Foods to avoid before your baby turns 1

Before 12 months, the CDC says to skip honey, cow’s milk as a drink, fruit and vegetable juice, added sugars, and anything shaped to block a small airway. Most other family food is fair game once it is soft and cut small enough.

The list is short, and it is mostly about two risks: infant botulism and choking.

Around this age

Between 6 and 12 months, babies move from first tastes to a share of what everyone else is eating. Breast milk or formula is still the main drink through the first year, and food alongside it is practice as much as nutrition.

Here is what the CDC keeps off the tray in that first year, and why.

Honey, before 12 months. The CDC says honey given to a child younger than 12 months may cause infant botulism, a severe food poisoning. That covers honey on its own, so it is worth a glance at labels on cereals, crackers and yogurts too.

Cow’s milk as a drink, before 12 months. The CDC says cow’s milk before a year may put babies at risk of intestinal bleeding, and that it has too much protein and too many minerals for young kidneys. Small amounts of whole-milk yogurt or cheese as food are a different thing from a cup of milk to drink.

Fruit and vegetable juice, before 12 months. The CDC says children younger than 12 months do not need any juice. After a year, the AAP limits 100% juice to about 4 ounces a day for ages 1 to 3.

Added sugars. The CDC says infants and young children do not need added sugars. They turn up in flavored yogurts, muffins, cookies and cereal bars marketed for babies.

Sugar-sweetened drinks, and caffeine, before 24 months. Sodas, flavored milks, sports drinks and juice drinks, plus anything caffeinated, since the CDC notes there is no established safe level of caffeine for young children.

High-sodium foods, unpasteurized foods, and high-mercury fish. Processed meats and salted canned foods are high in sodium. Raw milk and unpasteurized juices, yogurts and cheeses carry a risk of bacterial contamination. Shark, swordfish and king mackerel are the fish the CDC names for mercury.

What to try instead

Reshape rather than refuse. The CDC’s choking list is largely about shape and firmness: uncut grapes, berries, cherries and melon balls; raw hard vegetables; whole corn kernels; uncut cherry tomatoes; whole nuts and chunky nut butter; hot dogs; large chunks of cheese or meat; popcorn, hard pretzels, cookies and granola bars; hard candy, marshmallows and gummy candy.

Cutting food smaller and mashing it, the CDC says, helps prevent choking. Grapes and cherry tomatoes go in quarters lengthwise. Nut butter goes thin on toast rather than by the spoon. Cooked vegetables go soft enough to squash between your finger and thumb.

Sit down to eat. The CDC asks that children sit up while eating, with no lying down, crawling or walking around with food, and that meals happen without rushing or distraction, with an adult watching. It also notes that choking hazards exist even after a child is feeding themselves and eating most foods, which is why this stays true well past the first birthday.

Season your food last. Cooking the family meal and taking the baby’s portion out before the salt goes in is easier than making two dinners.

Water and milk, in that order. For 6 to 12 month olds the CDC puts plain water at 4 to 8 ounces a day alongside breast milk or formula, and pasteurized plain whole cow’s milk on the list from 12 months. Your pediatrician can tell you what fits your baby.

Allergens are a separate conversation, and one worth having at a well-child visit rather than from a list on the internet. Ask at the next visit, particularly if there is food allergy or eczema in the family.

Sources

• Foods and Drinks to Avoid or Limit — Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
• Choking Hazards — Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
• Foods and Drinks to Encourage — Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

This is educational information from public sources, not a replacement for advice from your child’s healthcare professional.

In Withya, the first-foods guide for your child’s age sits under Guides, and what she actually ate on Tuesday sits in the Journal.