Health Highlights: First Foods - Allergens 101
Key takeaways:
- Introduce solid foods, including allergens, between the four to six month period
- Look for milestones before introducing solid foods
- Early introduction of allergens lessens the chance your baby will have allergies to these foods
For new parents, you're finally getting into a rhythm with your newborn baby.
Their sleep schedule is becoming more “normal,” and they're hitting some of their first milestones.
Then, it's time to introduce them to solid foods.
But with a new adventure can come a fear about things like allergens.
According to the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), “The Big 9” of food allergies are milk, eggs, fish, shellfish, tree nuts, peanuts, wheat, soybeans and sesame.
This long list may be daunting to new parents, but Michael Endris, MD, a pediatrician with OSF HealthCare, offers some tips to help guide parents through the journey.
“We know that the earlier introduction of those high allergen foods is beneficial and protective against developing those food allergies,” Dr. Endris says. "Every child is going to be a little bit different. But usually in that four to six-month range is when they are ready to introduce those foods. There are a few steps that we're looking at before we're talking about introducing that.”
Dr. Endris recommends starting to start introducing solid foods, including allergens, during the four to six month window of your baby's life.