Avocado for Baby-Led Weaning: How to Prepare and Serve It

Ripe avocado is soft, mild and quick to prepare, which makes it a popular first food for baby-led weaning (BLW). At the start you only need two options. You can offer large pieces your baby can hold, or mash on a spoon they pick up themselves. Here's how to choose, prepare and serve it.

Is your baby ready?

The CDC says to start solids at around 6 months, depending on how each baby is developing rather than on the calendar. The UK's NHS lists three signs that usually show up together:

• Your baby can stay sitting up and hold their head steady.
• They can coordinate eyes, hands and mouth to pick up food and bring it to their mouth.
• They can swallow food instead of pushing it back out.

If you're unsure, or your baby has health or feeding concerns, ask your pediatrician what's right for your child.

Choose a ripe avocado

Ripeness matters more with avocado than with most first foods, because an unripe one is too firm for a new eater. Choose an avocado that gives a little when you press it gently. If it still feels firm, leave it whole and uncut until it ripens, and offer something else for now. When you prepare it, the flesh should be soft all the way through, with no hard patches.

How to prepare it

1. Wash the outside, then cut the avocado lengthwise all the way around the pit.
2. Twist the halves apart and lift the pit out with a spoon.
3. Peel off all the skin, then check that no skin or bits of pit are left.
4. Pick one of the two serving options below.

The NHS guidance on preparing food safely advises taking out hard stones and thinking about whether peel should come off. It also explains that a food's size, shape and texture all affect choking risk. With avocado, the skin always comes off.

Two ways to serve avocado

Large, soft pieces

New eaters usually grab with their whole fist. The NHS suggests making finger foods long enough that part of the piece shows above your baby's closed hand, because that's the part they can eat. Keep pieces big and thick rather than cutting them small. To check the texture, press a piece between your thumb and finger. It should squash easily.

Mash on a preloaded spoon

Ripe avocado can be slippery. Cutting it smaller won't help a baby who still grabs with their whole hand. Instead, mash it and load a little onto a baby spoon. Your baby takes the spoon and brings it to their own mouth, so they still lead and set the pace. Avoid putting the spoon into their mouth for them.

When to offer smaller pieces

Smaller pieces come later, once your baby can pick up little things between thumb and forefinger. This is often called the pincer grasp. There's no set age for it, and babies develop it at different times. Until you see your baby actually doing it, stick with large pieces or mash. Once they can, small, soft pieces of ripe avocado make good practice.

At the table

• Your baby sits upright and alert, in a high chair with the harness fastened if it has one.
• An adult stays close and watches for the whole meal.
• Your baby feeds themselves and decides how much to eat. Never push food into their mouth or pressure them to eat more.
• Keep distractions such as screens to a minimum so your baby can focus.
• Expect squishing, smearing and dropping. Exploring is part of learning, and a new food can take several tries to feel familiar.

Any food can cause choking, and no way of preparing avocado removes that risk entirely. Matching the shape and texture to your baby's skills, keeping them upright and staying close all help.

Building a meal around avocado

Avocado is easy to serve next to other foods. If you're planning a full meal, you might pair it with an iron-rich food, and our guide to iron-rich first foods has ideas. For another soft finger food, try our banana oatmeal baby pancakes, which contain egg and wheat. You can also look up more first foods, with preparation illustrations, in our food guide.