Buttermilk
Tangy and handy for soft pancakes and bakes. In food first, not a drink before 1.
Checked against official guidance on October 18, 2026 · How we review
Quick answer
Babies can eat buttermilk from around 6 months, once they show signs of being ready for solids. Prepare it as shown below.
How to serve buttermilk by age
6 months+
Cooked or baked into soft food
Use pasteurized, full-fat buttermilk in cooking and baking: in plain, soft pancakes or muffins with no added sugar or salt, or a spoonful stirred into warm mashed potato. Bakes usually contain egg and wheat, so offer them once your baby has had each on its own. Like cow's milk, buttermilk isn't a drink for babies under 1: keep breast milk or formula as the main drink.
- Size
- Soft pancake or muffin strips about the size of an adult finger, roughly 6–8 cm long and 2 cm wide (2½–3 × ¾ in), or a spoonful stirred into mashed food. Not as a drink.
- Check before serving
- Squash a strip between your thumb and finger. It should be cooked all the way through and flatten easily, with no wet batter in the middle.
US and UK advice differ here. The AAP suggests mashed food or soft pieces no larger than ½ inch; the NHS suggests soft finger-sized pieces your baby can hold in their fist. Both agree the food must squash easily.
9 months+
In soft bakes and dishes
Keep using buttermilk in food: soft pancakes, muffins or flatbreads cut into small pieces, or stirred into mashed vegetables or oatmeal as it cooks. It's still not a drink at this age.
- Size
- Soft bakes cut into pieces no bigger than about 1 cm (just under ½ inch), or finger strips.
- Check before serving
- Squash a piece between your thumb and finger. It should flatten easily.
12 months+
In cooking, or a small cup with a meal
From 12 months, low-fat buttermilk is fine in cooking too. No official source names buttermilk as a drink, so this part is our suggestion: your child can have a little full-fat buttermilk from a cup with a meal if they like it, but plain whole milk is the better everyday milk drink, since buttermilk has about 2½ times as much sodium. Count any buttermilk toward your child's milk for the day (the AAP suggests about 16 oz, 480 ml, from 12 to 24 months).
- Size
- Bakes and dishes in bite-sized pieces about 1 cm (just under ½ inch). If you offer it to drink, a small amount in an open cup with a meal.
18 months+
In family cooking and baking
Use buttermilk the way your family does: in pancakes, muffins or a dip mixed with plain yogurt. Keep drinks to water and plain milk, with buttermilk an occasional extra rather than a main drink.
- Size
- Bite-sized pieces about 1 cm (just under ½ inch), or soft finger shapes.
Always have your child sit upright in a high chair or at the table, and stay with them the whole time they eat. Keep to the size and texture for their stage. Every baby develops on their own timeline.
How to prepare buttermilk
- 1
Choose plain buttermilk made from pasteurized milk. For babies under 1, pick full-fat buttermilk; many are low-fat, so check the label.
- 2
Shake the carton, then measure out what the recipe needs. Don't let your child drink straight from the carton.
- 3
For babies under 1, cook or bake it into food with no added sugar, honey or salt, and cook bakes all the way through. Rinse any fruit or vegetables you add under running water first.
- 4
First time? Pick a day your baby is well, at home, when you can watch them for a couple of hours afterward.
How much to offer
For the first taste, offer a small amount: a piece of soft pancake or a spoonful of food made with buttermilk. If there's no reaction, offer more next time. Your baby decides how much to eat: stop when they turn away or close their mouth. From 12 months, keep any cups of buttermilk small and served with food, so milk drinks don't replace meals.
Common mistakes
Giving it as a drink before 12 months
Buttermilk is cow's milk. The NHS says cows' milk can be used in cooking or mixed with food from around 6 months, but shouldn't be a main drink until 12 months, and the AAP's drinks table lists no cow's milk from 6 to 12 months. The same goes for buttermilk. Keep breast milk or formula as the main drink.
Using low-fat buttermilk for a baby under 1
The NHS says lower-fat milks can be used in cooking from 1 year old. Under 1, use full-fat buttermilk. If you can only find low-fat, use plain full-fat yogurt loosened with a little whole milk in the recipe instead.
Buying raw buttermilk
Buttermilk from farms or markets can be made from raw milk. The NHS says young children shouldn't have unpasteurised milk, and the CDC says children under 5 are at higher risk of serious illness from raw milk germs. Check the label says pasteurized.
Serving buttermilk pancakes with honey or syrup
Honey can cause infant botulism, so the NHS says no honey until after 1 year. The NHS also says to avoid sugar, including honey and syrup, up to age 4. Top pancakes with mashed fruit instead.
Where US and UK guidance differ on buttermilk
United States(AAP and CDC)Your setting
The CDC says not to give cow's milk before 12 months, and doesn't name buttermilk. If you follow US advice, use breast milk or formula instead in your baby's food until then. The AAP's drinks table lists no cow's milk from 6 to 12 months, whole milk from 12 to 24 months, and low-fat (1%) or nonfat milk from age 2.
United Kingdom(NHS)Your setting
The NHS says cows' milk can be used in cooking or mixed with food from around 6 months, but shouldn't be a main drink until 1 year. It says lower-fat milks can be used in cooking from 1 year, and skimmed and 1% milk shouldn't be a main drink under 5. Buttermilk isn't named, so we treat it like milk: full-fat in food from 6 months, and never as a main drink before 1.
We cover US and UK guidance in detail. Elsewhere, check your national health service's advice too.
Questions parents ask
Can buttermilk be a choking hazard for babies?
Buttermilk itself is a low choking risk. In bakes, cut soft pancakes and muffins into strips or small pieces suited to your baby's age, and have your child sit upright to eat and drink. Stay with your child during meals.
Can babies be allergic to buttermilk?
Buttermilk is made from cow's milk, one of the most common food allergens in young children. If your baby has a diagnosed milk allergy, don't offer buttermilk unless their doctor says it's OK. Otherwise, dairy can be introduced from around 6 months, one new allergen at a time, and kept in your baby's usual diet once they've had it without a reaction. Most reactions start within minutes to 2 hours, but with cow's milk allergy, symptoms can take up to 3 days to appear. If your baby has eczema or another food allergy, or there's a family history of food allergies, eczema, asthma or hay fever, the NHS says to talk to your GP or health visitor first. Bakes made with buttermilk usually also contain egg and wheat.
Is buttermilk healthy for babies?
A source of protein and calcium: 100 g of whole buttermilk has about 3.2 g of protein and 115 mg of calcium, close to whole milk. It has more sodium than milk: about 105 mg per 100 g (about 0.26 g of salt), compared with about 43 mg in whole milk, roughly 2½ times as much. A 120 ml (4 oz) cup has about 0.3 g of salt. It has almost no iron.
Can babies have buttermilk?
Yes, in food from around 6 months if you follow UK advice: baked into soft pancakes or muffins, or stirred into cooked food. The CDC says not to give cow's milk before 12 months, so if you follow US advice, use breast milk or formula in your baby's food instead (see the US vs. UK note below). Either way, buttermilk isn't a drink before 12 months.
Are buttermilk pancakes OK for babies?
Yes, once your baby has had egg, wheat and dairy each on their own. Make them with full-fat buttermilk and no added sugar or salt, cook them all the way through, cut them into strips, and skip honey and syrup.
Is buttermilk saltier than milk?
Yes. Whole buttermilk has about 105 mg of sodium per 100 g, about 2½ times the 43 mg in whole milk. Plain milk is the better everyday drink from 12 months.
Can toddlers drink buttermilk?
No official source names buttermilk as a drink, so this is our suggestion, following the advice for whole milk: from 12 months, a small cup of full-fat buttermilk with a meal now and then is fine. It has about 2½ times the sodium of whole milk, so count it alongside the milk your child drinks and keep plain milk and water as the usual drinks.
If your baby refuses buttermilk
- Many babies need 10 or more tries before they accept a new food. Keep offering it alongside foods they already like.
- Buttermilk is sour. Try it in a soft pancake or muffin with mashed ripe banana in the batter.
- Try another form: in pancakes, in oatmeal as it cooks, or (from 12 months) mixed with plain yogurt as a dip.
- Eat some yourself at the same meal. Babies copy what they see.
Never force or pressure your baby to eat. Some days they'll eat more, some days less, and that's normal.
Buying and storing buttermilk
- Keep buttermilk in the fridge, at 40°F (4°C) or below. It keeps for about 2 weeks, but use it by the date on the carton and follow the label once opened.
- Buttermilk can be frozen for about 3 months.
- Pour or measure what you need rather than drinking from the carton, and throw away any your child leaves in their cup.
- Throw away any food left out at room temperature for more than 2 hours (1 hour if it's hotter than 90°F / 32°C).
When to talk to your doctor
Contact your pediatrician, GP or health visitor if:
- Your baby has had any reaction to dairy, even a mild one. Stop offering it until you've talked to your pediatrician.
- Your baby vomits a few hours after eating dairy. This can be FPIES, a delayed type of food allergy that milk can trigger. If they vomited once or twice and seem alert and like themselves, call your pediatrician or GP. If they vomit again and again, or are pale, floppy, very sleepy or hard to wake, call your emergency number.
- You notice mild signs of an allergic reaction after eating, such as a few hives or a little vomiting. See signs of a reaction.
- You're worried about how much your baby eats, their growth, or they refuse most solid food for weeks.
Call 911999your local emergency number (such as 112 in Europe or 000 in Australia) now if your baby has trouble breathing, wheezing, can't cough or cry, has lips, mouth, tongue or throat that suddenly swell, or becomes pale, bluish, floppy or unresponsive. Also call if hives come with repeated vomiting.
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Helpful guides
Sources
- NHS: Drinks and cups for babies and young children
- NHS: Foods to avoid giving babies and young children
- NHS: Food allergies in babies and young children
- AAP: Recommended drinks for children age 5 and younger
- CDC: Cow's milk and milk alternatives
- CDC: Raw milk
- ACAAI: Food protein-induced enterocolitis syndrome (FPIES)
- USDA FoodData Central: Milk, buttermilk, fluid, whole
- USDA FoodData Central: Milk, whole, 3.25% milkfat, with added vitamin D
- USDA FSIS: How long can you keep dairy products like yogurt, milk, and cheese in the refrigerator?
- USDA FSIS: Leftovers and food safety
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