Food Safety Tips & Preparing Food For Baby

Take care with hot food

When heating frozen food, make sure it's hot. Then let it cool down before giving it to your baby. Hot food can burn your baby's mouth. Test the temperature of the food by stirring the food with a spoon and then putting the back of the spoon on the inside of your wrist. It shouldn't feel hot.

Food cooked in a microwave oven keeps cooking after the microwave has stopped. If you use a microwave to heat your baby's food, mix it well after heating, leave it for a few minutes, then mix it again before testing the temperature.

Take care with certain foods

Wait until your baby is 7 to 8 months old to give them dairy products such as cheese, yoghurt and custard in food you make at home. Some bought baby food contains dairy products in them. That's OK because the food's been cooked at very high temperatures which makes it easier for your baby to digest.

Wait until your baby's one year old before giving them honey. Honey can contain a bacterium that causes serious illness (infant botulism) in babies under one.

See the KidsHealth page on infant botulism.  

No need to season baby's food

Don't add salt, sugar, artificial sweeteners or butter to your baby's food.

Prepare food safely

Food safety is very important. Ttake care when buying, preparing, cooking and storing food.

If you taste food from the spoon your baby will use, you can pass on viruses and bacteria to your baby. It's best to use a clean spoon to feed your baby.

Viruses and bacteria can also be passed from your baby's mouth into their food, so throw uneaten food away.