Infant Feeding and Allergy Prevention

Experts recommend exclusively breastfeeding until your infant is 4 to 6 months of age. You can introduce solid foods when your baby is between 4 and 6 months of age and developmentally ready.

There are several ways you can tell that your baby is ready to eat solid foods:

• Your baby's birth weight has doubled.
• Your baby can control their head and neck movements.
• Your baby can sit up with some support.
• Your baby can show you they are full by turning their head away or not opening their mouth.
• Your baby begins showing interest in food when others are eating.

Single-ingredient infant foods, such as rice or oat cereal, yellow and orange vegetables (sweet potato, squash, and carrots), fruits (apples, pears, and bananas), green vegetables, and then age-appropriate stage-based foods with meat can be introduced to your baby one at a time, every 2 to 3 days. This slow process can allow you to identify and eliminate any food that may cause an allergic reaction. Signs of an allergy include diarrhea, rash, or vomiting.

Your infant does not need to avoid acidic foods like berries, tomatoes, citrus fruits, or vegetables that may cause a rash around the mouth. This is due to irritation from the acid in the food, not from an allergic reaction to the food.

Common food allergens can be introduced to your baby just as you would introduce any other solid foods. Diet diversity matters and can help reduce the risk of food allergies. Common food allergens that you can feed your baby include:

• Dairy products (cheese, yogurt, or cow's milk protein infant formula)
• Eggs
• Soy
• Wheat
• Peanut and Tree Nuts in the form of butter or paste (do not give whole peanuts or tree nuts due to choking hazards)
• Fish and Shellfish

Three of the largest national allergy organizations, the American Academy of Allergy, Asthma, and Immunology (AAAAI), the American College of Allergy, Asthma, and Immunology (ACAAI), and the Canadian Society of Allergy and Clinical Immunology (CSACI), recommend early introduction of eggs and peanuts to all infants, regardless of their relative risk of developing an allergy, starting around 6 months, though not before 4 months of life.

• Parents should introduce these foods even if their child has severe eczema.
• Once eggs and peanuts have been introduced, they should remain in the diet weekly.
• Early introduction of peanuts or eggs can reduce the risk of peanut allergy by 87% and egg allergy by 83% in high-risk infants.
• Siblings of a food-allergic child do not have to avoid the introduction of any foods.

It is recommended to avoid honey in children under one year of age due to botulism. This is not an allergic concern.

Do not give your baby cow's milk until they are 1 year old. This is because babies under age 1 have difficulty digesting cow's milk.