Foods to avoid at 6 months

There is lots more information about food for your baby and toddler at Weaning Centre. My site dedicated to the under 5s.

Babies start to have solid foods around 6 months. It is important that babies get introduced to a range of tastes and textures but there are some foods to avoid. If you have allergies, there may be some other foods to avoid but speak to your health visitor or GP for specific advice.

Added salt or high salt

• Not good for kidneys
• Don’t add salt or use stock cubes or gravy or soy sauce, even baby stock is unnecessary for baby
• Babies also acquire a taste for salt so the less salt they have, the less salt they will crave. They will get the salt they need from other foods, so if you can avoid it, don’t add salt (this is a great time for the rest of the family to cut down on salt and add flavour in other ways
• Processed foods usually contain added salt so check the label and avoid those with added salt, if you can.

Sugar

• Sugar can increase the risk of tooth decay, the leading cause of children to have operations
• Avoid sugary snacks and drinks
• Never put anything other than milk or water in a bottle
• Add mashed fruit, breast or formula milk to sweeten if necessary
• Babies naturally lean towards sweet tastes because breast milk is sweet so it is really important we get them used to more savoury tastes

Honey

• Occasionally, honey contains bacteria which can produce toxins in a baby’s intestines, leading to a very serious illness (infant botulism).
• It’s best not to give your child honey until they’re one year old
• Honey is a sugar, so avoiding it will also help to prevent tooth decay

Low fat foods

• Babies have small tummies so they need more energy from their food by weight.
• Babies need the fat and fat soluble vitamins (A, D, E and K)
• Babies under 2 should have full fat milk, cheese and yoghurt and then semi skimmed until they are 5

Saturated fat

• Although you want full fat foods, try and give your child foods rich in unsaturated fat. Trim off the visible fat from meat and try and give them lean proteins like chicken (without the skin), mince with the fat skimmed off, eggs, pulses, fish

Shark, swordfish and marline

• The amount of mercury in these fish can affect a baby’s growing nervous system

Unpasteurised soft cheese and blue cheeses

• Potential risk of food poisoning

Uncooked or partially cooked non Lion marked eggs

If the egg has the Lion mark, the hens have been vaccinated against salmonella and the practices on the farms reduce the risk of salmonella. Non marked eggs don’t come with the same assurance and so could be a risk

Raw shellfish

• Risk of food poisoning

Foods containing bran

• High fibre diets are not great for babies because there is a lot of bulk without the energy and nutrients they need
• Too much fibre can affect the absorption of some nutrients in the gut too
• Bran has a high fibre content

Whole nuts

• Not for children under 5 years due to choking hazard
• Nuts are good for babies (if they have no family history of nut allergy) but make sure you crush or grind nuts from 6 months

Rice milk as a drink

• Because of the amount consumed and the arsenic which is found in low levels in rice

Sweetened fruit squashes, fizzy drinks, tea and coffee

• Tea contains tannins which can affect the absorption of iron. Some herbal teas contain tannins too.
• Caffeine can have a negative effect on children so tea and coffee should be avoided

Undiluted fruit juices – only give juice well diluted at meal times

Due to the sugar and acid in fruit juice, it is only recommended in dilute form. If you can avoid it, even better, but if you can’t, dilute as much as possible but a minimum of 50% water. Avoid putting juice in a bottle and limit juice to mealtimes to reduce the amount of time the juice is in contact with the teeth during the day

Anything marketed for adults e.g. cholesterol lowering products

If you would like further information, please get in touch. There are so many wonderful new food experiences for baby to enjoy. Want to learn more about giving your baby the best start in their food journey? Book onto a course today. Details here