Starting Solids / Fruits

How to Serve Avocado to Babies at 6, 9, 12 and 18 Months

By Berkay Yenilmez
Updated October 16, 2026

Babies can eat avocado from 6 months, when they start solids. At 6 months: ripe and soft, skin and pit removed, in thick finger-length spears to grip, or mashed on a preloaded spoon. Why so big: babies this age grab with the whole hand, so a finger-sized piece with a bit sticking out of the fist is easiest to hold and gnaw, and gnawing helps them learn to chew. Feeding themselves carries no more risk of choking than being fed with a spoon; always stay with your baby while they eat.

Other names and forms
avocado pear, alligator pear and butter fruit
Start
6 months, when solids begin
Common allergen
Not one of the nine major allergens
Iron
0.61 mg per 100 g
Textures
Mashed and finger food

How to serve avocado by age

6 to 8 months

Avocado, 6 to 8 months: 1, Thick finger-length spears to grip; 2, Mashed, on a preloaded spoon
  1. Thick finger-length spears to grip
  2. Mashed, on a preloaded spoon

Ripe and soft, skin and pit removed, in thick finger-length spears to grip, or mashed on a preloaded spoon. Why so big: babies this age grab with the whole hand, so a finger-sized piece with a bit sticking out of the fist is easiest to hold and gnaw, and gnawing helps them learn to chew. Feeding themselves carries no more risk of choking than being fed with a spoon; always stay with your baby while they eat.

Texture: mashed and finger food

9 to 11 months

Avocado, 9 to 11 months: 1, Ripe pieces about 1 cm, to pick up; 2, A thick finger-length spear; 3, Mashed, spread on toast fingers
  1. Ripe pieces about 1 cm, to pick up
  2. A thick finger-length spear
  3. Mashed, spread on toast fingers

Ripe pieces about 1 cm to pick up, a thick finger-length spear, or mashed and spread on toast fingers. Why smaller now: between about 9 and 12 months babies learn to pick food up between thumb and finger, and small soft pieces let them practice. Babies who don't move on to lumpy food by about 9 to 10 months are more likely to have feeding difficulties later.

Texture: mashed and finger food

12 to 17 months

Avocado, 12 to 17 months: 1, Slices, with meals; 2, Pieces about 1 cm; 3, Spread on toast or crackers
  1. Slices, with meals
  2. Pieces about 1 cm
  3. Spread on toast or crackers

Slices or pieces about 1 cm with meals, or spread on toast, crackers or tortillas.

Texture: mashed and finger food

18 months and up

Avocado, 18 months and up: 1, Thick finger-length spears; 2, Pieces about 1 cm; 3, Mashed, on a spoon; 4, Half in its skin, pit out, to scoop
  1. Thick finger-length spears
  2. Pieces about 1 cm
  3. Mashed, on a spoon
  4. Half in its skin, pit out, to scoop

Spears, pieces or mash, or half an avocado in its skin, pit out, to scoop with a spoon.

Texture: mashed and finger food

Sito shows this card at your baby's exact age, for 583 foods.

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Nutrients

USDA figures per 100 g (Avocado, Hass, peeled, raw): iron 0.61 mg, zinc 0.46 mg and calcium 14 mg. Household measures from USDA: 1 tablespoon (mashed) is about 14 g, 1 quarter is about 34 g and 1 half is about 68 g.

Stay with your baby at every meal, sitting upright. This is general information from public health sources, not medical advice. Your child's doctor has the final word.

Starting Solids in the Sito app

Sito is our app. From 4 months, the home screen is Starting Solids: the signs of readiness, how to serve each of 583 foods at your baby's age, and a quick log for every taste. Spears to grip or mashed on a spoon, each food's card shows the shapes that fit your baby's age, and swipes ahead to how it changes as they grow.

The Allergen Ladder takes 9 common allergens, one at a time, with a check-in after each. At 12 months the full app opens on its own: meals from a photo, 18 nutrients, and how to cut every food until age 4.

Every first food, served right

Add your baby and Starting Solids opens at 4 months.

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Sito's first-food card for avocado at 6 months: thick finger-length spears to grip, or mashed on a preloaded spoon, with a reminder to stay with Sofia at every meal, sitting upright. Sito's Allergen Ladder for Sofia: 5 of 9 allergens introduced, with egg, milk and wheat kept up and soy, sesame and tree nut not started yet.

FAQ

When can babies eat avocado?

From 6 months, when your baby starts solids.

How do you serve avocado to a 6-month-old?

Ripe and soft, skin and pit removed, in thick finger-length spears to grip, or mashed on a preloaded spoon. Why so big: babies this age grab with the whole hand, so a finger-sized piece with a bit sticking out of the fist is easiest to hold and gnaw, and gnawing helps them learn to chew. Feeding themselves carries no more risk of choking than being fed with a spoon; always stay with your baby while they eat.

How do you serve avocado to a 9-month-old?

Ripe pieces about 1 cm to pick up, a thick finger-length spear, or mashed and spread on toast fingers. Why smaller now: between about 9 and 12 months babies learn to pick food up between thumb and finger, and small soft pieces let them practice. Babies who don't move on to lumpy food by about 9 to 10 months are more likely to have feeding difficulties later.

How do you serve avocado to a 12-month-old?

Slices or pieces about 1 cm with meals, or spread on toast, crackers or tortillas.

Sources

  1. NHS: Your baby's first solid foods
  2. NHS: Foods to avoid giving babies and young children
  3. USDA FoodData Central: Avocado, Hass, peeled, raw
  4. NIH Office of Dietary Supplements: Iron
  5. NIH Office of Dietary Supplements: Zinc
  6. AAP HealthyChildren: Movement Milestones: Babies 4 to 7 Months
  7. CDC: Important Milestones: Your Baby By One Year
  8. ESPGHAN: Complementary Feeding: A Position Paper by the ESPGHAN Committee on Nutrition (2017)

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