Is LabelBaby the same as Solid Starts?

No. Solid Starts is a whole-food preparation and choking-safety database: it shows how to cut, cook, and serve a banana or a piece of chicken at 6, 9, and 12 months. LabelBaby is a packaged-label scanner: you scan the barcode on a pouch, snack, formula, wipe, or lotion and it returns a Safe, Caution, or Avoid verdict based on your child's saved age and allergens.

Can I use both LabelBaby and Solid Starts?

Yes, and many parents should. They solve opposite halves of the same worry. Solid Starts covers the food you prepare at home; LabelBaby covers the food and products you buy off a shelf.

Does Solid Starts scan barcodes?

Solid Starts is built around a searchable whole-food database and video guidance rather than scanning packaged product barcodes. If your question is about an ingredient list on a package, that is the job LabelBaby is built for.

Does LabelBaby cover choking risk?

LabelBaby flags choking-risk product types such as hard teething biscuits and whole round snacks when they are inappropriate for your child's age, but it does not replace a whole-food cutting and serving guide. For that, use a dedicated first-foods resource.

Which is better for allergen introduction?

Solid Starts is stronger on the process of introducing an allergen food at home. LabelBaby is stronger on catching an allergen you already know about hidden in a packaged ingredient list, including 'may contain' wording, because it checks against the allergens you saved for that specific child.

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App comparison

LabelBaby vs Solid Starts

These two apps are often compared, but they barely overlap. One is for food you prepare. One is for food and products you buy. Here is the honest split — written by the team behind LabelBaby.

LabelBaby or Solid Starts — which should I get?

Choose Solid Starts if your questions are about whole foods you prepare at home: how to cut a grape, when to offer chicken, how to tell gagging from choking. Choose LabelBaby if your questions are about packaged products: whether this pouch, snack, formula, wipe, or lotion is appropriate for your child's exact age and allergens, and whether it has been recalled. They solve different halves of the same worry, and using both is a reasonable answer.

Solid Starts: whole-food cutting, cooking, serving, and choking guidance by age band.
LabelBaby: barcode and label scanning with a Safe, Caution, or Avoid verdict per child.
Only LabelBaby personalises every verdict to one child's saved age and allergen profile.
Only LabelBaby checks open FDA recall data and covers non-food items such as wipes and lotions.
Only Solid Starts gives step-by-step video preparation for individual whole foods.

Side by side

	LabelBaby	Solid Starts
Core job	Read the ingredient list on something you bought and judge it for your child.	Show you how to prepare and serve a whole food safely at each age.
How you use it	Scan a barcode or photograph the label in the aisle.	Search a food by name before you cook it.
Personalisation	A saved profile per child — age in months, allergens, dietary needs — drives every verdict.	Guidance is by age band, the same for every child in that band.
Allergens	Flags your child's specific saved allergens in packaged ingredient lists, including 'may contain' wording.	Teaches the process of introducing the common allergen foods at home.
Choking	Flags age-inappropriate product formats such as hard biscuits and whole round snacks.	Detailed cut-and-serve guidance with video, plus choking versus gagging education.
Recalls	Matches scanned and saved products against open FDA recall data and alerts you.	Not a recall monitor.
Beyond food	Also scans wipes, lotions, cosmetics, and other family products.	Food only.
Pricing	$9.99/month, or $69.99 once for lifetime access through the 24-month milestone.	Free food database with a paid subscription for full content.

Written by LabelBaby (Sothes LLC). We are not affiliated with or endorsed by Solid Starts, and its features and pricing come from its own public description and may have changed. Neither app is medical advice — talk to your paediatrician about your child's diet and allergies.

When Solid Starts is the better buy

You are cooking most of what your baby eats, you are doing baby-led weaning, and the thing keeping you up is whether a piece of food is the wrong shape or size. A packaged-label scanner will not help with a roast carrot. Go with the whole-food guide.

When LabelBaby is the better buy

You are standing in a supermarket aisle holding two pouches, your child has a known allergen, and the pack claims are not the same as the ingredient list. Or you want to know that the snack in your cupboard has not just been recalled. That is the gap LabelBaby fills — and it extends past food to wipes, lotions, and cosmetics.

Try the packaged-label half

LabelBaby is launching on iOS and Android. Get notified the day it does.

See how LabelBaby works

Keep reading

Frequently asked questions

Is LabelBaby the same as Solid Starts?: No. Solid Starts is a whole-food preparation and choking-safety database: it shows how to cut, cook, and serve a banana or a piece of chicken at 6, 9, and 12 months. LabelBaby is a packaged-label scanner: you scan the barcode on a pouch, snack, formula, wipe, or lotion and it returns a Safe, Caution, or Avoid verdict based on your child's saved age and allergens.
Can I use both LabelBaby and Solid Starts?: Yes, and many parents should. They solve opposite halves of the same worry. Solid Starts covers the food you prepare at home; LabelBaby covers the food and products you buy off a shelf.
Does Solid Starts scan barcodes?: Solid Starts is built around a searchable whole-food database and video guidance rather than scanning packaged product barcodes. If your question is about an ingredient list on a package, that is the job LabelBaby is built for.
Does LabelBaby cover choking risk?: LabelBaby flags choking-risk product types such as hard teething biscuits and whole round snacks when they are inappropriate for your child's age, but it does not replace a whole-food cutting and serving guide. For that, use a dedicated first-foods resource.
Which is better for allergen introduction?: Solid Starts is stronger on the process of introducing an allergen food at home. LabelBaby is stronger on catching an allergen you already know about hidden in a packaged ingredient list, including 'may contain' wording, because it checks against the allergens you saved for that specific child.