Celery is safe for babies from 6 months - depending how you prepare it!

Celery is a great toddler food choice! It’s an easy snack to put in school lunchboxes, or take to work for an afternoon snack too. Often overlooked, it’s a great option instead of fruit because you can basically put it in your lunchbox and it won’t go off, soggy or brown before you eat it.

Celery is a difficult food for children to eat and you might find initially they will only eat it in soups, when it is cooked and blended. Unless you're one of those amazing mothers who takes all the strings off the celery for them! It’s easily added to juices, in fact I’m sure you’ve heard of the celery juice craze - in which some people drink nothing BUT celery (word of warning, it isn’t necessary to do this for health, and your children probably won’t love the bitterness of celery juice).

Celery is one of the lowest calorie dense foods on the planet. The main reason for this is because it is 95% water! What an incredibly hydrating food for your baby!

The remaining 5% is very nutritious, making celery an awesome healthy option to add into casseroles and soups. Celery is low GI, it won’t spike your blood sugar, and will help to maintain stable energy.

Celery is good for your health

Celery helps to reduce inflammation, aids digestion, reduces bad cholesterol and is an awesome snack for independent toddlers to dip it in some hummus or have with nut butter (both a popular choice in our house)
Over a dozen antioxidants present
Vit K, Molybdenum, Folate - necessary for healthy bone development, and healthy detoxification
Gut health with their non-starchy polysaccharides (which actually give celery it’s unique shape and texture) – great for the digestive tract and feeding the healthy bacteria

Enjoying celery

Celery is AWESOME raw, my son loves it with almond butter (though it's mostly him licking the almond butter off!). My husband puts cheese in (weird, right? but worth trying if your child is a cheese lover and you’re trying to get them to eat more vegetables)
It is also a great additional for any soups, or making stock at home - you can put it in my bone broth recipe
You might find toddlers and older kids can eat it chopped up small in salads
I’m not a huge fan of steamed celery but the good news is that if you are, cooking it retains most of the antioxidants (unlike many other vegetables)!
Fresh celery can be stored for 5-7 days before starting to go off

Introducing celery juice to your baby

Ok, I have had many an email after this blog was released, asking if it is safe to give celery juice to your baby! Here’s what you need to know, in bullet form ;)

Babies under 12 months of age require breast milk and small amounts of water. They do not REQUIRE anything else to drink.
That being said, you CAN give your baby celery juice, but here’s how I recommend you do it:
- Add small bits of celery juice to your baby’s water - start with 10mL celery juice for every 90mL of water
- If your baby loves it, add celery juice as a base for their smoothies (instead of say coconut water, or mix with coconut water!)
Give your baby a maximum of 30mL of celery juice a day - that is actually quite a lot for a baby to handle
Please ensure you use organic celery, or wash your celery very thoroughly, as it is high is pesticide residue - which becomes amplified when you juice it

A few disclaimers:

Continue to breast / bottle feed your baby and do not substitute celery juice for the main milk diet
Juicing and low calorie diets are not recommended as a sole source of nutrition for babies
Babies do not have the detoxification systems that we have as adults, and thus are more sensitive to anything that pushes their detox pathways to move faster, so if your baby seems irritable while drinking celery juice, it might be best to hold off until they’re old enough to handle the associated detoxification
If you are beginning a juicing journey while you’re breastfeeding, you *miiiight. detox, so watch out for signs of detox in yourself and your baby (via the milk!)