BLW & allergies?

[Salt Air]

My LO is 5 & a half months & definitely showing signs he is ready for solids - stealing food from me for a start! We're really keen to do BLW & have let him have a taste of a few bits of fruit & veg only so far...carrots, apple, pear & avocado. I'm holding off starting properly (if he will let me!) until 6 months.

However, I'm worried he has an allergy to something as a few times he's come up with a small bit of red rash with raised little spots in it on his face. It's not after he's had any food directly, but a couple of times I've noticed it's been after he could have inadvertently been exposed to something from myself or my OH. I'm not sure if its cows milk - it came up once after he stuck his hand in OH's weetabix before I could stop him, once when some ice cream possibly dripped on him, & this morning he was touching OH's glass of milk so he could feel the cool glass & then tried to put his mouth on it to drink it.

So my question is, how would you (or did you?) deal with this when doing BLW? Should I just introduce things slowly rather than just giving him all sorts straightaway? It seems like a mild reaction, so I'm not massively concerned but I'll be wary of giving him anything that I think might affect him...on the other hand I was looking forward to him trying all sorts of things. Should I book an appointment with the GP already or wait until he's had a reaction to something? I was really looking forward to BLW but now I'm a bit scared!

 

[MindUtopia]

We haven't done anything differently. Our daughter does sometimes get rashy on her face, but she always has so I don't think it's anything related to food. Honestly, a little rash in response to food wouldn't worry me. A true allergic reaction that would actually worry you would lead to anaphylaxis (and you'd know it!), not just a mild rash.

The belief with BLW is that babies know what they can eat and they can't, and will generally avoid foods they are allergic to. So you just have to offer everything you would normally and let them choose if something doesn't agree with them. If you do get a serious reaction to something, you'll be able to narrow it down to probably a couple new foods and work it out from there. I wouldn't worry about only feeding one thing at a time though. Allergies to food are actually pretty rare. If an allergy is suspected your doctor can help you work out an elimination diet to investigate.