In four short years the advice on feeding babies has changed enough that we started solids with Dd just after four months of age, rather than at six months like we did with D. There are still lots of sources that suggest "exclusively breast feeding for six months," but the emerging research on allergies indicates that fewer allergies result when babies are exposed to common allergens early and often.
From https://www.foodallergy.org/life-with-food-allergies/food-allergy-101/facts-and-statistics:
- The Centers for Disease Control & Prevention reports that the prevalence of food allergy in children increased by 50 percent between 1997 and 2011.
- Between 1997 and 2008, the prevalence of peanut or tree nut allergy appears to have more than tripled in U.S. children.
The advice given to parents in the late 90s to introduce allergens later clearly didn't work.
Dd's first food was peanut powder mixed in breast milk. Thankfully all went well. Now he has also readily eaten peas, carrots, green beans, broccoli and apple sauce. He's also sucked on an orange slice and been exposed to egg whites (another common allergen) though the texture was tricky.
Things are looking good for having a food allergy free family.
Interestingly, he is also way better at eating that we remember D being at first. He doesn't gag or push it out of his mouth the way D often did at first. He's also been incredibly interested in food. We speculate that he has watched us eat substantially more often than D had by this point because we have a consistent dinner time before he goes to bed and we sit around a dining table looking at each other. When D was a baby we sometimes ate after his bedtime and when we did we were lined up in a row in our tiny galley kitchen without the benefit of a table. The difference really is notable.
Wish us luck in taking advantage of his open minded palate and making Dd in to a pretty good eater like D is!
