Can Babies Have Pesto?
Introduction
Most pesto sauces are fine to introduce to your baby's diet as soon as they start weaning, but some risk factors must be taken into account.
Non-standard sauces
There are so many variations of the traditional basil pesto that it is impossible to give every single one the "OK" when feeding it to your baby. However, there are some key things to look out for:
Texture
Firstly, you need to make sure the sauce is well pureed. Many premium pestos are purposely kept quite chunky, so we always advise giving pesto an extra blitz in a blender before feeding them to babies.
Ingredients in basil pesto
There are no ingredients of particular concern in classic basil pesto, which contains olive oil, pine nuts, basil, garlic, cheese, and salt. All these ingredients are fine for babies unless they have already shown signs of allergies to any of them.
Salt
Just like adults, it's not recommended that babies consume too much salt, and some pesto sauces (cheaper ones in particular) have quite high levels, so that's something to watch out for.
Cheese
Pasteurised, full-fat cheeses like Parmesan are fine for babies aged 6 months. However, just like when pregnant, the NHS recommends avoiding mould-ripened cheeses like brie or blue-veined cheeses like stilton until your child is at least two years old.
Nuts
While you should never feed your baby whole nuts, most allergists agree that you can introduce ground nuts to your baby's diet from around six months old.
Meats
There are some highly unusual pestos on the market (including one that contains a spreadable salami called 'nduja), so you should avoid them due to their cured meat content. Some types of pesto may also contain large amounts of lemon juice, which you should avoid until your baby is around one year old.
Other ingredients
Other well-known foodstuffs unsuitable for babies include honey, shellfish, and raw egg whites. There's no reason why any pesto would contain them but always check the label.
How about pasta?
As for introducing pasta to your baby's diet, it's good to recognise that there are two main types. The dried pasta you find in the ambient supermarket aisle will be made of durum wheat (semolina) and water, while the fresh pasta in the chilled aisle will normally be made with durum wheat and eggs.
Both wheat and eggs are allergens, so it's best to introduce pasta slowly and in small amounts to start with. We recommend starting with dried pasta first and then the fresh stuff. Just make sure to cook it a few minutes longer than usual. Al dente is great for adults but will be a bit more of a challenge for weaning babies.
Pro tip
Our go-to pasta shape for babies is fusilli. They enjoy playing with this quirky-looking, tactical shape even if they don't eat much of it!