First foods database
🧀 Emmental for babies: when and how to serve it
Can babies eat Emmental? Yes, from about 6 months. This mild, nutty Swiss cheese with holes is naturally lower in salt than many hard cheeses and melts beautifully, so it is a handy cheese to offer as part of weaning.
Good source of: Calcium, Protein, Phosphorus, Zinc
How to serve emmental by age
6 to 9 months
Grate Emmental finely and stir it into mashed vegetables, pasta or scrambled egg, where it melts in. For finger food, offer thin slices or melt it on toast fingers so it stays soft. Avoid cubes of cold cheese for young babies.
9 to 12 months
Offer thin strips or small grated piles to pick up, melt it into omelettes or sprinkle over baked sweet potato.
12 months and up
Serve Emmental in sandwiches, toasties and gratins, or as thin sticks with fruit and crackers.
Choking safety
Cubes of firm cheese can lodge in a young child's throat. Grate, melt or slice thinly for babies, and for toddlers cut into thin sticks rather than chunks.
Gagging is common and noisy while babies learn to eat. Choking is usually silent. Always stay with your baby while they eat, sitting upright. How to help a choking baby (NHS).
Good to know
- Cheese contains milk, a common allergen. Offer a little first, then keep including it.
- Emmental still contains some salt, so offer it as part of meals rather than in large amounts.
Introducing it as an allergen
It contains milk, one of the 14 major allergens. How to introduce milk
Easy ideas
- Cheesy Emmental and broccoli pasta
- Emmental omelette fingers
- Melted Emmental on toast with tomato
Goes well with
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Questions parents ask
Can babies eat emmental?
Can babies eat Emmental? Yes, from about 6 months. This mild, nutty Swiss cheese with holes is naturally lower in salt than many hard cheeses and melts beautifully, so it is a handy cheese to offer as part of weaning.
Is Emmental pasteurised?
Most Emmental sold in UK supermarkets is made from pasteurised milk, but traditional versions may use raw milk. Hard cheeses are generally considered fine, but check the label and choose pasteurised for babies where you can.
Is Emmental low in salt?
It is one of the lower-salt hard cheeses, along with Swiss-style cheeses, so it is a good choice for babies.
Can babies have cheese every day?
Yes, small amounts of pasteurised full-fat cheese can be part of a varied daily diet.
Sources
- NHS Start for Life: Weaning
- NHS: Foods to avoid giving babies and young children
- NHS: Food allergies in babies and young children
- NHS: How to stop a child from choking
OBubba gives general information based on UK guidance. It is not medical advice and does not diagnose anything. Every baby is different. If your baby has a known allergy, severe eczema or a medical condition, speak to your doctor or health visitor before starting solids. Learn baby first aid, and in an emergency call your local emergency number (999 in the UK).