Can babies have yogurt?

The verdict

Yes. The NHS puts pasteurised full-fat yoghurt in the dairy group as suitable from around 6 months, and adds that full-fat, unsweetened or plain yogurts are a good choice because they do not contain added sugars.

Every other authority agrees. Ireland's HSE includes yogurt among early weaning foods. The Canadian Paediatric Society lists full-fat yogurt in the milk products a baby can have after 6 months. HealthLink BC does the same. Australia's ASCIA lists yoghurt among the dairy foods babies should be having in the first year.

Why yogurt is allowed before cows' milk

This is the part that confuses people, because the rule looks inconsistent: cows' milk is not a drink until 12 months, yet a yogurt made from cows' milk is fine at 6 months.

The restriction on cows' milk has never been about safety in the food poisoning sense. It is about nutrition and displacement. Cows' milk is low in iron and the iron it does contain is poorly absorbed, and a baby who fills up on it drinks less breast milk or formula. The NHS makes the same distinction from the other direction: whole pasteurised cows' milk can be used in cooking or mixed with food from around 6 months, just not as a drink until 12 months.

Yogurt is a food, not a drink. A baby eats a few spoonfuls with a meal rather than draining a beaker of it, so it does not displace milk feeds the way a bottle of cows' milk would. That is the whole of the reasoning.

Which yogurt to buy

Three things matter, in this order.

Pasteurised

The NHS is explicit that pasteurised dairy foods are the suitable ones. Almost all supermarket yogurt in the UK, Ireland, the US, Canada, Australia and New Zealand is made from pasteurised milk, but unpasteurised or raw-milk yogurt exists at farm shops and markets. HealthLink BC's instruction is to give only pasteurised milk products and to check the label.

Full-fat

Babies and young children need the energy density that fat provides. The NHS recommends full-fat cheese, yoghurt and fromage frais up to the age of 2, and says young children under 2 especially need the energy provided by fat. Australia's Raising Children Network says to avoid reduced-fat dairy until 2 years. A 0% fat yogurt is not dangerous, but it is the wrong product for this age.

Unsweetened

This is where most of the real-world problem sits. The NHS position on sugar for this age is that your baby does not need sugar, and that avoiding sugary snacks and drinks helps prevent tooth decay. Yogurts marketed at babies and toddlers, with cartoon packaging and fruit names, are frequently among the sweeter products in the chiller. The NHS names yoghurts directly in its list of foods where sugar hides.

The fix is to buy plain full-fat natural or Greek-style yogurt and add fruit yourself. Mashed banana, stewed apple or pear, blended berries or unsweetened fruit puree will sweeten it perfectly well and add texture.

Serving it safely

Plain yogurt on a spoon presents no choking risk, which makes it one of the least hazardous foods on this list. Three related products are not so simple.

Frozen yogurt and yogurt-covered snacks are confectionery and belong with sweets. Yogurt melts and freeze-dried yogurt drops are small, hard and exactly the size and shape that concerns choking guidance; HealthLink BC's rule is not to give foods that are round, hard, sticky and difficult to swallow before at least 4 years old. Yogurt pouches carry the same problem the NHS flags for all pouches: it advises squeezing the contents onto a spoon rather than letting a baby suck from the pouch, which increases the risk of tooth decay, and says pouches should not be everyday food.

Yogurt is also useful as a carrier. The AAP suggests mixing and thinning a small amount of peanut butter into cereal, pureed fruit or yogurt as a safe way to introduce peanut, and names whole milk yogurt or Greek yogurt as an appropriate way to give dairy before cows' milk is suitable as a drink.

Live cultures, probiotics and unsettled tummies

Live or bio yogurt is fine for a baby over 6 months. It is not medicine, and no national infant feeding guideline recommends probiotic yogurt for colic, reflux or constipation. If your baby has persistent digestive symptoms, that is a conversation with a GP, health visitor or paediatrician rather than a purchase.

Yogurt is also not a treatment for cows' milk allergy. It is made from cows' milk and contains the same proteins. A baby diagnosed with cows' milk protein allergy needs dietetic advice, and the NHS warns against cutting out a major food group like milk on your own initiative because of what it does to a child's nutrition.

How much

There is no per-day yogurt limit for babies under 1, because breast milk or formula is still the main source of nutrition and solids are building up around it. For children over 1, the NHS suggests at least 350ml of milk a day or two servings of foods made from milk, such as cheese, yoghurt or fromage frais.

In practice a few spoonfuls with a meal, most days, is entirely normal and needs no rationing.

Where guidance differs

Barely at all. The UK, Ireland, the US, Canada, Australia and New Zealand all treat plain full-fat pasteurised yogurt as a normal food from around 6 months, all prefer it unsweetened, and all keep reduced-fat versions back until at least 2 years.

The only wording difference worth noting is that the AAP frames yogurt partly as an allergen strategy, since it lets a baby have dairy protein in a form suited to their age while whole cows' milk as a drink is still off the table until 12 months.