Tiny Taste guides

Foods to avoid before your baby's first birthday

Before 12 months, skip honey, cow's milk as a drink, juice, added sugars, salty foods, high-mercury fish, unpasteurized foods, and foods that are choking hazards in their usual form. Common allergens like peanut and egg are not on this list. They are worth offering early, in a safe form.

Honey

Honey can cause infant botulism, a severe food poisoning, in babies younger than 12 months. Don't give your baby honey, and don't add it to food, water, formula, or a pacifier¹.

Cow's milk as a drink

Cow's milk as a drink waits until about 12 months. Before then, it can put babies at risk of bleeding in the intestines, it has more protein and minerals than a baby's kidneys handle easily, and it lacks the right amounts of nutrients babies need¹. It can also lead to iron-deficiency anemia in some babies². Yogurt without added sugar can be offered before 12 months³.

Juice and sugary drinks

Babies under 12 months should not drink any fruit or vegetable juice. Sugar-sweetened drinks, such as soda, flavored milk, sports drinks, and juice drinks, have added sugars that children under 2 should not have. Children under 2 should also avoid caffeinated drinks¹.

Added sugars and salty foods

Infants and young children should not have added sugars. That includes many muffins, cookies, and flavored yogurts, so check the Nutrition Facts label¹. Foods with low-calorie or no-calorie sweeteners are not recommended either⁴. Avoid high-salt foods too, like some canned foods, processed meats, frozen dinners, and packaged snacks¹. When you cook for your baby, use no added salt or seasoning, and limit processed foods made for adults⁵.

Fish high in mercury

Avoid king mackerel, marlin, orange roughy, shark, swordfish, tilefish from the Gulf of Mexico, and bigeye tuna. Too much mercury over time can harm the brain and nervous system¹. Many other fish are lower in mercury and have nutrients that support brain development, so fish is still worth offering¹. The FDA and EPA publish a chart of better choices for families feeding children⁶.

Unpasteurized foods

Unpasteurized juice, raw milk, and unpasteurized yogurt and cheese can carry harmful bacteria that cause severe diarrhea. Don't give them to your child¹.

Choking hazards in their usual form

Some foods are dangerous as usually served but safe once prepared for a baby. The USDA's list, shared by CDC, includes⁴:

• whole grapes, cherries, berries, cherry tomatoes, and melon balls
• hard raw vegetables and fruit, like raw carrot or apple, and whole corn kernels
• whole or chopped nuts and seeds, and chunks or spoonfuls of nut butter
• hot dogs, meat sticks, sausages, tough chunks of meat, and chunks of cheese
• popcorn, chips, pretzels, hard crackers, raisins, and candy, gum, or marshmallows

Many of these can be made safer: cook hard foods until soft, cut round foods like grapes into small pieces, and spread nut butter thinly³⁷. Whole nuts should wait until a child can be counted on to chew them well, usually at least age 4⁸.

Rice cereal: vary it

Rice cereal isn't banned, but serving only rice cereal can raise your baby's exposure to arsenic. Rotate fortified infant cereals such as oat, barley, and multigrain³.

Not on the list: common allergens

Peanut, egg, dairy, sesame, and the other common allergens do not need to wait. Once your baby is ready for food, there is no evidence that delaying these foods prevents allergies⁸. See our guide to introducing allergens.

This is general information, not medical advice. Ask your baby's doctor about your own baby.