For a baby
The first year is less about when things start than about what never appears: honey, whole round things, added salt and added sugar — none of which is a matter of timing.
- Breast milk alone for the first six months; complementary foods begin around the sixth month. 6 months Context established
- No honey until one year old; cooking does not kill the spores. 12 months Context established
- Added salt and sugar at this age are not a question of how much but of whether.
- Anything round and firm is a choking risk: the problem is the shape, not the ingredient. Context established
The 4 rules we hold for this group
These are not advice written on a page: they are the rules the engine runs on every recipe. With somebody from this group at your table, the same ones fire there too.
Honey is not given to an infant under one year old. The Clostridium botulinum spores in it are harmless in an adult gut and multiply in an infant one. Cooking does not kill the spores.
NHS, Foods to avoid giving babies and young children
Anything round, firm and close to a child’s airway in diameter is a choking risk: a whole grape, a whole nut, a slice of sausage, raw carrot. Quarter grapes lengthways, grind nuts, and cut sausage along its length rather than across.
NHS, Foods to avoid giving babies and young children
No salt is added to food for a baby under one. Their kidneys are not yet able to clear the extra sodium, and the salt they need is already in breast milk and in the food itself. If the same pot feeds everybody, season the plate rather than the pan.
World Health Organization, Salt reduction
No sugar is added to food for a baby under one. It is not only about teeth: a baby taught to expect sweetness learns to refuse what is not sweet. If something needs sweetening, use the fruit itself — not its juice, which becomes free sugar the moment it is squeezed.
World Health Organization, Information note about intake of sugars recommended in the WHO guideline for adults and children, 2015
Thresholds that hold whatever gets cooked
The infant feeding calendar
From birth to the end of the sixth month, breast milk and nothing else — not even water. This is a health recommendation rather than a kitchen rule, and it sits here only so the date is known while something is being prepared in a kitchen.
World Health Organization, Infant and young child feeding
Around six months a baby’s need for energy and nutrients begins to exceed what breast milk provides, which is why complementary foods start — alongside it, not instead of it. Two to three meals a day at 6-8 months, three to four at 9-23 months.
World Health Organization, Infant and young child feeding
Breastfeeding does not stop when complementary foods start: it continues to two years of age and beyond. The 24 months is a floor, not a ceiling.
World Health Organization, Infant and young child feeding
No honey until one year old. The Clostridium botulinum spores in it are harmless in an adult gut and multiply in an infant one. Cooking does not kill the spores, which is why the rule covers a cake or a pudding with honey in it too.
NHS, Foods to avoid giving babies and young children
Whole nuts are not given below five years old — the reason is choking, not allergy. The same logic covers anything round and firm: quarter a grape lengthways, cut sausage along its length rather than across. The nut itself is not the problem; ground or as a butter it is fine from around six months. What changes is the shape, not the ingredient.
NHS, Foods to avoid giving babies and young children
Protein in a day
Per kilogram the need is higher in a child than an adult, because growth wants protein too. There is no single number: it runs between 0.83 and 1.31 g by age. Which age takes which figure is not written here, because writing it without reading the table would be inventing it.
European Food Safety Authority, Dietary Reference Values for protein, 2012
This is not an infant feeding guide and will not become one. Which food at which month, quantities, the order allergens are introduced, iron and vitamin D — none of it is written here. Take those to a paediatrician and to the Turkish Ministry of Health’s dietary guideline (TÜBER 2022).
There is no infant feeding guide here and there will not be one: which food at which month, quantities, the order allergens are introduced, iron and vitamin D — none of it is written on this site. The calendar above is quoted from WHO and the NHS, and the primary Turkish reference is the Ministry of Health's Türkiye Beslenme Rehberi (TÜBER) 2022. Take the decisions to a paediatrician and to that guide.
Sources
- World Health Organization, Infant and young child feeding
- NHS, Foods to avoid giving babies and young children
- Republic of Türkiye Ministry of Health, General Directorate of Public Health, Türkiye Dietary Guidelines (TÜBER) 2022, 2022
Last read: 2026-09-13
Add them to your table and the rest follows.
Reading a page changes no suggestion; adding somebody to the table does. Allergens are set aside, the split point is worked out, the portions are counted.