When can we start giving chocolate, honey and eggs to babies?

Question

I have 12 month old twins. Today I was eating chocolate and one of my twin tried to grab it as she wanted it but I didnt give it. Is it safe for babies to have chocolate and honey ? Also wanted to know about eggs.

Answer 1

Chocolate, eggs and honey are all safe at 12 months, unless your children have a specific allergy to them.

• Too much chocolate or honey could be bad for their teeth. Also see info below about feeding too much sweet foods to babies.

• Eggs should be cooked until the yolks are solid, to avoid the risk of salmonella. (NHS Choices: Eggs. See section "Egg safety"). It doesn't matter how you cook them (boiled, scrambled, fried) so long as they're cooked thoroughly.

• Honey is not recommended for infants under 12 months of age due to the "rare but serious" risk of infant botulism, but yours are 12 months old so that should be ok. (BBC News: Parents reminded to avoid honey in babies)

Twelve months onwards

By now your baby can fit in with the family by eating three meals a day. They will also need healthy snacks between meals as well as two to three cups of milk each day.

Avoid snacks with lots of added sugar and keep offering healthy snacks/finger foods such as vegetables, bread or pieces of pasta, potato, meat or fish to encourage them to be independent eaters. Remember that babies need full fat milk and dairy products until they are two years old because they need the extra fat and vitamins in full fat dairy products.

Whole nuts should not be given before five years as they may cause choking.

Taste for life - giving your baby a variety of food now may prevent fussy eating later, NHS Start4Life

Babies who are given sweet things to eat or drink are more likely to get a taste for sweet foods than babies who are not. Giving babies food with added sugar can cause these serious problems:

• It can rot their tiny teeth, and lead to fillings and even lost teeth (drinks with added sugar are particularly bad for babies’ teeth – it’s like giving a baby a lolly to suck on all day).

• It can put them at a higher risk of becoming overweight or obese, which can lead to type 2 diabetes, heart disease and some cancers in later life.

• Giving your baby a sweet tooth also means that they are more likely to keep pestering and crying for sugary things. This makes it difficult to say ‘no’ to but means that your baby learns that crying and pestering will get them what they want.

Sweet as they are - how to avoid giving your baby a sweet tooth, NHS Start4Life

“Really, anything that you can put in baby’s mouth, if it’s nutritious and they won’t choke on it, is okay,” says Rachel Lewis, MD, an assistant professor of clinical pediatrics at Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons.

Starter Guide to Baby Food & Nutrition, WebMD, p.3