Bacon

Bacon can be offered in moderation, as an occasional taste, once your baby is ready for solids, usually around 6 months. It is very salty. An occasional taste within a balanced diet is fine. Do not give honey-containing products before 12 months, because of the risk of infant botulism.

This page is about bacon made from pork. It is not the same as pastırma, the cured beef of Turkish cooking.

Bacon is pork belly cured with salt. It is often smoked. Curing helps the meat keep for a long time without spoiling. There are sweet, smoked and many regional kinds.

Bacon contains protein and fat, as well as zinc, selenium and vitamin B12.

Preparation basics

Always cook bacon through. Trim thick gristle and fatty parts. In the early stage, chopping it fine and mixing it into soft food is safest. After that, move on to bite-sized pieces.

Do not buy bacon made with honey. Read the label. Some products carry added ingredients that are allergens, such as soy.

Salt and shared meals

You can share a dish with bacon over time, if it has no honey and is prepared with choking in mind. Bacon is very salty, and baby's sodium needs are low. So it helps to serve it only now and then. Still, babies learning to feed themselves eat little, and the salt they take in tends to be small too.

Canadian bacon, turkey bacon and uncured bacon

There is no best age for Canadian bacon. It has played a part in outbreaks of Listeria illness. To lower the risk, heat it until steaming, then let it cool before serving. If it is made with honey, hold off until after the first birthday.

Turkey bacon is often lower in fat. It is a good option for people who do not eat pork. Its salt can match or exceed pork bacon. Pick whichever suits your family, as long as it is honey-free.

Uncured bacon is neither better nor worse. Cured bacon has salt and nitrite added. Uncured bacon uses natural nitrite sources such as celery powder. Both contain nitrite. Very large amounts of nitrite can affect oxygen in the blood. Mostly this risk comes from well water that has been contaminated. Babies may react more strongly to large amounts. Serve bacon in moderation. The amount a baby eats is usually small.

Yes, bacon can be a choking risk. It can be very crisp or hard to chew, and both raise the risk.

Trim thick gristle and fatty pieces. Give young babies the finely chopped form. Cook bacon through, but do not fry it until the edges turn sharp. Stay within arm's reach while your baby eats.

Bacon is not a common allergen, though reactions have been reported. Some bacon counts as a high-histamine food. This can be a problem for children with a reliably diagnosed histamine intolerance.

Certain tick bites lead to alpha-gal allergy. Alpha-gal is a sugar found in the meat of mammals other than primates. The allergy causes a delayed reaction 3 to 8 hours after eating red meat such as bacon. Trace amounts of the same sugar in dairy, gelatin and organ meats can also set off a reaction in some of these people. This allergy is more common in the southeastern United States.

Very rarely, people with cat allergy develop a cross-allergy to pork. It is called pork-cat syndrome. In that case all pork products carry risk.

Offer a small amount at the first meals. If nothing unusual happens, raise it slowly.