What is so special about one year?

[robinator]

We're following US guidelines and holding off on milk, peanut butter, egg whites, honey and shellfish until one year.

Does anyone know why this is the magic number? I can't imagine some internal switch suddenly flipping at exactly 12 months.....

 

[Casey3]

I know honey is for botulism, smaller bodies aren't as strong to fight of bacteria like that.

Milk and eggs- those are old recommendations I believe. I know they have to have eggs before the MMR vaccine, which takes place at 1 so I can't see why they'd recommend to hold off. I think the old thought process was for allergies?

Shellfish might be allergies too but again, I think that's an older recommendation as well.

Peanut butter is also for allergies but that's an old recommendation here too.. Now they say the earlier the better. We're holding off a bit because there are peanut allergies in our family, including me but I have asked lots of people and many health professionals are telling me I should be feeding it now (I'm just too scared!)

I too often wonder how things change at certain ages, its not like babies are much different at 11.5 months and 12 months+1 day lol

 

[Dk1234]

No the peanut butter is very much still a reccomendation. They actually say not until you can spell peanut butter can you have it. Most people don quite go that far but peanut allergies are usually very serious and can kill so they want the child to be strong enough to survive if a serious reaction occurs.

 

[alaskagrown]

My LO's pediatric nutritionist advises only avoiding honey until they're a year old due to botulism.

All the others can be eaten if there is no family history of allergies from these foods.

 

[lozzy21]

The only one that is a current guideline in the UK is the honey, all the others have been changed to 6 months as all the research shows there are no benefits to waiting and in some cases waiting too long can make it worse.

If you have an allergy then your reaction is going to be the same whether your 9 months or 90, age has nothing to do with the outcome.

https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/pregnancy-and-baby/pages/foods-to-avoid-baby.aspx#close

 

[Casey3]

Nope not true anymore Dk.. The reason for the delayed exposure was to prevent allergies/reactions but they say now that if the kid is going to have an allergy they'll get it no matter what.- whether you're 8 months or 8 years. Ever since they recommended delaying the peanut butter the amount of children with nut allergies has sky rocketed so clearly it doesn't work at all! Just think even 10 or 20 years ago, there was no such thing as a nut free school and now a school that allows nuts is impossible to find. Kids are actually scared of nuts because they've heard so many bad things about them. At our 6 month doctor appointment when we discussed starting solids my doctor had just been to an infant/baby feeding seminar and she said "feed him whatever you want, the old recommendations of feeding one thing and then waiting 3 days are over, it didn't work so just offer whatever you want!" which I was happy to hear since that was my plan with BLW anyways!

Me and my mom both have nut allergies. I didn't find out til I was 19! Never eaten nuts before that and didn't think I even had an allergy. both my sons doctor and lactation consultant are telling me to try him on a gentler type of nut, like an almond butter to see what happens, but at this point I'm too nervous!

Maybe they're still recommending the delayed exposure in the states? For some reason they're always 1 step behind in current recommendations compared to other countries


Edit: woah I was typing too slow.. But glad to hear others say the same thing

 

[Vickie]

Milk is fine in cooked foods/oatmeals etc. they just don't want it to replace FF or BF as the main source which is why they say not to give it as a drink until 12 months I believe

I also have heard that the guidelines have changed and that everything is fine (bar honey because of botulism) at 6 months as long as there is no history of allergies in your family.

 

[Dk1234]

My mom is a dr and where I am at least peanut butter is not advised until at very least after one. It isn't to prevent allergy, it is to survive the reaction and yes a small younger child would have a worse response because they are smaller and their aytem is t as developed. I'm not speaking of NHS guidelines because I don't live there. I'm sure some dr's say different things but I'm just saying what my pediatrician and my mother say and also my sister in law is in early childhood development and she says the same thing. Not until you can spell peanut butter.

 

[Dk1234]

Nope not true anymore Dk.. The reason for the delayed exposure was to prevent allergies/reactions but they say now that if the kid is going to have an allergy they'll get it no matter what.- whether you're 8 months or 8 years. Ever since they recommended delaying the peanut butter the amount of children with nut allergies has sky rocketed so clearly it doesn't work at all! Just think even 10 or 20 years ago, there was no such thing as a nut free school and now a school that allows nuts is impossible to find. Kids are actually scared of nuts because they've heard so many bad things about them. At our 6 month doctor appointment when we discussed starting solids my doctor had just been to an infant/baby feeding seminar and she said "feed him whatever you want, the old recommendations of feeding one thing and then waiting 3 days are over, it didn't work so just offer whatever you want!" which I was happy to hear since that was my plan with BLW anyways!

Me and my mom both have nut allergies. I didn't find out til I was 19! Never eaten nuts before that and didn't think I even had an allergy. both my sons doctor and lactation consultant are telling me to try him on a gentler type of nut, like an almond butter to see what happens, but at this point I'm too nervous!

Maybe they're still recommending the delayed exposure in the states? For some reason they're always 1 step behind in current recommendations compared to other countries


Edit: woah I was typing too slow.. But glad to hear others say the same thing

I'm not sure I would call the United States medical system behind in comparison to other countries. I have a degree in health care adminiatration and our aytem is flawed in some aspects but we spend a lot more than most countries I research and have unmatched access to resources as far as I'm concerned.

 

[lozzy21]

An allergic reaction is not like a bug or a virus, its not something the immune system can fight so age has nothing to do with it. The symptoms of an allergy are the same if your a child or an adult. One of OH's friends is allergic to peanuts and needs to carry an epi pen, by your reasoning he should not need the epi pen because hes 32 his body should be able to fight off an allergic attack.

 

[robinator]

I gave her 1/2 formula and 1/2 milk at lunch today, boy did she love it!!

You all make a good point that if you're going to have an allergic reaction, it doesn't matter the age. I've wondered why UK and US guidelines are different - it's not as if UK and US bodies are different!! Makes me wonder who is "right".

 

[Dk1234]

An allergic reaction is not like a bug or a virus, its not something the immune system can fight so age has nothing to do with it. The symptoms of an allergy are the same if your a child or an adult. One of OH's friends is allergic to peanuts and needs to carry an epi pen, by your reasoning he should not need the epi pen because hes 32 his body should be able to fight off an allergic attack.

No I'm not saying that. An allergic reaction is bad at any age. I'm not a dr so I'm not gonna argue it with anyone I wouldn't risk an known common very serious allergic reaction on a baby like nuts is all and my mother, a dr. Wouldn't let me offer it to her grandson so that says a lot to me. But I understand why people's opinions are different than mine because it is the guideline where you are.

 

[DaisyBee]

We were told when Megan was a baby to avoid strawberries, egg whites, nuts, shellfish, and honey til 1. And milk is fine for cooking and adding to things, just not as a drink until 1. 2 years later with Jordan the same dr said that they now say everything is fine from 6 months except raw honey and any peanut products. It felt odd giving Jordan scrambled egg last week, even though when Megan was a baby I remember others from uk talking about giving their babies eggs.

I don't know why 1 is the magical age though.

 

[CeeDee]

The AAP published new guideline years ago that stated that there is no need to delay anything except for honey. I guess some doctors just aren't up to date as we think and we should still do our own research.

https://pediatrics.aappublications.org/content/121/1/183.full

 

[overcomer79]

No the peanut butter is very much still a reccomendation. They actually say not until you can spell peanut butter can you have it. Most people don quite go that far but peanut allergies are usually very serious and can kill so they want the child to be strong enough to survive if a serious reaction occurs.

I was told two years with James on peanuts. At 20 months old he had an allergy test and I asked them to do nuts as well. After he came clear, we started giving him peanut butter.

 

[Fliss]

While peanuts etc is becuase of the choking risk but smooth peanut butter can now (in the uk) be given from 6 months unless you have allergies in the family.

In India and similar countries peanuts and sesame are used (puréed obviously) as weaning food because of their high calorie content.

It's all a matter of basic common sense I guess - will I go out of my way to give Nathan peanut butter next week? No, but that is because he's not on finger foods yet. When he has toast/crumpets etc then yes he can have it - should be nice for him.

Milk can be used in cooking from 6 months - they just don't want (as someone else has already said) for it to replace formula or breast milk as their primary drink until a year old...