Apricot
Fruits- AGE
- 6 months +
- COMMON ALLERGEN
- No
- CHOKING RISK
- Moderate
- IRON
- Not iron-rich
- GOOD FOR
- Vitamin A · Vitamin C · Fiber
When can babies have apricot?
From 6 months (corrected age), in the age-right form below.
- One of the best fruit sources of beta-carotene, which the body converts to vitamin A for eyes and immunity
- Provides vitamin C, which helps absorb iron from plant foods
- Skin-on flesh brings gentle fiber for digestion
How do I serve it at each age?
Safe form at 6–8 months
A ripe apricot half with the pit removed and the cavity checked, skin left on for grip, about half-palm sized and soft enough to dent under gentle fingertip pressure.
Pass/fail test: Press the flesh with a fingertip — it should dent like ripe avocado. A half that springs back needs 5–8 minutes in the steamer first.
Why this form: At this age babies trap food in a whole-fist palmar grasp, and a soft domed half with its faintly fuzzy skin on gives a wet fist traction while the flesh mashes against bare gums.
How to prepare
- Wash the apricot, split it along the seam with your thumbs, and lift the pit out.
- Run a fingertip through the cavity to catch any pit fragment before serving.
- Steam firm halves 5–8 minutes until they pass the fingertip-dent test, then cool.
- Serve one half at a time, skin side out in the baby's fist.
Common mistakes
- Serving a firm, mealy apricot raw — only truly ripe or steamed flesh is gum-mashable.
- Peeling the half, which removes the natural non-slip surface.
- Forgetting that the small pit still needs the same respect as a peach pit.
How much?
One skin-on half at a time — a half or two per meal; sucking and gumming the flesh is legitimate eating.
Amounts are starting points, not targets — watch the baby, not the numbers.
How do I get the texture right?
- Ripeness test: a ready apricot is fragrant, deep orange rather than pale yellow, and yields to a gentle thumb press.
- Make the pit ritual automatic: split, lift, then sweep the cavity with a fingertip every single time.
- Ripen firm apricots in a paper bag for 1–2 days; steaming rescues any that stay stubbornly firm.
- For dried apricots pick the dull brown unsulfured kind — the neon-orange ones are treated with sulfites.
Is apricot a choking hazard?
Choking care
The small, smooth pit is deceptively close to airway size, and underripe apricot flesh is firm enough to break off in hard lumps. Mitigate by pitting every apricot and sweeping the cavity for fragments, serving only fingertip-soft or steamed flesh, and chopping sticky dried apricots into rice-grain bits.
Anything to watch for?
Apricots carry sorbitol, which can loosen stools — build up from small servings.
Most bright-orange dried apricots are preserved with sulfites, which can bother sensitive airways — choose unsulfured (brown) ones.
Dried apricots are concentrated sticky sugar — treat them as a small stir-in, not a bowl food.