Allergen note
Breadcrumbs are made from wheat, a common allergen, and store-bought ones may also contain milk, egg, soy or sesame. Offer them once your baby has tried wheat on its own without a reaction, and read labels carefully if your child has a known allergy.
How to serve
From about 6 months, stir a teaspoon or two of fine crumbs into purees, or use them to bind soft meatballs and fish cakes. From 9–12 months and beyond, use a light coating on oven-baked fish or chicken strips, or sprinkle a little over soft pasta dishes.
Preparation
Make your own by drying or lightly toasting plain bread and blitzing it into fine crumbs, or choose plain, unseasoned store-bought crumbs, since many are salty. Bake coated foods instead of deep-frying them, and cook meat and fish all the way through.
Texture and choking risk
Dry crumbs can make a baby cough or be breathed in, so serve them moistened or mixed into food rather than sprinkled dry on their own. Keep coatings thin and soft rather than thick and hard, cut coated foods to an age-appropriate size, and supervise every meal.
Starting ages are typical guidance for healthy, full-term babies who show signs of readiness. Your paediatrician may advise differently, especially where there is a family history of allergy.
Recipes with breadcrumbs
Track first tastes and reactions
Log when your child first tries breadcrumbs, note any reaction and see it in the allergen tracker.
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