First foods database
Can babies eat honey?
The short answer: no — not before 12 months. Here's the safe way to do it.
When can babies eat honey?
Honey is the one food with a hard, non-negotiable age line: no honey in any form before 12 months. This includes baked goods, cereals and sauces containing honey.
Why is honey dangerous for babies?
Not a choking issue — a bacterial one.
Honey can contain Clostridium botulinum spores. Adult and toddler guts handle them; a baby's immature gut microbiome cannot, and the result — infant botulism — is rare but life-threatening. Cooking does NOT reliably destroy the spores, so honey-baked items count too. After the first birthday, honey is fine (though it's still free sugar, so use lightly).
Is honey a common allergen?
No — honey is not one of the top-9 food allergens, which makes it a low-stress food to serve alongside deliberate allergen introductions.
How to serve honey by stage
Do not serve. Sweeten with mashed banana, apple purée or date purée instead.
Do not serve — the rule holds for the entire first year.
Now fine in moderation: a drizzle on porridge or yogurt as an occasional treat.
For more depth on this topic, see our guide: When to Start Solids: Signs Your Baby Is Ready.
Track every new food in BabyEats
Checking foods one by one is exactly what the BabyEats app streamlines: age-appropriate serving guidance for the food in front of you, allergen introduction planning, and a tracker that logs everything your baby has tried — so the "can they eat this?" moment takes seconds, not a search.