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Ingredients › Tea and chai

Baby food · 0–36 months

Is tea safe for babies?

Tea and chai for babies and toddlers

Tea leaves carry caffeine, whether as chai, green tea or iced tea. Pikabee flags tea, tea extracts and caffeine in any food or drink for a child under three, and flags the sugar that usually comes with them too.

What Pikabee flags, by age

0–6 monthsRED FLAG

Any food other than breast milk or infant formula is flagged at this age, because WHO advises only breast milk for the first 6 months. Tea is flagged too.

6–12 monthsRED FLAG

Flagged. Tea carries caffeine, and caffeine is flagged in any food or drink for a baby. Sugar in a tea premix is flagged as well.

12–36 monthsRED FLAG

Still flagged for a toddler. EFSA, the EU's food agency, found too little information to set a caffeine level for children, and Pikabee flags caffeine until three.

What it is

Black, green and white tea all come from the same plant, Camellia sinensis, and all contain caffeine. A cup of chai made with milk still carries the caffeine of the tea leaves.

Children meet tea in home-made chai, packaged iced teas, “premix” tea sachets with sugar and milk powder, and green-tea flavoured snacks and drinks.

Names it goes by on labels

Why Pikabee flags it

The 2015 caffeine opinion of EFSA, the EU's food agency, found the information too limited to set a caffeine intake for children. The American Academy of Pediatrics advises that drinks carrying caffeine and other stimulants are not for children. Pikabee flags caffeine, and tea as a source of it, in any food or drink for a child under three.

Questions parents ask

Is tea safe for a baby under 6 months?

Any food other than breast milk or infant formula is flagged at this age, because WHO advises only breast milk for the first 6 months. Tea is flagged too.

Is tea safe for a 6 to 12 month old baby?

Flagged. Tea carries caffeine, and caffeine is flagged in any food or drink for a baby. Sugar in a tea premix is flagged as well.

Is tea safe for a 1 to 3 year old?

Still flagged for a toddler. EFSA, the EU's food agency, found too little information to set a caffeine level for children, and Pikabee flags caffeine until three.

Can I give a little chai to my 1 year old?

Pikabee flags tea and caffeine for every child under three, and most chai is sweetened as well. Plain milk, or water with meals, is the usual drink at this age.

Is green tea or herbal tea different?

Green tea comes from the same plant as black tea and carries caffeine, so it is flagged. A herbal infusion such as chamomile has no tea leaves; Pikabee judges it by its other ingredients, and an undisclosed herb blend is yellow.

Does milk cancel the caffeine in chai?

No. Milk changes the taste, not the caffeine from the tea leaves.

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Sources

  1. European Food Safety Authority (2015). Scientific opinion on the safety of caffeine. EFSA Journal 13(5):4102.
  2. American Academy of Pediatrics (2011). Sports drinks and energy drinks for children and adolescents: are they appropriate? Pediatrics 127(6):1182–1189.
  3. WHO (2023). Guideline for complementary feeding of infants and young children 6–23 months of age.

Last reviewed 6 November 2026.

Related ingredients

Talk to your pediatrician about anything concerning.