By the time your baby is 8 months old, he's more than ready to make solid foods--including fresh fruit--a regular part of his diet. Most babies are ready to start sampling solids in the form of single-grain cereal around the 6-month mark and can start adding fresh fruit purees and then soft fresh fruits to the mix shortly thereafter.
The Facts
Babies are ready for solid foods when they can sit up on their own and hold their heads steady. You can introduce fresh fruit as soon as your baby has mastered eating cereal. If your 8-month-old has just started eating solids, you'll need to puree soft fresh fruit or cook and puree harder fruits before serving them to him. If he's been eating solids comfortably for some time, your 8-month-old can eat soft fresh fruit cut into small pieces.
The Process
Introduce fresh fruits to your baby the same way you introduce any new food: slowly and over a three- to five-day period. Add just one type of food to your baby's diet at a time so you can watch her for allergic reactions--which can include serious symptoms like hives and difficulty breathing or milder symptoms, including gas, bloating, fussiness and rashes. If your family has a history of fruit allergies, you may want to wait until after your baby's first birthday to introduce fruit and have an oral antihistamine nearby when you do.
Considerations
Though most fresh fruits are safe for 8-month-olds, wait a few more months to give your baby citrus fruits, recommends KidsHealth, an online health and parenting information resource maintained by the Nemours Foundation. The high acid content in citrus fruits can cause painful diaper rashes for children younger than 1 year.
Expert Insight
Some health professionals recommend introducing vegetables before fruits so that your baby doesn't develop a sweet tooth; others say fruits should come first because their natural sweetness is more like the flavor of breast milk. In fact, it doesn't make much of a difference whether you choose to introduce fruits or vegetables first, says nutritionist Bridget Swinney on BabyCenter.
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