🥜 Walnuts
Allergen note
Walnut is a tree nut and one of the most common food allergens; some children allergic to walnut also react to pecan. From around 6 months, once your baby eats other solids, offer a small amount of smooth walnut butter or finely ground walnut, then keep it in the diet regularly if tolerated. Check with your pediatrician first if your baby has severe eczema or a known food allergy.
How to serve
From 6 months, spread smooth walnut butter thinly on toast strips or stir ground walnuts into oatmeal, yogurt or pureed pear for plant omega-3s. From 12 months, mix ground walnuts into pancakes, muffins or meatballs. Whole or chopped walnuts should wait until after age 5.
Preparation
Toast shelled walnuts lightly if you like, let them cool, then grind them to a fine powder or blend with a splash of water or oil into a smooth, runny butter. Choose unsalted, unsweetened walnuts and walnut butter with no added honey, and keep them sealed in the fridge so they stay fresh.
Texture and choking risk
Whole walnuts and walnut pieces are hard to chew and can block a small airway, so they are a choking hazard for children under 5. Serve them only finely ground or as a thin layer of smooth butter, never a thick spoonful, keep your child seated, and always supervise.
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 walnuts
Track first tastes and reactions
Log when your child first tries walnuts, note any reaction and see it in the allergen tracker.
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