From the YummyYucky team, founded by Nancy Nash

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Can Babies Eat Christmas Pudding? Not the Brandy One

Traditional Christmas pudding is one to skip for a baby, and the reasons stack up: it is fed with brandy for weeks, flamed in more brandy at the table, served with brandy butter, studded with whole dried fruit and often chopped almonds, and in many families it has a coin hidden inside. From 12 months a small mashed portion of an alcohol free pudding works. Here is how to keep your baby in the ritual without the brandy.

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When to introduce: Skip the traditional pudding entirely. A small mashed piece of an alcohol free version works from about 12 months.
Common allergen?: Usually contains wheat, egg and milk, and many recipes add almonds, so check the tin or ask whoever made it.
Texture: Dense and sticky with whole dried fruit running through it, so mash a small portion and pick out any firm fruit or nut.
Key nutrients: Iron, potassium and fiber from the dried fruit, alongside a lot of added sugar and saturated fat from the suet.

Plum pudding, figgy pudding, Christmas pud: whatever your family calls the dark steamed dome that arrives at the end of Christmas dinner, the honest answer is that this one is worth skipping for a baby, and not for one reason but four. It is fed with brandy over the weeks it matures, it is doused in more brandy and set alight at the table, it is usually served with brandy butter, and it is packed with whole dried fruit, sometimes chopped almonds, and in a lot of households a coin or a charm hidden in the mix. None of that is a complaint about the tradition, which is a lovely one. It just means the baby's share has to be assembled differently. From about 12 months a small mashed spoonful of an alcohol free pudding is fine, and there is a simpler option that gets them properly into the ritual.

Prep School: how to prepare christmas pudding for baby-led weaning (BLW) and purées

Under 12 monthsNothing off the pudding plate. Give them warm stewed apple or pear mashed with a spoonful of plain full fat yogurt, in their own small bowl, brought to the table at the exact moment the lights go down and the pudding comes in. The part they want is the event.

12 months and up, alcohol free pudding onlyUse a pudding made without brandy or stout that has never been fed or flamed, and do not try to dodge the alcohol by taking it from the middle, because that does not work. Mash about a tablespoon thoroughly with the back of a fork and a splash of warm milk. Then go through it with your fingers and pull out every whole raisin, currant, piece of candied peel and any nut, because the CDC lists uncooked dried fruit such as raisins, and whole or chopped nuts, among the choking hazards for young children.[1] Check with whoever made it that there is no coin in it. Sit your baby upright and stay with them: mashing makes this much safer to handle, it does not make supervision optional.

The version worth actually makingSimmer chopped dried apricots, chopped prunes and a peeled chopped apple in water with a cinnamon stick until everything collapses, then mash it smooth. Serve it warm with a spoonful of custard or plain yogurt. Same flavor family, no alcohol, no coin, no added sugar, and you can make one pot for the baby and the adults together.

🍪 A warm dried-fruit bowl, no alcohol →

Is christmas pudding safe? Choking & prep

Four things, in order of how much they matter. First, alcohol. A traditional pudding is matured for weeks with brandy spooned over it, then flamed in more brandy, and flaming does far less than people assume: the USDA retention table puts a flamed dish at about 75 percent of the alcohol still present, and alcohol stirred into a hot liquid at about 85 percent.² Brandy butter and hard sauce are not cooked at all. There is no safe amount of alcohol for a baby, and the WHO states that the risk begins from the first drop.³ If your baby has eaten pudding with brandy in it, call your pediatrician or the Poison Help line at 1-800-222-1222, free and answered 24/7 in the US, rather than watching and waiting. Second, the coin. Plenty of families still hide a sixpence or a charm in the pudding, and a small hard object buried in a soft food is exactly the kind of thing that gets swallowed. Ask before anyone serves a baby a spoonful. Third, choking shapes. Uncooked dried fruit such as raisins, and whole or chopped nuts, are both on the CDC's choking hazard list for young children, and a pudding is full of both.¹ Mash a small portion, go through it with your fingers first, keep your baby seated upright, and stay with them while they eat.⁴ Fourth, the ordinary stuff: a pudding is high in added sugar, which the CDC says infants and young children should not have, and traditional beef suet makes it high in saturated fat, which the NHS advises limiting for young children.⁵⁶ A few recipes sweeten with honey rather than treacle or molasses, and honey is never safe before 12 months because of infant botulism.⁷

Trying christmas pudding today? Log the first taste and whether it was a hit, a hard maybe, or launched across the room, dated and ready for the pediatrician.

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Nutrition

There is genuine food in a Christmas pudding. Dried fruit carries iron, potassium and fiber, and the eggs bring protein. It is also, by construction, a dessert: sugar from the fruit and the added sugar together, and a lot of saturated fat if it is made the traditional way with beef suet. The NHS line for young children is to keep saturated fat and added sugar low, and the CDC says infants and young children should not have added sugars at all, so a mashed spoonful once at Christmas is the right scale.⁶⁵ If it is the iron in the dried fruit you are after, stewed prunes and apricots mashed into oatmeal deliver it better, every week of the year.

Goes well with

Custard · Apple (cooked) · Pear (cooked) · Yogurt (whole milk) · Prune (puree) · Oatmeal

Storage & freezing

An uncut traditional pudding keeps for months in a cool dark cupboard, which is a large part of what the brandy is for. An alcohol free pudding has none of that protection: wrap it well, keep it in the fridge, and use it within about a week. Once cut, cover the cut face and refrigerate. Reheat by steaming until it is hot all the way through, then let it cool to warm before you mash your baby's portion, and never reheat the same portion twice. Anything your baby has had their hands in goes in the bin rather than back on the plate.

More grains to explore

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Cinnamon rollNot before 12 months, and not a food to offer on purpose through age 4 (added sugar)

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CookiesAbout 12 months

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CornbreadAround 9 months, once chewing and pincer grasp are coming along

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Cornmeal porridge (Caribbean)From about 6 months

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CongeeAround 6 months

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Corn tortillaAround 6 months, cut into soft strips

Introducing this allergen

Common questions

Can my baby have Christmas pudding?

Not the traditional one. It is matured with brandy, flamed in more brandy and usually served with brandy butter, and there is no safe amount of alcohol for a baby.³ It also carries whole dried fruit, often nuts, and sometimes a hidden coin. From 12 months a mashed tablespoon of an alcohol free pudding, with the whole fruit picked out, is fine.

Does the brandy burn off when you flame a Christmas pudding?

Much less than the ritual suggests. The USDA retention table puts a flamed dish at roughly 75 percent of the alcohol still present.² On top of that, a traditional pudding has been fed with raw brandy for weeks and the brandy butter beside it is never cooked at all.

What can I give my baby instead of Christmas pudding?

Simmer chopped dried apricots, prunes and apple with a cinnamon stick until soft, mash it and serve it warm with custard or plain yogurt. It tastes like the pudding, has no alcohol and no added sugar, and you can bring it to the table at the same moment so they are part of the whole performance.

My mother in law already gave my baby a bite of Christmas pudding. What now?

Find out whether it had brandy in it. If it did, call your pediatrician or the Poison Help line at 1-800-222-1222, free and answered 24/7 in the US, and tell them your baby's weight and roughly how much they ate, rather than waiting for symptoms. Also check whether there was a coin in the pudding. If it was an alcohol free pudding, watch for coughing or gagging on whole dried fruit and carry on.

Is the coin in the pudding really a problem?

Yes, and it is the part people forget. A sixpence or charm buried in soft pudding is a small hard object your baby cannot see coming. If your family keeps the tradition, ask before any of it is served to a baby, and serve theirs from a portion you mashed and went through yourself.

Can a baby have Christmas pudding if it was made without alcohol?

From about 12 months, a mashed tablespoon is fine, as long as it was never fed with brandy or flamed. Mash it with a splash of warm milk, and pick out the whole raisins, currants, candied peel and any nuts first.¹ It is still a sugary dessert, so keep it small.

Are mince pies or Christmas cake any better?

Not really. Mincemeat is usually made with suet and brandy and is full of the same whole dried fruit, and Christmas cake is typically fed with alcohol too and topped with marzipan, which contains almonds and is dense and sticky to chew. Ask what went into either one before offering a taste, and apply the same rules: no alcohol, and nothing with whole dried fruit or nut pieces left in it.

Sources

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Last updated September 2026. Next review December 2026. How we write these: built from current published guidance from the AAP, CDC, FDA/EPA, NIAID, WHO, and other pediatric and public-health authorities, with sources cited on the page. See our editorial and medical policy for how we research, source, and update these, and how we double-check the food advice.

This is general information, not medical advice, and is not individualized for your baby. Always talk to your pediatrician about your baby's diet, introducing allergens, and any reaction. In an emergency, contact emergency services.

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