Key takeaways: Avoid honey (risk of botulism), cow’s milk as a drink, juice, added sugars, high-sodium foods, high-mercury fish, unpasteurized foods, and choking hazards. Vary grains instead of relying on rice. Most other family foods can be adapted for babies.
Most healthy foods can be part of your baby’s diet, but a few should wait or be avoided. Here’s the list.
Honey
Avoid until 12 months, including in baked goods and on pacifiers. Honey can contain spores of the bacteria that cause infant botulism, which a baby’s immature gut can’t handle. Signs include constipation, weak cry and suck, droopy eyelids, and floppiness.
Cow’s Milk as a Drink
Avoid before 12 months. It doesn’t have the right balance of nutrients, can strain the kidneys, and can contribute to iron deficiency. Small amounts of yogurt, cheese, and milk in cooking are fine. The same goes for goat’s milk and plant-based milks.
Juice
Avoid before 12 months. The AAP recommends no fruit juice for babies under 1. It adds sugar without fiber and can contribute to tooth decay and diarrhea. Offer whole fruit instead.
Added Sugars
Avoid before age 2, according to the Dietary Guidelines. This includes sweets, sweetened yogurts, cookies, and sugar-sweetened drinks.
High-Sodium Foods
Babies’ kidneys can’t handle much salt. Avoid adding salt to baby food, and limit processed foods, deli meats, canned soups, and salty snacks. Take your baby’s portion out before seasoning family meals.
High-Mercury Fish
Avoid: shark, swordfish, king mackerel, tilefish (Gulf of Mexico), bigeye tuna, marlin, and orange roughy.
Good choices: salmon, cod, tilapia, pollock, sardines, canned light tuna, and shrimp, well-cooked and boneless.
Unpasteurized Foods
Avoid unpasteurized (raw) milk, cheese, and juice, which can carry harmful bacteria like Listeria and E. coli.
Undercooked Foods
Cook eggs, meat, poultry, and fish thoroughly.
Rice Products
Rice can contain inorganic arsenic. You don’t need to avoid rice, but don’t rely on rice cereal or rice snacks. Vary grains: oats, barley, quinoa, and multigrain cereals.
Choking Hazards
Avoid or modify:
- Whole grapes, cherry tomatoes, and large berries (quarter or flatten them).
- Whole nuts and seeds.
- Popcorn and chips.
- Hot dogs and sausages in rounds (cut lengthwise into thin strips).
- Hard raw vegetables and apples (grate or cook soft).
- Chunks of meat or cheese (shred or cut small).
- Hard candy, gum, marshmallows, gummies.
- Globs of nut butter.
Caffeine and Sweetened Drinks
No coffee, tea, soda, energy drinks, or sports drinks.
Plant-Based Milks and Toddler Formulas
Not appropriate substitutes for breast milk or infant formula before 12 months.
Call your baby’s doctor if your baby: has constipation with weakness or poor feeding (possible botulism), vomiting or diarrhea after eating, or signs of an allergic reaction. Call 911 for trouble breathing, choking, or swelling of the face or tongue.
The Bottom Line
Skip honey, juice, cow’s milk as a drink, added sugars, high-mercury fish, unpasteurized foods, and choking hazards in the first year. Most other healthy family foods can be adapted for your baby.
Want more support for your baby’s first year? My book, From First Breath to First Birthday, is available on Amazon.
Sources
- Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Infant botulism. https://www.cdc.gov/botulism
- Heyman MB, Abrams SA; Section on Gastroenterology, Hepatology, and Nutrition; Committee on Nutrition. Fruit juice in infants, children, and adolescents: current recommendations. Pediatrics. 2017;139(6):e20170967.
- US Department of Agriculture and US Department of Health and Human Services. Dietary Guidelines for Americans, 2020-2025, Chapter 2: Infants and Toddlers. https://www.dietaryguidelines.gov
- US Food and Drug Administration and Environmental Protection Agency. Advice about eating fish. https://www.fda.gov/food/consumers/advice-about-eating-fish
- US Food and Drug Administration. Inorganic arsenic in rice cereals for infants: action level guidance for industry. 2020. https://www.fda.gov
- Committee on Injury, Violence, and Poison Prevention. Prevention of choking among children. Pediatrics. 2010;125(3):601-607.
- Healthy Eating Research. Healthy beverage consumption in early childhood: recommendations from key national health and nutrition organizations. 2019. https://healthyeatingresearch.org
This article is for general education and is not a substitute for individualized medical advice. Always talk with your baby’s health care provider or your own provider about your specific situation. If you think your baby or you may have a medical emergency, call 911.
