Best yoghurts to introduce to your baby when starting solids

Author: Anna Ritan, Paediatric Dietitian, APD, BND

Choosing a yoghurt for your baby can be confusing. With so many different brands, flavours and varieties of yoghurt on supermarket shelves, knowing which one to choose for your baby can feel overwhelming. In this guide, I'll walk you through what to look for when choosing a yoghurt for your little one, the best types of yoghurt for starting solids, when you can introduce yoghurt, how much to offer, and what to avoid.

Yoghurt is a fermented dairy food, traditionally made by adding live bacterial cultures to milk. Full-fat yoghurt is naturally rich in important nutrients, including calcium, protein, vitamin B12 and other B vitamins, which support your baby's growth and development. It also provides a combination of protein, carbohydrates and fats, making it a nutritious addition to your baby's diet.

Yoghurt containing live cultures also provides beneficial bacteria that may help support a healthy gut microbiome.

However, not all yoghurts are created equal. With so many different varieties available, particularly those marketed towards young children, it can be difficult to know which ones to choose. Many kid's yoghurts contain added sugars, flavours, colours and other ingredients that aren't necessary for your little one.

The good news is that plain, full-fat yoghurt is a nutritious, minimally processed food that can be introduced from around six months of age, when your baby is ready to start solids.

So, what should you look for when choosing a yoghurt for your baby? Here are a few important things to consider.

When Can Babies Have Yogurt?

Your baby can be introduced to yoghurt anytime from 6 months of age when they are developmentally ready for solids. Small amounts of cow's milk/dairy protein IN FOOD (like yoghurt and cheese) can be introduced before 12 months of age as part of a varied diet.

Is yoghurt a common food allergen?

Yes. Full-fat Yogurt is made from cow’s milk (dairy), which is a common food allergen. If you are introducing dairy for the first time, try a small amount initially as the first introduction and if tolerated increase the amount gradually over a few days.

If your child has an allergy to cow's milk/dairy (IgE or Non-IgE) already identified before starting solids, then yoghurt should be avoided until advised by your healthcare professional.

My baby loves yoghurt; how much and how often can I serve it?

Yoghurt is smooth and easy to eat, and it can quickly become a favourite. Babies from 6-12 months do not need a large amount of yoghurt or any large number of dairy foods in their diet, breastmilk (or infant formula) will meet your child's nutritional needs for calcium up to 12 months of age.

From 6-12 months of age, a general serving of yoghurt is around 1 tablespoon (20 ml) as part of a varied diet, but your baby may eat less and that is also okay. Yoghurt does not need to be served every day. Remember variety is key when starting solids.

It can also help to serve yoghurt in a bowl with a spoon, with other foods, and not directly from a pouch.

What type of yoghurt is best for babies?

Full fat (or whole milk) plain natural yogurt, Greek yoghurt or Greek style yoghurt is best for babies.

Full-fat yoghurt is a must because babies need lots of fat at this age to support growth, brain, gut, immune, and nervous system development. Low fat dairy is not recommended for babies or children under 2 years of age.

The fat content can vary between different yoghurts, so look for full-fat or whole milk. You may also find some yoghurts will use skim milk but then add cream so the fat content is then similar to whole milk. As a guide yoghurt is generally considered full fat if it contains more than 3.5% total fat (>3.5g fat per 100g), but creamier Greek yoghurt can be higher than this and that is absolutely okay.

Greek yoghurt (full-fat, around 7-10% total fat)

Traditional Greek yoghurt is one of the best yoghurts for babies, made with just full-fat milk and bacteria starter cultures. Traditionally, the yogurt is strained in cloth bags up to three times to remove the whey (liquid), until it reaches the desired texture. Due to this, Greek yogurt is much thicker and tangier and higher in fat than regular full-fat yogurt. It’s also generally more expensive since it requires more milk.

Greek yoghurt is easier for babies to eat and self-feed with, especially hand scooping because it is thicker.

Greek yoghurt is also great for introducing more 'sour' tastes to your baby which can help to develop their palate.

Greek 'Style' Yoghurt (full-fat, around 7-10% total fat)

Greek 'Style' yoghurts typically contain cream, and milk solids, which are added to achieve a creamier and thicker texture like Greek yoghurt (without the work of straining). Probiotics are also still used so there is still benefit there.

Just be mindful of avoiding any Greek-style yoghurts that use stabilisers, preservatives, or gum blends to achieve a thicker texture.

Full-fat natural yoghurt (full-fat, around 3.5% total fat)

Regular yogurt is made by heating milk, adding bacteria, and leaving it to ferment until it reaches an acidic pH of about 4.5. Due to its acidic nature, plain yogurt may taste slightly sour. Still, it’s generally sweeter than Greek yogurt, and also contains live cultures.

What about added sugars and flavours, what ingredients should I avoid?

Yoghurt naturally contains some sugar in the form of lactose, which is found in cow's milk. This is naturally occurring sugar and is not something you need to worry about.

What you do want to look out for is added sugar.

This can appear in many different forms, including sugar, glucose, fructose, fruit juice and fruit juice concentrate, to name a few. The best way to check is to look at the ingredients list rather than just the total sugar content on the nutrition information panel.

Some yoghurts, particularly those marketed towards babies and children, also contain added flavours such as vanilla, strawberry or banana. Even when labelled as 'natural flavours', these aren't necessary for babies, so I recommend choosing an unflavoured yoghurt where possible.

If you'd like to add some natural sweetness and flavour, you can easily mix in mashed or puréed fresh fruit, such as banana, strawberries or mango. This is also a lovely way to introduce your baby to different flavours and textures.

Choosing the Best Yogurt for Babies

Do you need to buy a specific 'baby' yoghurt?

The good news is that you don't need to buy a yoghurt specifically marketed for babies. Plain, full-fat yoghurt for adults and children is generally made from the same basic ingredients: milk and live bacterial cultures.

One of the biggest differences with yoghurts marketed towards babies is often the packaging, with many sold in convenient pouches. However, it's worth taking a closer look at the ingredients and how the yoghurt has been processed.

You may have noticed that some baby yoghurt pouches are sold on supermarket shelves rather than in the refrigerated section. These shelf-stable products have typically undergone heat treatment after fermentation to make them safe to store at room temperature. While they can still provide nutrients such as calcium and protein, this heat treatment destroys the live bacterial cultures naturally present in yoghurt.

So, how can you tell if a yoghurt contains live cultures?

Look for wording such as 'contains live cultures' or 'live and active cultures' on the packaging. This indicates that live bacteria are present in the finished product.

Be mindful that 'made with live cultures' doesn't necessarily mean the yoghurt still contains living bacteria, as the product may have been heat-treated after fermentation.

My recommendation is to choose a plain, full-fat yoghurt from the refrigerated section that contains live cultures. There's no need to pay extra for a yoghurt simply because it's marketed towards babies!

Here are some of my top picks for plain full-fat yoghurt for babies

x Anna

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