From the YummyYucky team, founded by Nancy Nash

Can Babies Eat Pickles? A Tiny Taste From 12 Months

Pickles are a salt question first and a shape question second. One small dill spear has about 280 mg of sodium, about three quarters of a whole day's worth for a baby 7 to 12 months old, so pickles wait until about 12 months and then stay a small, finely chopped taste. Plain cucumber gives your baby the crunch now, and a homemade no-salt quick pickle brings the sour later.

When to introduce

About 12 months, as an occasional small taste, rinsed and finely chopped. The age is about the salt.

Common allergen?

No (not a common allergen). The basic recipe is cucumbers, vinegar, salt, water, dill and spices.

Texture

Firm, crunchy and slick. Chop finely or shave thin; whole spears and round chips wait until chewing is solid.

Key nutrients

Mostly water and salt, with a little vitamin K. Sweet pickles add sugar.

Yes, from about 12 months, as a small taste now and then. Pickles, whether dill spears, chips, gherkins, cornichons or bread and butter slices, are cucumbers that have soaked in a salty brine, and the salt is the reason to wait. One small dill spear has about 280 mg of sodium.³ The National Academies put the adequate intake for babies 7 to 12 months at 370 mg a day from everything they eat and drink, so one spear would be about three quarters of the day.² The CDC says to avoid feeding foods high in salt to young children, and the AAP's advice for one-year-olds is to skip heavily salted foods, which is why the answer at 12 months is a few small pieces rather than a pickle.¹⁶ Done that way, a pickle makes a fun first sour. Rinse it, chop it finely, stir it into something mild, and get the camera ready for the face.

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

Are pickles safe? Choking & prep

Salt is the main thing. USDA FoodData Central lists dill pickles at 809 mg of sodium per 100 g, which works out to about 280 mg in one small spear (35 g), about 57 mg in a single slice (7 g), and about 1,090 mg in a large 4 inch pickle (135 g).³ For babies 7 to 12 months, the National Academies set the adequate intake at 370 mg of sodium a day from all food and drink; for ages 1 to 3 it is 800 mg, with advice to reduce intake if it runs above 1,200 mg a day.² The CDC says to avoid feeding foods high in salt to young children, and the AAP suggests limiting processed foods made for adults, which often contain more salt.¹⁷ That is the whole reason pickles wait until about 12 months and then stay a taste. Rinsing helps a little, since it takes off the brine on the outside, but pickles sit in salted brine for days to weeks (fermented dills cure for about 3 to 4 weeks), so the portion is what really controls the salt.⁸ Shape is the second thing. A pickle is firm and slick. The CDC lists pieces of hard raw vegetables among the choking hazards for young children, and the AAP keeps raw vegetable sticks on its high-risk list until age 4 or older, depending on each child, says round, firm foods should be completely chopped into tiny pieces, and recommends cutting food for young children into pieces no larger than half an inch.⁵⁴ So chop pickles finely or shave them thin, chop small gherkins and cornichons too (their bite size is the risk), and save whole spears and round chips for when your child chews well. Keep your child sitting up while eating and stay with them.⁵⁴ Sugar is the third thing, and only for some jars. Sweet pickles, including bread and butter pickles and sweet gherkins, are made with sugar: USDA lists about 18 g of sugars per 100 g of sweet pickles, and its home recipe for bread and butter pickles uses 4 and a half cups of sugar.³⁸ CDC guidance is that children younger than 24 months should not have added sugars, so dill is the simpler choice for an occasional taste.¹ Pickles are not a common allergen, and the basic recipe is cucumbers, salt, vinegar, water, dill and spices.⁸

Nutrition

A pickle is mostly water and salt. USDA lists dill pickles at about 94% water and 12 calories per 100 g, with a little vitamin K and fiber and not much else, so your baby misses nothing nutritionally by waiting.³ Sweet pickles bring more calories, about 91 per 100 g, most of it from sugar.³ What a pickle does offer is flavor: sour, salty, garlicky and herby, which is a big new experience for a toddler used to mild food. You can get most of that flavor with none of the salt. A homemade quick pickle made with vinegar, water and dill and no salt gives a 12 month old the same tang, and plain cucumber with a little fresh dill gets close. The first sour bite often gets a full-body shudder, and some toddlers then reach straight for another piece. Log the try in YummyYucky with the date and a yummy, meh or yucky, so you can see whether the face changes by the third try.

Goes well with

Cucumber · Greek yogurt · Mashed potatoes · Egg · Tuna · Chicken

Storage & freezing

Keep an opened jar of store-bought pickles in the fridge with the pickles under the brine, and follow the date and storage line on the label. Fish pickles out with a clean fork rather than fingers. Chop only what you are serving, and throw away whatever comes back on the plate. A homemade no-salt quick pickle is fresh cucumber in vinegar rather than a preserved food, so keep it covered in the fridge and eat it within a day or two, as you would cut cucumber. If pickles turn soft and slimy or smell off, throw them out.

Related reading

• Cucumber for babies →
• Sauerkraut for babies →
• Kimchi for babies →
• Olives for babies →
• Beets for babies →
• When can babies have salt? →

Common questions

Sources

1. CDC, Foods and Drinks to Avoid or Limit (foods high in salt; no added sugars under 24 months)
2. National Academies (NASEM), Dietary Reference Intakes for Sodium and Potassium (2019), Summary, Table S-2: sodium adequate intake 370 mg a day at 7 to 12 months and 800 mg at 1 to 3 years; reduce intakes if above 1,200 mg a day at 1 to 3 years
3. USDA FoodData Central, SR Legacy: pickles, cucumber, dill or kosher dill (168558) 809 mg sodium per 100 g, small spear 35 g, large 4 inch pickle 135 g, slice 7 g; sweet pickles incl. bread and butter (169378) 457 mg sodium and 18.27 g sugars; beets, pickled, canned (170480) 149 mg sodium and 11.05 g sugars; peppers, hot pickled, canned (169766) 1,430 mg sodium, 1/4 cup drained 34 g
4. AAP HealthyChildren, Choking Prevention
5. CDC, Choking Hazards (Infant and Toddler Nutrition)
6. AAP HealthyChildren, Feeding and Nutrition Tips: Your 1-Year-Old
7. AAP HealthyChildren, Starting Solid Foods (limit processed foods made for adults, which often contain more salt)
8. USDA Complete Guide to Home Canning (2015), Guide 6: Preparing and Canning Fermented Foods and Pickled Vegetables
9. FDA, Sodium in Your Diet (what low sodium and reduced sodium mean on a label)

Further reading

• American Academy of Pediatrics (HealthyChildren.org): Starting Solid Foods
• CDC: Infant and Toddler Nutrition

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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