How to serve apple at 6 and 9 months
Ages are approximate; go by your baby’s skills.
Ages are approximate; go by your baby’s skills.
6+ months
Wash the apple and remove the peel, core, and seeds. Cook it until soft, then puree it or mash it with a fork. You can also offer finely grated peeled raw apple.
Offer a peeled, cooked apple wedge that’s easy to hold in the palm. It should squish easily between your fingers. Another option is puree or finely grated peeled raw apple on a pre-loaded spoon.
9+ months
If your baby manages soft pieces, offer cooked apple in small pieces without mashing. Serve it on its own or add it to cereal or plain yogurt.
Once your baby has developed a pincer grasp, offer small soft pieces of cooked apple.
18–24 months: once your child chews confidently, you can offer peeled apple in thin slices.
Don’t offer hard cubes or thick raw wedges.
Choking risk
Raw, hard apple can be a choking hazard for babies and young children. When your baby is starting solids, serve apple cooked and soft, in a texture that suits their stage.
Keep your child sitting upright and stay with them throughout the meal.
Allergies
Apple isn’t considered a major food allergen. However, people with a birch pollen allergy may cross-react to apple. Individual reactions are possible.
Apples beat apple juice
The AAP advises no fruit juice before 12 months: it adds nothing nutritionally while raising the risk of cavities and a taste for sweet drinks. After the first birthday, keep it to 4 ounces (about 120 ml) a day with a meal. The NHS counts the sugar in juice as free sugar, but not the sugar in whole fruit. So offer apples whole: baked, grated, or pureed.
If juice does show up after the first birthday, know that the FDA watches apple juice closely: in 2023, it set an action level of 10 micrograms per kilogram for inorganic arsenic in apple juice. The goal is to lower babies’ and young children’s exposure to this contaminant.
The peel
100 g of apple with the peel has 2.4 g of fiber; without the peel, 1.3 g.
That’s USDA data: almost half of an apple’s fiber is in the peel. For a younger baby, peel it, since the skin is tough. Once your child handles soft pieces, you can leave the peel on well-baked slices, where it turns soft.
Applesauce pouches
The NHS advises using store-bought baby food in jars and pouches only once in a while, not every day. Don’t let your baby suck straight from the pouch, since that raises the risk of tooth decay. Squeeze the puree onto a spoon instead, which helps your baby learn to eat solid food. Most of this food has the same soft texture, so move on from purees to mashed and finger foods as soon as you can. Compare labels and pick the option with the least sugar.
Dried apple
Drying removes water but leaves the sugar. According to USDA data, 100 g of dried apple has 57 g of sugars, while fresh apple has 10 g. The NHS advises giving dried fruit to young children with meals rather than as a snack in between, since its sugar can cause tooth decay.
Sources · 20
This page is based on guidance from health organizations:
- CDC — When, What, and How to Introduce Solid Foods
- NHS — From around 6 months
- USDA FoodData Central — Apples, raw, with skin
- WHO — Infant and young child feeding
- NHS — Preparing food safely for babies
- CDC — Choking Hazards
- NHS — 7 to 9 months
- AAP — Choking Prevention
- ASHA — Feeding and Swallowing Milestones: 18 to 24 Months
- NHS — Foods to avoid giving babies and young children
- AAP — When Can Babies Start Solid Foods?
- AAAAI — Oral Allergy Syndrome
- ASCIA — Oral Allergy Syndrome
- AAP — Recommends No Fruit Juice for Children Under 1 Year
- NHS — Sugar: the facts
- USDA FoodData Central — Apples, raw, without skin
- FDA — Final Guidance on Action Level for Inorganic Arsenic in Apple Juice
- NHS — How to start weaning
- USDA FoodData Central — Apples, dried, sulfured, uncooked
- NHS — What to feed young children
For informational purposes only. Not medical advice. Decide on introducing foods, especially allergens, together with your pediatrician.
