Food Allergies - Dunlap,IL

Those are all good suggestions, but honestly, if it's a serious allergy you will know almost immediately. My son has a dairy allergy, and within minutes of eating anything that has any kind of dairy in it, he gets red splotches around his mouth and begins breaking out in hives, and will soon thereafter throw up. Reactions that might take longer to see would be things like exzema (sp?) or breathing problems. But I would find a list of allergic reactions so that you know WHAT to watch for, rather than concentrating so much on WHEN to look for it. So that no matter how long it takes you know what the reaction is. I would say though, try to just add one food at a time while you're introducing new foods. But then, you can add new foods to ones that you know are ok. For instance if you know that applesauce or sweet potatoes are ok, then you can add berries to the apples and if there's a reaction you know it's the berries...see what I mean?

I always waited a week simply because it's easier to remember. Sunday the boys could get a new food. This also gave them a week to get used to it and if they went to a daycare or sitter's house I could get a feel for how they really liked it or didn't like it.

I arranged my foods by days and feedings just to make it easy on my husband.
We stacked breakfast on top of Lunch then on top of dinner in each day's spot with the new food in one of the meals for a week. That way when my husband fed the baby breakfast he could just look in the cabinet and grab the ones stacked on top for that day. The days were labeled on the cabinet. Any leftovers were used for snack time at 10, after naptime and bed time.

He never had to search for stuff this way and I could see if he was slacking on feeding the baby. It made it easier to just grab something to pack in the diaper bag for going to the sitter's or out for the day.

Once you have built up enough stuff remember that there need to be 5 fruits and veggies in 5 different colors every day.
This is a good practice for all of us.

I would go by your family history too. If mom or dad have a food allergy then be on the safer side and introduce 1 new food a week. If there isn't a history of allergies then 3 or 4 days should be fine. With my son there is no family history so I did 1 new food every 3 or 4 days. However, with foods that there is a higher risk of allergies then I waited a week too be safe. (i.e. fish, eggs, peanut butter, which you are suposed to wait until a year for these any ways) Start with foods that have a lower risk of alleries (most vegtables I think are safe and they say to start with vegtables instead of fruit any ways because if given the sweet tasting fruits first it will be harder to get them to eat the vegtables) Your doctor should be able to give you a list of foods that have a higher risk of allergic reaction and just avoid those at first and when you do add them wait the week vs. the 3 or 4 days. Whatch your childs response to foods to check for allergies and know how much benadryl to give for his age incase of a reaction and when you should actually give it and enjoy introducing new foods because it is a lot of fun especially when they aren't sure if they like what you are giving them. Keep your camera handy!
Good Luck

There aren't any absolutely -correct- answers. If you have severe allergies in your family the longer you wait generally speaking the better up to about a year before starting solids. As for waiting before introducing new foods, again if you have serious food allergy problems in your family wait longer about a week give or take before giving a new food. If you don't have a family history of allergies a few days is fine.
If you are nursing it is generally considered better to give solids after nursing rather than before for children younger than a year. If you are using formula it doesn't make much difference what order you do things in.

I did every 3days, I added something new to feed my son. I figured tho, (not sure how true it would be) that if I didnt have any allergic reactions to anything, then a good chance my son wouldnt either.

Hope that helps

G.

We introduced two foods a week. I'd start either a fruit or veggie on Monday and then the other on Thursday. My son did fine on it, and we never had any problems. Hth. :)

I know it may sound bad but we didnt really wait that long inbetween trying different foods with our daughter... Eric and I are not allergic to anything and most likely if the child has a reaction it will happen in the first two days... Meadow never had any problems but your child could (especially if you or your partner are allergic to anything...)

I would say three days is enough...

Not all allergies are created equal. Where your classical food allergies appear as a rash, hives or to the extreme anaphylaxis, many food allergies can take days to appear. One of my children had a reaction to peas after 3 days of being on them. It took a whole 3 days before she even reacted and the reaction caused a severe diaper rash that looked like her skin had been sliced off in addition to a tummy ache. Dairy effected 2 of my kids by causing colicky type symptoms and congestion was worse as well. Other symptoms that usually comes from food allergies are frequent ear infections, sinus infections, frequent colds/runny nose, tummy upsets, bowel movements that are not well formed....most parents miss this one if their child is still in diapers because it would seem that a bowel movement would be smashed and smeared due to being trapped in a diaper....true for formula and breast only babies, not for children with solids in the diet. Another common reaction is eczema/dry skin. This type of response is actually an autoimmune response and wouldn't even necessarily happen immediately. So it is best to go slow. I waited 5-7 days for my kids and sometimes longer with my 3rd child as I became more educated on food allergies through reading as well as talking to several different physicians. If I ever do have another baby I will likely take it even slower to improve chances of no allergies. One thing that helps in this in addition to just taking it slow is giving the baby acidophilus (the good bacteria that is often added to yogurt and any product that says contains cultures). You can buy it in powdered or capsule form and either mix it in the baby's bottle if the baby is bottle fed, place a bit on the baby's tongue or mix it in any food that isn't hot (heat kills the cultures.) Mom's who use acidophilus have kids with a healthier gut and fewer allergies. Good luck!

B. :)

Hi A.,
I have an almost 7 month old so I hear ya! We are adding new foods once every 3-4 days per our pediatrician. We started w/the yellow veggies first and once through those we added the green veggies, then we started with the fruits (which we're still working on!). I'm still nursing so I also do cereal in the morning and the evening too. Let me know if you have any other questions I can help with! Good luck!
Asia

Being a Mom and having that little baby completely dependant on YOU for every single tiny little thing is pretty darned stressful! I learned that for sure, I have an almost 11 month old and he sure taught me a thing or two about how things are... Anyway, what I figured out is the best thing for me to do is ask my pediatrician and do what he says. My sister has had three children and she thinks some of the things I do with my son are odd, or over the top first time Mom things, but I do them anyway b.c thats what the Dr. told me to do and I trust my Dr.
I did wait three days inbetween introducing new foods (like my Dr. told me), my sister waited until the next days poop (like my Mother told her) and all of our babies are doing fine. The reason you are supposed to wait is to make sure there isn't a funky reaction to the new food. Good luck, and I'd just say go with what your Dr. recommends, and if that doesn't seem to be working out for you or just doesn't "feel right", call your Dr. and talk to him about it.

My son is 13 months now so we have barely made it through that stage. My pediatritian told me three days. you just want to make sure you and others who are frequently with your baby are looking for symptoms of allergies. I didn't follow that to a "T". You just want to keep track of when you start a new food so that if your baby does have a reaction the doctors can determine exactly what the reaction is to.

I would wait a couple days. If your child has a reaction it's not going to be hard to figure out what caused it because @ 8 months his/her diet is not that complex yet. I think a week is a little dramatic. Especially in the beginning! It's not going to take a week to figure out your child's allergic to something!

My son has lost of food allergys. I would go for a week just to be on the safe side.

I don't think it matters if you wait 3 days or a week. I would think it just depends on you and your child. When my son is old enough, if he's taking well to new things, I will try every 3 days. Heck, you can compromise and do 5 days.

My doctor told me do a new food then wait 3 days to make sure no allergic reaction.

I was a very causious person and waited a whole week before intrudocing something else new that way I knew for sure if he have a reaction what it was to.

My daughters pediatrician was very strict when it came to introducing new foods. She was a brilliant woman though. The way we were told to introduce foods was one food at a time. The first day just 3 spoonfuls, the next day a couple more, and the third day you can do as much as you would like. The idea is to be able to watch the child and see if there is any reaction. The first day if your child is going to react to the food it will be minimal (which we would all want, not a huge reaction) the next day you are introducing a little more (possibly the first day wasn't enough to cause a reaction) and usually by the third day if you have not seen anything then the child will be fine. I hope this helps!