Starting Solids · Our Approach
Where our starting solids guidance comes from.
You're deciding what your baby eats. So here is exactly where Miriel's guidance comes from, the order we put safety in, and the lines we never cross, in plain words, with nothing hidden behind jargon.
We don't invent feeding advice
Every step in Miriel's Starting Solids program follows feeding guidance already published by the world's most trusted child-health organizations: the World Health Organization, the American Academy of Pediatrics, and the CDC among them. The same guidance your pediatrician follows.
Our job is to turn that guidance into calm, doable steps and well-timed reminders, not to add opinions on top of it. Every source we rely on is listed openly on the research page, so you, or your pediatrician, can check our homework at any time.
Safety comes before everything else
Inside Miriel, safety rules always win. Before the app suggests anything, it checks your child's allergy list and the feeding rules for their age. Those checks come first, every single time: no preference, no convenience, no fun suggestion is ever allowed to override them.
The program moves the same way: one new food at a time, with a pause of a couple of days before the next, so if something doesn't sit well you can tell which food it was. And foods your baby has already tried stay in gentle rotation, so nothing gets introduced once and then forgotten.
Extra care when your baby needs it
Some babies should get a doctor's go-ahead before trying the foods that most often cause allergies. So before that part of the program begins, Miriel asks a couple of simple questions. If the answers suggest your baby may need extra care, for example, if they already have a food allergy, Miriel doesn't push ahead. It stops and asks you to check with your pediatrician first. That pause is deliberate, and it cannot be skipped.
How we keep it accurate
- Checked against the sources. The solids guidance is written against the published guidance on our research page, and re-checked whenever that guidance changes.
- The same in every language. Miriel speaks several languages, and the substance of the safety guidance is the same in all of them.
- Free where it matters most. The safety essentials every family needs are free for everyone: accuracy about safety shouldn't sit behind a paywall.
What Miriel never does
- It never tells you what's wrong with your child. If something worries you, the answer is your doctor, and Miriel will tell you exactly that.
- It never promises a food is risk-free. No app can. Miriel flags what's on your child's allergy list and shows you what to watch for; the judgment stays with you.
- It never replaces your pediatrician. Miriel is built to keep them in the loop, and their advice always outranks the app.
- It never trades safety for engagement. There are no streaks or nudges that push your baby faster than published guidance allows.
The recipe is private. The rules are public.
Like any product, how Miriel is built on the inside is our team's work, and it stays private. What Miriel must obey is not: the sources it follows, the safety-first order it applies, and the never-do list above are public commitments, written down here, on the methodology page, and on the research page.
Common questions about our approach
Where does Miriel's starting-solids information come from?
From feeding guidance published by the world's most trusted child-health organizations: the World Health Organization, the American Academy of Pediatrics, and the CDC among them. We turn that guidance into plain steps and reminders, and we list every source openly on our research page. We don't add advice of our own on top.
Does Miriel make health decisions about my baby?
No. Miriel gives you information, reminders, and a record of what your baby has tried. Every decision, when to start, what to serve, when to pause, stays with you and your child's doctor. And whenever anything suggests your baby may need extra care, Miriel's answer is always the same: check with your pediatrician first.
Why don't you publish exactly how Miriel works on the inside?
The recipe is ours; the rules it must obey are public. How we built Miriel is our team's work and stays private, like any product. But everything Miriel is required to do, follow published guidance, put your child's allergy list and age rules first, and defer to your pediatrician, is written down openly on this page, the methodology page, and the research page.
Start with the program itself
See what the Starting Solids program actually does, step by step, or download Miriel and begin with the readiness check. The safety essentials are free for every family.