Indian guidelines suggest starting complementary foods at six months, and the ICMR-NIN sample menus for babies add oil or ghee at 5 g, about one teaspoon, to two cooked meals a day. WHO, the NHS and the Indian Academy of Pediatrics set no specific amount for ghee.
This article sets out what the main guideline bodies actually say, word for word where it matters. It is general information, not advice for your child. Every baby is different, and your paediatrician knows yours: follow their advice on when to start solids, which fats to use and how much, especially if your baby was born early, has a known allergy or has any concern about weight or growth.
At a glance
- WHO, ICMR-NIN and the Indian Academy of Pediatrics all put the start of complementary foods at six months; ghee comes in as part of those foods, not before.
- ICMR-NIN's sample menus for 6 to 12 months add oil or ghee at 5 g, one teaspoon, to two cooked meals a day; they are example menus, not prescriptions.
- WHO, the NHS and the IAP set no specific amount for ghee; the IAP's 2016 guideline says each meal must be made energy dense with ghee, butter or oil, and its parent guide excepts children who are overweight or obese.
- The reason is energy density for a small stomach: ICMR-NIN puts an infant's need at 650 to 720 kcal a day from 6 to 12 months, about 500 of it from breast milk.
- No added salt or sugar, no vanaspati, one new food at a time, and your paediatrician's advice first.
When can a baby start having ghee?
Not before complementary foods begin, and every guideline we read puts that at about six months. Ghee is not a separate milestone. It enters a baby's diet as part of the first cooked foods, so the question of when to start ghee is really the question of when to start solids, and that answer is consistent.
- WHO (2023): "Infants should be introduced to complementary foods at 6 months (180 days) while continuing to breastfeed." WHO adds that this is a public health recommendation and that some infants may benefit from earlier introduction.
- ICMR-NIN (2024): infants should be exclusively breastfed for the first six months, then fed home-made semi-solid complementary foods "soon after six months of age".
- Indian Academy of Pediatrics (2016): complementary foods "should be introduced at six completed months while continuing breastfeeding". Its later guide for parents says to start "after completion of 180 days".
- NHS: breast milk is "the only food or drink babies need for around the first 6 months of their life".
None of these bodies gives ghee its own starting age. If your paediatrician has suggested a different start for your baby, follow that.
How much ghee do the Indian guidelines suggest?
The clearest figures come from the ICMR-NIN Dietary Guidelines for Indians 2024. Its sample menus for infants list "Oil/ghee 5g" in two cooked meals a day, and its table of household measures equates 5 g of oil or ghee to one teaspoon. It does not set a separate limit for ghee alone.
Three points about these figures matter. First, they are sample menus. The guideline says quantities are for raw ingredients and that the timings are "for suggestive purpose only". Second, the item is written as oil/ghee: either fat fills the same place, and the menu does not prefer one. Third, the fat goes into a cooked dish such as rice with dal or khichdi, and breast milk continues alongside.
| Age (ICMR-NIN sample menu) | Meals with oil/ghee | Oil/ghee per meal | Total in the sample day |
|---|---|---|---|
| 6–8 months | 2 (mid-morning and evening) | 5 g (1 teaspoon) | 10 g |
| 9–12 months | 2 (mid-morning and evening) | 5 g (1 teaspoon) | 10 g |
| Over 1 year | 3 (morning, lunch and dinner) | 7 g, 7 g and 6 g | 20 g |
The totals are our addition of the menu figures, not a number the guideline states as a target. In the 6–8 month menu, the afternoon meal is fruit, such as banana or mashed apple, with no added fat. The Indian Academy of Pediatrics does not give a quantity in grams or teaspoons. Its 2016 guideline says each meal "must be made energy dense" by adding ghee, butter or oil, and its parent guide says "small amount of fats can be added to food to increase their energy content".
What do WHO and the NHS say about ghee?
Nothing specific. Neither the WHO complementary feeding guideline nor the NHS weaning pages we read mention ghee, and neither gives an amount of added fat for babies. They speak about fat in general terms, and their main warnings are about sugar, salt and the wrong kinds of fat, not about ghee.
WHO's 2023 guideline recommends that "foods high in sugar, salt and trans fats should not be consumed" by children aged 6 to 23 months. In its background it groups saturated and trans fats together as "unhealthy fats" found in highly processed foods.
The NHS says young children, "especially those under the age of 2, need the energy provided by fat", which is why it lists whole milk, full-fat yoghurt, cheese and oily fish as important. Further down, after saying lower-fat dairy can come in gradually once a child is 2, the same page asks families to keep an eye on saturated fat and keep it to a minimum. It does not discuss ghee or Indian cooking fats. So for an amount of ghee, ICMR-NIN is the only one of these bodies that offers a figure, and even that figure comes from a sample menu.
Why do Indian guidelines add fat to baby food at all?
Because a baby's stomach is small and its energy needs are high. ICMR-NIN puts an infant's need at 650 to 720 kcal a day from 6 to 12 months, of which breast milk supplies about 500 kcal after six months. A little fat raises the energy in each spoonful without making the bowl bigger.
The Indian Academy of Pediatrics makes the same point directly: "To address the issue of a small stomach size, each meal must be made energy dense". For the move to the family diet at about one year, ICMR-NIN says a child's diet should be nutritionally dense, and recommends additional foods including small amounts of nuts, oil seeds and oil/ghee to enhance its nutrient density.
The sample menus show the arithmetic. ICMR-NIN says its suggested complementary foods for 6–8 months provide 230 kcal a day, and the balance of 420 kcal comes from breast milk, making 650 kcal. For 9–12 months the foods provide 385 kcal and breast milk the remaining 335 kcal, making 720 kcal. That is the reason fat appears in the menu: energy, not any special property of ghee.
The IAP parent guide also addresses a common belief. It lists "Ghee is heavy to digest, causes cough" as a myth and marks it false. It does not make any health claim for ghee in return.
How do the guidelines suggest introducing new foods, ghee included?
Slowly, one food at a time, and with your paediatrician's advice on anything that worries you. ICMR-NIN suggests starting with a thin but not watery porridge for four to five days, then introducing each new food alone and feeding it for four to five days before adding the next, so that any intolerance shows.
Put together from the ICMR-NIN and IAP guidance, the sequence looks like this:
- Start complementary foods at about six months, with breast milk continuing.
- Begin with a thin but not watery porridge, such as dal gruel, and thicken it gradually towards a well-mashed consistency.
- Introduce new foods one at a time, each for four to five days, before combining them.
- When the menus call for it, add oil or ghee to the cooked dish rather than serving it on its own; ICMR-NIN's sample is one teaspoon to such a meal.
- Add no salt or sugar, follow hygienic practices while preparing food and feeding, and if an intolerance to a food persists, seek medical advice.
ICMR-NIN says that if a child shows an intolerance to a food and it persists, parents should seek medical advice for diagnosis and treatment. Ghee is made from milk, so if your baby has a known or suspected milk allergy, speak to your paediatrician before giving it.
When should you be more careful with ghee?
When your baby is overweight, when a doctor has raised a concern about growth or allergy, and when the fat in question is not ghee at all but a hydrogenated substitute. The guidelines also keep added salt and sugar out of the bowl.
- Overweight children: the IAP parent guide says added ghee, oil and fats add energy and palatability "except in children who are overweight or obese".
- Vanaspati and trans fats: ICMR-NIN advises against partially hydrogenated fats (vanaspati) as a cooking medium because they may contain trans fats, and WHO says foods high in trans fats should not be consumed by children aged 6 to 23 months.
- Saturated fat overall: ICMR-NIN's general advice for the population is to limit high saturated-fat oils and fats such as ghee and butter; our article on how much ghee per day covers its adult figures. Its infant menus still include oil/ghee in small, measured amounts.
- Sugar and jaggery: the IAP 2016 guideline mentions sugar or jaggery alongside ghee to raise energy. The newer ICMR-NIN 2024 guideline says added sugar "must be totally avoided for children below 2 years". Where advice differs, ask your paediatrician.
Does the kind of ghee matter for a baby?
The guidelines do not say. None of them distinguishes cow from buffalo ghee, A2 from ordinary, or bilona from cream-separated ghee for infant feeding. What they do care about is that the food is home-made, hygienically prepared and made without added salt or sugar, and that hydrogenated fats are avoided.
The practical step a parent can take is to know what is in the jar. A batch-coded ghee with a published lab report tells you what you are buying, and our guide on how to tell if ghee is pure explains the checks that mean something. For what ghee is made of, including its share of saturated fat, see ghee nutrition facts. Himdhara makes ghee, but nothing here depends on whose ghee you use, and no brand's ghee changes what the guidelines say.
The short version
Every guideline we read puts the start of complementary foods at about six months, and ghee comes in as part of those foods, not before. The ICMR-NIN sample menus add oil or ghee at 5 g, about one teaspoon, to two cooked meals a day, while WHO, the NHS and the Indian Academy of Pediatrics give no specific amount for ghee. The reason the Indian guidelines add fat is energy density for a small stomach, not any special property of ghee. Keep salt, sugar and vanaspati out of the bowl, and above all follow your paediatrician's advice for your own baby.
Sources
Further reading behind the figures above. Himdhara's own numbers — yields, batch results — come from our production records and the batch reports on the lab reports page.
- World Health Organization (2023). WHO Guideline for complementary feeding of infants and young children 6–23 months of age. World Health Organization.
- ICMR-National Institute of Nutrition (2024). Dietary Guidelines for Indians. Indian Council of Medical Research.
- Tiwari S, et al., for the IYCF Chapter of IAP (2016). Infant and Young Child Feeding Guidelines, 2016. Indian Pediatrics.
- Indian Academy of Pediatrics (2020–2021). Complementary Feeding: Feeding of an Infant Beyond 6 Months Age. IAP Guidelines for Parents.
- NHS (2023). What to feed young children. NHS.