bars are exploratory because the eligible groups are much smaller.
Does produce stop leading the recorded mix?
No. Produce remained the largest category in every published age cell. Even at month 9, produce represented 46.8 percent of recorded occurrences. The chart does not support a story in which fruits and vegetables vanish as menus become more varied.
What changes is produce's relative dominance. At month 6, nearly two thirds of occurrences fell into the category. By month 9, produce was closer to half of the mix. A falling share can happen even when a category remains common, because other categories are appearing more often alongside it. That distinction matters when you read a proportional chart.
Where do protein, dairy, and grains enter the picture?
Protein and dairy rose from 23.7 percent of the month 6 mix to 31.7 percent at month 9, the largest gain among the named categories. The analysis cannot tell us which individual food drove that change or how much a baby ate.
Grains changed more gradually, moving from 7.2 percent at month 6 to 10.5 percent at month 9. Together, these trends make the later bars look less concentrated in produce. The CDC lists several food groups in its guidance for complementary feeding. The Tummi chart shows how broad categories appear in app records, not whether any individual plate meets a clinical standard.
What do prepared, mixed, and other records add?
Prepared or mixed foods stayed small, but their recorded share increased from 0.7 percent at month 6 to 2.2 percent at month 9. The other category also grew, helping the later recorded mix look broader even though produce still leads.
Neither label is a direct measure of family meals or recipe complexity. A mixed record may represent a prepared dish, but the classification does not reveal every ingredient, who made the food, or whether the baby shared the same meal as everyone else. The published data does not break down the other category, so this report does not assign it a single interpretation.
Does every baby follow this same path?
No. Each bar summarizes an eligible age group, not one set of babies followed under controlled conditions. The profiles represented at month 6 are not necessarily identical to the profiles represented at month 9. An aggregate pattern can show how app activity differs by age without proving that every baby moved through the categories in the same way.
Your baby's recorded mix may look different because of family eating patterns, culture, allergies, feeding approach, availability, preferences, or what you choose to record. The chart does not identify those causes. It also does not grade a menu. A category share that differs from the aggregate is not evidence that a baby is ahead, behind, or eating incorrectly.
How should parents use this pattern?
Use it as context for what recorded solid-food exploration can look like between months 6 and 9. The CDC describes complementary foods as foods that add to breast milk or infant formula. Our data offers a descriptive companion to that guidance by showing how five categories appeared in one self-selected app population.
Do not use the bars as a meal plan, a portion guide, or a nutrition assessment. The chart cannot tell you how much food to offer, which texture is appropriate, or whether your baby is meeting individual needs. Those decisions depend on readiness, feeding skills, health history, and clinical guidance. If intake, growth, allergies, or feeding development worry you, talk with your baby's clinician.
Methodology and limitations
The underlying diet dataset uses recorded solid-food occurrences from Tummi. Each occurrence was assigned to one primary category: produce, protein and dairy, grains, prepared or mixed, or other. The chart reports the average category share for each published age cell from month 6 through month 9.
A record reflects what a caregiver entered in the app. It does not confirm the portion offered, the amount swallowed, whether the baby accepted the food, or whether the same food was served without an entry. Differences in recording habits can therefore shape the apparent category mix.
The age bars are aggregate comparisons. The eligible group can change from one month to the next, so the chart is not a controlled within-baby study and should not be read as a developmental pathway followed by every child. It can identify an age-associated pattern in the app, but it cannot establish what caused that pattern.
The main analysis stops at month 9 because those are the best-sampled age cells. Data exists for months 10 through 12, but the eligible groups are much smaller and those bars are considered exploratory. We do not use the later cells to strengthen or extend the article's central conclusion.
The dataset covers solid-food occurrences only. It excludes breast milk and formula, and it does not measure calories, nutrients, meal frequency, preparation, texture, or the complete ingredients inside every mixed dish. Tummi families are a self-selected product population, so these percentages are not population estimates for all babies or all families.
The dataset is self-selected because it describes families who chose to use Tummi. The findings describe aggregated app activity and are not population estimates for every family, baby, or country.
Everything shown here is aggregated. No names, individual profiles, free-text answers, or personal meal histories are published.
Conclusion
From month 6 through month 9, the recorded mix becomes less concentrated in produce and more distributed across protein and dairy, grains, prepared or mixed foods, and other foods. Produce remains the largest category throughout, so the story is not replacement. It is a broader solid-food record.
That pattern can make your own expanding menu feel less mysterious, but it is not a schedule you need to copy. Your baby's abilities, health, preferences, and family foods will shape a different path. Use the chart for context, and use your baby's clinician for individualized questions about feeding, growth, or nutrition.
Frequently Asked Questions
Does this chart include breast milk or formula?
No. It covers recorded solid-food occurrences only. Milk feeds, portions, calories, and nutrients are outside the dataset.
Does the falling produce share mean babies should eat less produce?
No. This is a descriptive pattern, not a recommendation. Produce remained the largest category at every published age, and the chart does not define an ideal category balance.
What belongs in the protein and dairy category?
It includes records assigned to that primary category in the Tummi classification. The analysis does not break the trend down to individual foods or quantify the ingredients inside mixed dishes.
Why does the main comparison stop at month 9 instead of month 12?
Months 6 through 9 have the strongest eligible groups. Later age cells are much smaller, so they are treated as exploratory and are not used for the article's main claim.
Sources
- Tummi Food Team, 2026. Aggregated Tummi feeding records and onboarding responses. First-party product data.
- CDC: When, What, and How to Introduce Solid Foods. Current U.S. public-health guidance on complementary foods alongside breast milk or formula.
- Canadian infants' complementary-food intake study. A cross-sectional Canadian dietary survey used as outside context for age-related differences in complementary foods.