introducing peanuts- a new article

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/27596933/

So is anyone else out there wondering what on earth is the right thing to do?!? I mean, part of me says that since we have no family history of peanut allergy, and I by golly ate a LOT of PB&Js while pregnant, they'll probably be fine... but I see all these kids out there now that can't even go to Texas Roadhouse b/c there are peanut shells on the ground! AUGH! We currently don't give them peanut products, they eat sunbutter on their sandwiches, but if I thought it was "safe" then I'd definitely give them the "real" stuff!

What are your thoughts on the topic?

 

That's an interesting article. Thanks

 

As soon as I thought my kids could eat peanut butter w/o gagging/choking on it, I gave it to them. I personally wasnt waiting for fear of an allergy... more for texture reasons. So they were all around 18 months and we have never had any issues.

 

I'd heard that it might be something to do with the TYPE of nuts that people are exposed to, and how processed they are. Not at all sure if that's true, but it might explain the difference between Israel and England. Here, children are usually given something called 'bamba' (which are like cheese puffs but peanut flavoured instead). And adults usually eat either bamba or peanuts in their shells. Peanut butter exists, but is not yet that popular.

 

I introduced peanut butter around 14 months. It's not something that DH or I eat a lot of, but everyonce in a while we have a PB&J sandwich, so I figured my girls could too. We have no history of food allergies on either side of the family. The first time they had a small taste (maybe a teaspoon?) of organic peanut butter. The second time was the same, organic and a small amount. So I assumed we were all clear. But guess what? On her third exposure to peanut butter, Piper had a major reaction which resulted in an emergency trip to the doctor and extensive allergy testing. I have also heard that the type of peanuts and how processed they are can contribute to a reaction. Unfortuantely, I let her have a sample of those Uncrustable sandwiches, which are probably the most processed thing ever. So now, no more peanuts in our house!

 

My thoughts are this, since the movement to delay exposure to peanuts began the rate of allergies did not decrease, in fact they increased which tells me that waiting to give a kid peanut butter is not going to prevent an allergy. We got the blessing at a year old from our pedi to go ahead with peanuts and we have had no issues, in fact peanut butter is one of their favorite foods. I think if there is a family history of allergies or the baby is showing early allergic tendencies (excema, milk intolerance, etc.) there is maybe a case to wait but if not then there is no harm.

 

i introduced peanut butter at 12 months. I had no family history of allergies and the girls love it! Have it for lunch about once a week.

 

I read an article similar to this a few months ago, so we decided to just go for it. We have no family history of allergies either. We decided to let them try other nuts first, because I'd personally rather be allergic to walnuts than peanuts. So we gave them a few things with chopped walnuts in them, then we went on to Pecans, then almonds (inc. almond butter). These all went fine. So then for their "first time" with peanut butter I made peanut butter cookies and gave them each 1/2 a cookie. I figured that way it would be a very small amount of p.b. that they were actually consuming. It went down no problemo. So now we have peanut butter-related things at least once a week.

Good Luck!

 

This study doesn't surprise me--my SIL's cousin did one of those "pregnancy diets" with her first child. The diet, basically restricted any "possible" allergens. Well, that child is now allergic to everything you can think of. During her other pregnancies, she ate normally, and those kids have no allergies.

My kids got their first PB&J at 11 1/2 months when they "stole" sandwiches which some older kids had abandoned. They haven't stopped eating them since.

Also, walnuts, pecans, and almonds are tree nuts, whereas peanuts are legumes, which are the same catagory as soy. So they are two different allergies, someone can be allergic to peanuts, or tree nuts, or both.

 

I gave pb at a year - I ate tons of pb while pregnant - no allergies...one of my friends found out her son had a peanut allergy when she introduced green beans at 5 months...the allergist accused her of feeding him pb and also told her it was her fault for eating pb while pg....so I guess the pendulum swings both ways as far as schools of thought...

 

I haven't given it yet, and I would be surprised if they had a reaction since we have no allergies on either side of the family, of any sort. But I was kind of waiting til they could communicate with me better to let me know if they felt funny after eating it.

 

I ate a lot of peanut butter while pregnant, it was what I craved for both pregnancies. None of my kids have an allergy to anything. I introduced peanut butter around 18 months for my oldest, and at 9 mons for the twins. I like to eat peanut butter by the spoonful (weird, I know), and I had put the spoon down to answer the phone and my older son snnuck it to take a bite and then the twins got a bite also since DS#1 didn't know better. They didn;t get PB regularly until a little over a year because of the thickness of it.

I've often thought that the increase in the number of allergies had something to do with the awareness and limiting of allergens in the babies life. My house is not perfectly clean, we have cats and a dog, I don't really limit foods or anything, and my kids are all healthy. I can't say that it why, but it has worked for us.

 

Well, I ate pb while I was pregnant and I can't think of any food allergies on my side of the family nor on my husband's. I gave DDs pb at 18 mos and there was no reaction the first 2 times. On the third time, one DD broke out in hives. We had her tested and she has a peanut allergy The allergist said there is something called "sensitization" that can occur with some food allergies, meaning that's why she didn't react the first 2 times. I was really surprised...it was very unexpected for us. Should we have waited longer to give them pb? I have absolutely NO IDEA if it would have made any difference.