Pumpkin

Also called kaddu, meetha kaddu, kohra, kumhra

Safe from6 months

Choking riskLowCook soft, mash smooth

AllergenNot common

Iron-richNo

Rich inVitamin A

How to serve, by her age

Smooth mashed pumpkin

Give her pumpkin on its own at first, boiled or steamed until a spoon presses through it easily, then mashed smooth. If the mash sits thick, loosen it with a little breast milk, formula, or water until it scoops up softly. Cooking it right through is what matters most here, since a firm piece can make her choke.

Two or three spoonfuls at a meal is plenty to start, and you can let her appetite lead from there. A little ghee in her bowl adds energy to a small meal. Keep it plain otherwise: no added salt while she is little, and no added sugar or jaggery before she turns two, even if the family likes it sweeter.

Pumpkin also cooks into a soft rice and dal porridge, grated or chopped small and stirred in while it simmers. That is how ICMR-NIN's own pumpkin recipe for six to eight months is made.

Soft bite-size pieces

By now she is picking up soft cooked pumpkin herself. Once her pincer grasp arrives, that neat thumb-and-finger pinch, cut it into bite-size pieces, or keep the pieces bigger with the rind taken off while she still grabs with her whole fist. Cook them soft enough to squash between your fingers.

Grated pumpkin cooked with carrot and potato is another way she takes it at this age, and soft cooked pumpkin stirs easily through her curd or a warm porridge.

Spoon, fingers, or both? ›

Soft family pieces

Around her first birthday pumpkin joins the family's meals, usually as the home's soft kaddu sabzi. Her share is soft cooked pieces she can bite from, or smaller ones she picks up. Chop or mash it only if she still needs that.

This is a good age to hand her a fork and let her spear the pieces herself. Keep the family sabzi light on salt while she is small.

Spoon, fingers, or both? ›

About pumpkin

The vitamin A a baby needs comes partly from orange vegetables, and the WHO puts pumpkin in that group alongside carrot and sweet potato, and the IAP's parent guide names pumpkin as one of them too. Boiled or steamed, it mashes to a thick spoonful that stays put on a tilted spoon, the texture she is ready for at six months.

The doubts we clear

CHOKINGWill she choke on pumpkin?

Under-cooked pumpkin stays firm, and a firm piece of vegetable is one of the things a baby can choke on. Cook it until a spoon presses through with no resistance, then mash it smooth at six months. Soft pieces she picks up herself come later, from around nine months.Choking vs gagging ›

MYTHPumpkin is safe for her all year round, in December as much as in May. It does not give a baby a cold or a cough.

You may be hearing at home that pumpkin is a cooling food and best kept away in the winter months. No vegetable gives a baby a cold, and cooked pumpkin is the same food in every season. If it settles things at home, give it to her warm, at lunch rather than at dinner. The food itself does not change.

Questions moms ask

We started yellow pumpkin mash yesterday and today her potty is bright orange. Is something wrong?

A bright orange nappy the day after pumpkin startles every one of us. Stools change a lot in colour and texture once solids begin, and this one is the pumpkin passing through. Keep offering it. If she also has hard stools, a swollen tummy or she is off her feeds, call your paediatrician.

My 7-month-old hasn't passed stool in two days. Does pumpkin actually help, or make it worse?

Two days without a stool is hard to watch, though straining alone is not a red flag. Pumpkin is not a cure for it. A little water offered once or twice through the day, and gentle bicycle legs, are what usually help. If she is in pain or the stools stay hard, call your paediatrician.

He loves meetha kaddu and now spits out plain dal and khichdi. Have I ruined his taste?

Keep dal and khichdi on his plate without pressure, and offer them when he is hungry and interested. Spitting is part of learning new tastes, and some babies need eight or ten tries.When she refuses food ›

Everyone at home says pumpkin is heavy for a baby and needs ghee and jeera to be safe. Is that true?

Cooked soft and mashed, pumpkin does not need anything added to make it safe for her. This belief comes up in a lot of homes, mine included. You can hear them out without changing the way you cook her pumpkin. A little ghee is welcome if that is how your family eats. Jeera and the other warming spices are a separate question, and nothing about plain pumpkin calls for them.

Should I try baby-led weaning with pumpkin?

Pumpkin gives her two easy forms, a smooth mash and soft pieces. Most babies here take a bit of both. At six months the mash goes in on a spoon. By about nine months, when she starts reaching for her food, she can hold the soft cooked pieces on her own. The IAP places that move from mash to finger food at around nine months.Spoon, fingers, or both? ›

How much pumpkin, and how often?

Pumpkin can be part of her meals on any day of the week, since vegetables are one of the food groups she needs daily. At six months she is eating two or three small meals a day alongside her feeds, and pumpkin can sit in one of them. Let her appetite set the amount. Keep other vegetables rotating through her week too, so her plate stays varied rather than leaning on pumpkin.How much she should eat ›

Can I mix kaddu with apple or carrot for her first meal, or should it be one food at a time?

One food at a time, to begin with. Give her plain pumpkin on its own, and watch her for a few days before the next new food comes in. That way, if something disagrees with her, you know which food it was. Once apple and carrot have each had their own turn, a bowl with all three in it is fine.

Can I make kaddu ka halwa for her, with a little jaggery?

Not with jaggery, no. ICMR-NIN keeps added sugar away from children under two, and jaggery counts as an added sugar just as much as the white kind does. Pumpkin is sweet enough on its own that she will not miss it. A plain soft mash of the same pumpkin gives her the same warm bowl.

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Every page is checked against ICMR-NIN, IAP and WHO guidance.

Sources: IAP, ICMR-NIN and 3 more sources ›

Educational only, and never a replacement for your paediatrician. Read the full note ›