When can babies have pasta?
Safe — From around 6 months, cooked soft and cut to size. No salt in the cooking water; check shop-bought sauces for salt
From around 6 months. Pasta is on the NHS list of starchy foods suitable for a baby, and Canada names small-sized pasta among grain products after 6 months. Cook it softer than you would for yourself, use no salt in the water, and be careful with shop-bought sauces.
The verdict
From around 6 months. Pasta appears by name on the NHS list of starchy foods suitable for a baby, alongside baby rice, bread, chapatti, cornmeal, maize, millet, oatmeal, oats, pitta bread, porridge, potato, quinoa, rice, sweet potato and toast.
Canada names it too. The Canadian Paediatric Society lists rice and small-sized pasta among grain products after 6 months. HealthLink BC includes small pieces of bannock, roti, tortilla, pasta and rice among finger foods for 8 to 12 months, and the AAP names well-cooked pasta among finger foods once a baby can sit up and bring objects to their mouth.
Cook it softer than you would eat it
Al dente is for adults. A baby is working with gums and a developing chewing action, and firm pasta is a compressible object that does not break down easily.
The AAP's wording is well-cooked pasta, and it repeats the qualifier every time it names it. HealthLink BC uses well-cooked noodles. New Zealand's guidance describes soft as food that can be easily squashed between your thumb and forefinger, or on the roof of your mouth with your tongue, and that is the test to apply: a piece of pasta that resists being squashed between finger and thumb is not cooked enough for a baby.
Overcooking pasta slightly is the right error to make here.
Shape matters
Long strands are the hardest shape for a beginner. Spaghetti, tagliatelle and noodles are slippery, they hang, and a baby who gets a mouthful cannot easily judge how much is coming. That is not a reason to avoid them, but it is a reason to cut them short: a few centimetres at most, so a piece can be picked up and put in the mouth whole rather than trailing.
Small shapes work better early on: macaroni, small shells, orzo, fusilli and similar. Larger flat shapes such as lasagne sheets should be cut into strips. The NHS's general principle for this age is to think about the size, shape and texture of food, cut it into narrow batons and avoid round shapes and firm foods.
Very small shapes such as orzo or pastina are easy to swallow whole, which is fine for something soft that dissolves under pressure, and they suit a spoon-fed baby well when mixed into a puree or a sauce.
Always supervise. The NHS says to use a highchair, make sure babies and young children are alert and seated safely upright while eating, and always supervise them. New Zealand adds that food should be placed directly in front of the child so they do not twist round to reach it, which can cause them to lose control of the food in their mouth.
No salt in the water
This is the instruction most often missed, because salting pasta water is automatic for most cooks.
The NHS says do not add salt to your baby's food or cooking water, and sets the limit for children under 1 year old at less than 1g of salt a day, no more than 2g a day between 1 and 3, and no more than 3g between 4 and 6, because babies' kidneys are not fully developed and cannot process it. Ireland's HSE gives the same instruction: do not add any salt to your baby's food or cooking water.
Pasta absorbs salted water as it cooks, so this is not a case where the salt goes down the drain. If you are cooking for the family, cook the pasta unsalted and season the adults' plates afterwards, which is the approach the NHS suggests for family cooking generally.
The sauce is where the salt actually is
Plain pasta is close to salt-free. Shop-bought pasta sauces, jarred pesto, stock-based sauces and grated hard cheese are not, and between them they can take a large share of a baby's daily allowance.
The NHS names stock cubes and gravy specifically, saying not to use them because they are often high in salt, and Ireland's HSE lists gravy, packet soups and stock cubes at the top of its high-salt foods. Hard cheese is one of the saltier items in a baby's diet, so a light grating rather than a heavy one is the sensible approach.
A home-made sauce of tinned tomatoes cooked down with garlic and herbs, with no salt or stock, takes little longer than heating a jar and solves the problem. Blended roasted vegetables, mashed avocado loosened with a little cooking water, and plain full-fat cream cheese all work as simple sauces.
The NHS's general instruction for packaged food at this age is to check food labels and choose the option with the least amount of sugar, and to look for green and amber colour-coded labels on the front of packaging.
Wheat as an allergen
Most pasta is made from wheat, which is one of the common allergens. The NHS lists foods that contain gluten, including wheat, barley and rye, among the foods that can trigger an allergic reaction, and says these can be introduced from around 6 months as part of a baby's diet, just like any other foods. Once introduced and tolerated, they should become part of the usual diet to minimise the risk of allergy.
ASCIA lists wheat among the common allergy causing foods to introduce in the first year and to keep in the diet at least once a week. HealthLink BC names wheat among the allergens to introduce at about 6 months.
Introduce pasta on its own the first time rather than alongside two other new foods. If coeliac disease runs in your family, raise it with your GP or health visitor before starting, rather than avoiding gluten independently.
Egg pasta, filled pasta and instant noodles
Fresh egg pasta introduces egg as well as wheat, which is fine from around 6 months but means two allergens at once if it is the first time for either.
Filled pasta such as ravioli and tortellini is usually seasoned and often salty, and the filling may contain cheeses that are not suitable. Check the label and the cheese type; the NHS excludes mould-ripened soft cheeses, ripened goats' cheese, soft blue cheese and unpasteurised cheese for babies.
Instant noodles with a flavour sachet are essentially a salt delivery system and are not suitable for a baby. Plain dried noodles cooked in unsalted water, with the sachet discarded, are simply noodles.
Where guidance differs
It does not. Pasta is named as suitable from around 6 months in the UK and Canada, named among finger foods by the AAP, and included among cereal foods by ASCIA. No authority restricts it.
The only differences are in emphasis: North American guidance leans on well-cooked as the qualifier, while UK and Irish guidance leads with the cooking water and the salt.
The NHS lists pasta among starchy foods suitable from around 6 months, with bread, chapatti, oats, porridge, potato, quinoa, rice, sweet potato and toast. It instructs parents not to add salt to a baby's food or cooking water and not to use stock cubes or gravy because they are often high in salt, and sets the limit for children under 1 year old at less than 1g of salt a day. Its general choking advice is to think about size, shape and texture, cut food into narrow batons, use a highchair and always supervise.
Showing guidance from NHS — read the source.
The American Academy of Pediatrics names well-cooked pasta among suitable finger foods once a baby can sit up and bring their hands or other objects to their mouth, alongside small pieces of banana, scrambled eggs, well-cooked finely chopped chicken and well-cooked cut-up potatoes or peas. Its instruction is to make sure anything given to a baby is soft, easy to swallow and cut into small pieces, and to limit processed foods made for adults because they often contain more salt.
Showing guidance from American Academy of Pediatrics — read the source.
The Canadian Paediatric Society lists rice and small-sized pasta among grain products for babies after 6 months, with iron-fortified infant cereal, small pieces of dry toast, small plain cereals and whole grain bread pieces. HealthLink BC includes small pieces of pasta among finger foods for 8 to 12 months and asks for family foods made with little or no added salt or sugar.
Showing guidance from Canadian Paediatric Society — read the source.
The HSE instructs parents not to add any salt to a baby's food or cooking water, and lists gravy, packet soups and stock cubes among high-salt foods to avoid, which covers most shop-bought pasta sauces made with stock. Its finger food guidance asks for soft pieces about the size of your own finger that a baby can hold in their fist with a bit sticking out.
Showing guidance from HSE Ireland — read the source.
Sources
- What to feed your baby: from around 6 months — NHS Best Start in Life, accessed
- Salt in your diet — NHS, accessed
- Starting Solid Foods — American Academy of Pediatrics, accessed
- Feeding your baby in the first year — Canadian Paediatric Society, accessed
- Foods to avoid during weaning — HSE Ireland, accessed
- Food allergies in babies and young children — NHS, accessed