Annaprasana (first solid food) dates 2026

A child's first grain — sixth or eighth month, on a mridu or kshipra nakshatra.

Annaprasana marks a child's first taste of solid food, and it is kept in the sixth month for a boy and the fifth or seventh for a girl in most traditions — always an even month for one and an odd for the other, with regional variation about which way round.

The nakshatras favoured are the gentle ones: mridu, for obvious reasons, and kshipra, because the act is small and quickly done. Pushya is again a strong choice, as the nakshatra whose symbol is a cow's udder and whose whole character is nourishment.

The food is usually payasam or a little sweetened rice, offered first to the family deity and then given to the child by the maternal uncle or the grandmother, depending on the region.

Dates in 2026

Dates in 2027

Choosing within the day

Pick a date in the right month by the child's age, favouring a mridu or kshipra nakshatra on a bhadra or purna tithi, and hold the ceremony outside rahu kalam.

The custom of setting objects before the child afterwards — a coin, a book, a pen, a little earth — is regional and light-hearted rather than prescriptive.

Common questions

Auspicious dates (shubh muhurat) · How to choose an auspicious date