1.1 Avoiding allergies
Description
This article is from the Solid Food for Infants FAQ, by David M. Poduska poduska@cis.ohio-state.edu with numerous contributions by others.
1.1 Avoiding allergies
Normal adults do not absorb whole proteins, but instead break them down in
the process of digestion. The normal infant gut does absorb whole proteins,
however; this is what allows infants to benefit from antibodies taken in
from their mother's milk. Normally, infants gradually lose this ability
around the age of one year. Foods typically noted as being allergenic
should not be introduced to the babies diet until as late as practical,
especially if allergies tend to run in your family, unless there is some
reason that makes it worth the risk.
The commonest allergies to food involve:
dairy products
soy products
wheat
corn (maize)
egg whites
nuts including peanuts
seafood
Opinions on when is the right time to introduce these foods vary, but one
year is a common choice. Some also avoid spinich and citrus fruits as
potentially irritating, but this is a different issue than allergies.
Rice cereal is a favorite first food because rice is generally regarded
as non-allergenic. In most cases, it is best to wait until the child is
six months old before introducing even rice cereal to the diet, though
parents' eagerness to start solid food is so great--perhaps because of the
unfounded myth that doing so hastens sleeping though the night--that the
lower age limit is generally given as 4 months. Sometimes a child eats so
much formula that cereal is started at an earlier age than even four
months. It is unwise to do so without the advice of the pediatrician.
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