Cherry

Pitted and suitably cut cherries can be offered when your baby is ready for solids, around 6 months. Cherries are a choking hazard, so how you prepare them matters a great deal.

The cherry descends from a wild fruit around the Black Sea. In some cultures cherry blossoms stand for beauty, love and the fleeting nature of life. Thousands of varieties exist. Some are sweet and some are sour. Both are eaten fresh or cooked into sweet and savory dishes.

Nutrition

Sweet and sour cherries give carbohydrates, fiber and water. Potassium and vitamins C, K, and B6 are in them too. These nutrients support energy, digestion, hydration, immunity and blood clotting. The source says stone fruits such as cherries may help babies with constipation.

Fresh, cooked and dried

You can fold finely chopped pitted cherries into soft foods. They go well with chia pudding, oatmeal, yogurt or ricotta. You can also cook pitted cherries until they burst and turn fully soft, then serve them alone.

Soak dried cherries in hot water until fully soft first. Hold off on unmodified dried cherries until after the second birthday, when your child chews well with molars.

Sour cherries

Sour cherries are fine too. The same rules apply as for sweet ones.

A cherry is round and usually firm, with a hard pit in the middle. All of these raise choking risk. Remove the pit and stem. Cut the fruit to suit your child's age. Stay within arm's reach at meals.

If a pit gets into the mouth

Do not panic. A pit can be swallowed whole without harm, or a gag can push it out of the mouth. Kneel by your child, stick out your tongue, say 'spit it out,' and hold your hand under the chin.

No, cherry is not counted as a common allergen. Serious reactions have been reported but are rare. People allergic to birch pollen, or with oral allergy syndrome to other stone fruits in the rose family, could be sensitive to cherries. That usually means a brief itchy, tingly or stinging feeling around the mouth, and a dangerous reaction is unlikely. Cooking and peeling can reduce it. Peeling cherries is hard because they are small.

Start with a small amount and watch your baby.