When can babies have peanut?
Once your baby is developmentally ready for solids, usually around 6 months. Match the texture to their ability to sit upright, bring food to the mouth and swallow; age alone does not decide the right serving form.
Readiness matters: your baby should be able to stay seated with steady head control, coordinate bringing food to their mouth and swallow food. For premature babies or feeding concerns, ask your health professional.
How to serve peanut
Follow your child’s feeding skills. These stages are starting points, not a guarantee that a particular texture is right for your baby.
Starting solids
Exploring smooth and mashed textures
Use smooth peanut butter or paste thinned with water until loose and nonsticky, or very finely ground peanut thoroughly mixed into a familiar moist food. Never offer dry spoonfuls.
Building skills
Managing soft lumps and finger foods
Continue using a smooth thinned paste or a very fine grind dispersed through porridge, puree or another familiar moist food. Avoid whole nuts, coarse pieces and thick sticky spoonfuls.
More confident eaters
Practising with adapted family food
Keep using finely ground or smoothly thinned forms in suitable family food. Better chewing does not make whole nuts or hard seed pieces appropriate for this stage.
Choking & food safety
- Offer as smooth thinned butter or powder, never whole.
- Introduce early; infants with severe eczema or egg allergy need medical advice first.
- Use very finely ground nuts or seeds dispersed in moist food, or a smooth paste thinned until nonsticky. Avoid whole pieces and dry spoonfuls.
Keep your baby seated upright and supervise every bite. No preparation removes all choking risk. Read the NHS food preparation guide.
What does peanut bring to a meal?
Peanut supplies protein and fat and can enrich familiar porridge or fruit mash. A loose, nonsticky preparation is essential; plain nut butter is a different texture from whole peanuts or chopped nuts.
Allergy notes
Peanut is a common allergen. Offer a suitable nonsticky form soon after starting solids, introducing only one new common allergen at that meal. If your baby has severe eczema, egg allergy or a previous reaction, seek timely advice on an individual introduction plan. Once tolerated, keep peanut in the usual diet; avoid whole peanuts.
If your child has a known food allergy, severe eczema or a previous reaction, get individual advice before introducing the relevant food. Trouble breathing, swelling of the tongue or throat, or collapse can signal an emergency: call your local emergency number.
Common questions about peanut
Should I wait until one year to offer peanut?
Current guidance recommends suitable peanut soon after starting solids. If your baby has severe eczema or egg allergy, seek timely clinical advice about an introduction plan rather than delaying without a plan.
How do I thin peanut butter?
Stir smooth peanut butter with enough warm water to make a loose, nonsticky mixture, then cool and mix into a familiar puree or porridge. Never offer whole peanuts or a thick spoonful.
Sources & scope
Written by Highchair Chef using the sources below. General guidance informs these practical suggestions; it does not validate every food, cut or feeding stage. This page has not received individual clinical sign-off.
- Starting solid foods from around 6 monthsNHS
Developmental readiness, first foods, food groups and texture progression. General guidance; it does not validate each individual ingredient, cut or portion.
- Preparing food safelyNHS
Modify round/hard/sticky foods; remove pits/bones; cheese, breads, nuts and dried-fruit precautions. General hazard guidance; exact month/shape combinations are applications, not validated clinical thresholds.
- FoodData CentralUS Department of Agriculture
Public food-composition reference underlying the existing qualitative food summaries. The website does not present quantitative nutrient values, iron-rich thresholds or an analysis of an infant portion; food, variety, processing and brand can change composition.
- Infant Feeding for Food Allergy Prevention: 2026 guidelineASCIA
2026 allergy-prevention recommendations on introducing common allergens and continuing tolerated foods. Evidence certainty varies; general guidance does not establish a dose for every nut, oil, species or product.
- Foods to avoid giving babies and young childrenNHS
Honey, nuts, pasteurisation, eggs, salt and drinks. UK egg exceptions do not generalise to other eggs or jurisdictions.
- Addendum Guidelines for the Prevention of Peanut Allergy in the United StatesNIAID-sponsored expert panel
Peanut introduction and clinical assessment in high-risk infants. Peanut-specific; not a dose schedule for all allergens; clinician assessment before high-risk introduction.
Educational information, not an individual feeding plan. Food composition, products and guidance vary by country. Read our editorial approach.
