Talk to me about peanut butter

[gallicgirl]

Hi

I wonder if you could give me some advice?

DD is 6 months old and we have been BLW for about 3 weeks now. I'm gradually trying to add variety while ensuring she eats nutritious food.

I've read that peanut butter could be a good source of protein (I think?) however I'm uncertain if it's a good idea to give such a little one nuts.

I don't eat them because I hate the taste and texture but one of my cousins does have an allergy. Is there any way of testing for a possible allergy without causing harm if DD does have an allergy?

She hasn't shown any adverse reaction to any other foods but has refused to even touch egg.

Do you think peanut butter is a good idea or not?

not a good idea

sorry posted too soon. try tahini, can get from most health food shops. great calcium, protien and vit b and e. it is sesame past and very tast and has a nutty bitter tast. my dd loved it, i used it alot due to lactose intolerence, instead of cheese, butter etc.

I seem to recall that peanut butter was not to be introduced until after 1 yrs old?

If you are concerned then it might be worth rubbing some of the peanut butter on their wrist ( when you are ready to introduce this to their diet) or smear alittle near their mouth? But even that is not guaranteed to show if they are intolerant or allergic.

The guidelines these days seem to be no big bits of nuts until they're old enough not to choke on them, but nut butter is fine from 6 months, assuming there's no family history of allergies, asthma, eczema etc.

i think you are right pancakefipper, Im sure its a year but didnt like to say incase i was wrong.

To be honest if you think peoanut butter is a bad idea , then tahini is just as bad. Ds showed signs of being allergic to seseme a long time before he was allergic to peanuts.

I had not thought of that bruffin, I wasnt aware of it being high risk, I suppose I had only thought more about nut allergies. The dietition advised tahini to for dd at about 6 mo.

Thank you for the comments.

I'm conscious that although I may not like a food, that doesn't mean DD shouldn't try it but I was a bit with this one.

Tahini is a good idea. I might give that a go instead because I think I use too much cream cheese sometimes.

allyourcakes is correct. Peanut butter ok from 6 months as long as no history of allergy in family. However, my son has a nut allergy as well as wheat and my DD shows no sign of the same issues, I gave her peanut butter on toast at 8 months (I was pretty careful) and she is fine.

Well my sister has asthma so I checked with her to see if any of her children had allergies. (they don't)

We also have to see the doc in the next few weeks so I'll check with him first. I guess I also need to learn how to react if DD does have an allergic reaction. Sounds like she'll be ok though.

There are no allergies, excema, asthma etc in my family so I didnt think twice of giving my twins peanut butter at 9 months..... cue a very scary ambulance ride to hospital when both went into anaphylactic shock after 1 bite!

If i could go back i dont know if i would have done anything differently as i am glad that i found out early and with me there to deal with it and knowing exactly what was happening. I would however have been more cautious, had a bottle of piriton at the ready and done as pancake flipper said and rubbing a bit on thier skin/ near mouth first.

The thing is, peanut butter will be fine at 6 mo for almost all children and dangerous for a very few. Most of the parents on this board (including me) are those whose children are allergic to common, everyday foods and we tend to be verging on paranoid very conservative when it comes to weaning choices.

So my head thinks if there is no asthma/allergies in the family go right ahead but, like Clarence, I can't in all honesty advise that cause in our case it wasn't OK at all.

your cousin has allergies? well, to be frank if you and your childs father have no sign of any atopic disease , i wouldnt keep nuts away from your kids, in fact i would let them eat it.

there is a current ongoing study, (LEAP) based on the theory that early introduction stops food allergies developing.

and when we think that the highest rate of allergies in kids are those within the group that have no known food allergies in family, a group that increased 200% after the advice to avoid peanuts in family BTW, it might be in your childs best interests to give them a varied diet with peanuts nuts etc.