Your baby is ready to start solid foods – what an exciting time! As a parent, you get to help your child learn what kind of foods they like! You get to see their reaction as they taste new fruits, vegetables, cereals, textures, and flavors. You get to discover with them if they like more sweet, salty, or sour flavors of foods. As you continue to introduce new solid foods to your baby, it is important to know a bit about food allergies.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the 8 most common allergenic foods are: Milk, Eggs, Fish, Wheat, Soybeans, Shellfish, Tree nuts, Peanuts, and Sesame (emerging).
Introducing foods with an allergy risk is sometimes nerve-wracking but also very important. Research shows that introducing allergenic foods at a younger age, before 1 year of life, helps to reduce the risk of having a food allergy later on. While you may feel nervous, we encourage you to work with your child's pediatrician to develop a plan for introducing allergenic foods sooner than later.
Some tips to support you through this process:
Offer small to start – It does not take a large amount to be considered an 'exposure' to an allergenic food. You could start with ⅛ teaspoon and slowly increase over time.
Offer and observe – Current recommendations include introducing allergenic foods as soon as your baby is ready for solids. Most allergic reactions happen within 2 hours of ingesting a food. Offer a new allergenic food and watch your baby for any signs of an allergic reaction.
Offer where you are comfortable – You can introduce new foods in the comfort of your home. If you are concerned about a potential reaction, try to offer allergenic foods on days where you do not have work or other plans.
Offer regular exposure – Once an allergen is safely introduced into your child's diet, keep that food in the regular rotation. Ideally, offer an allergenic food to your baby on a weekly basis at minimum.
Offer developmentally appropriate opportunities – Keep in mind your child's age and stage of development. Think about how we can modify allergenic foods to offer them in a way that will help your baby be successful.
After each new food, watch and observe for any allergic reactions. Call your pediatrician if you observe symptoms such as rash, hives, swelling, changes in breathing, changes in color (pale), vomiting, or diarrhea.
As a parent, you are helping your little one explore and learn about a variety of foods, including allergenic ones. Building in opportunities for them to taste and try allergenic foods on a regular basis is a great way to provide consistent exposure to these foods while following a responsive approach to mealtimes!