Goat cheese

Fresh, soft goat cheese can be offered once your baby is about 6 months old and ready for solids. Choose a pasteurized one.

This white, soft, tangy cheese is sometimes sold in small logs. Its French name, chèvre, simply means goat. It goes by many names but is made the same way. Milk is curdled, the curds are separated from the whey, and the curds are pressed into fresh cheese.

Its sodium content is usually low. Besides protein and fat it supplies calcium and zinc, along with vitamins A, B6 and B12. These are building blocks for growth, bones, brain development, taste and immunity.

Always choose pasteurized cheese. Raw dairy carries a foodborne illness risk that can be more severe in babies.

For a young baby, thin the texture and spread a thin layer. For an older baby, serve small crumbles. Soft cheese can cling in the mouth, so offer a little water alongside.

A soft fresh goat cheese may turn into a gluey lump in the mouth, which raises the choking risk.

Prepare it for your baby's age: thinly spread or as small crumbles. Avoid large melted clumps. Stay beside your baby during the meal.

Goat milk is what goat cheese is made from. Milk allergy usually means to cow's milk, but dairy from sheep, goats and buffalo can trigger similar reactions. So a child allergic to cow's milk may react to goat cheese too. Milk allergy makes up about one in five childhood food allergies.

The good news is that milk allergy usually fades. Most children with cow's milk allergy outgrow it by age 6. Babies with mild symptoms may retry milk around the first birthday with a doctor's guidance.

Milk is also a frequent cause of FPIES, a delayed allergy. The acute form brings repeated vomiting and diarrhea a few hours after eating. If milk is eaten regularly, the chronic form can cause reflux, weight loss and poor growth. Symptoms ease once milk is stopped. FPIES that starts early usually fades by ages 3 to 5.

Lactose intolerance can be mistaken for allergy.

If you suspect a milk allergy, see an allergist before offering cheese. If you have already given milk and ruled out allergy, you can serve the cheese without starting small. Otherwise, try a small amount alone for the first meals and raise it if nothing happens.