baby's dad has asthma,eczema and nut allergy, what foods to avoid when weaning?

[alibo]

ds is 5.5 months,(4 weeks prem, have not started weaning yet, due to still only taking less than 25 oz formula in 24 hours. Worried about varying advice I have read, with regards what foods to avoid, eg all dairy products, eggs, wheat etc, and if so, what age to introduce them. Husband has asthma, eczema and nut allergy, and I have hay fever. Please help, worried new mum!!

Well, just to avoid taking any unnecessary risks, I would suggest the following:

• Avoid any peanuts until 5 yrs old
• Try to make the diet glutten free until at least 6m old (I waited until 8m but it was because we started with weaning at 5m)
• No honey until 3 yrs old
• No egg at all until 1 yr old, though I plan to avoid it at least until 18m
• No cow's milk (unless used in food) until 1 yr, though I plan to continue using Aptamil formula until 2 yrs old.

Try to cook the meals yourself and try to use organic ingredients whenever possible, I found Gina Ford's the "Contented Little Baby's Book of Weaning" extreemely helpful as it has a program for introduction of first food that allows you to check if your baby is reacting to any ingredient in particular, the recipes taste great as well. I think the plan for the first month of weaning is just excellent if your child is likely to develop an allergy.

Best of luck

Chandra

Here's what I did/am doing, which is a little bit research and a lot gut feel.

Up to 5 years - no nuts
Up to 3 years - no fish (will introduce egg if skin prick test is clear)plus all above.
Up to 2 years - no citrus, tomatoes, red berry fruit. Plus all above.
Up to 1 year - no wheat, dairy, plus all above.
Up to 9 months - no soy, gluten (oats, malt etc.)plus all above.

In addition I have avoided any food he has a reaction to, so no bananas, avocados and some other things I can't think of now. He is absolutely fine with apricots and raisins so I never avoided sulphites.

Don't worry about depriving your baby of anything, they don't need toast fingers or biscuits, and will happily munch on a rice cracker.

I would second Chandra's suggestion of the GFord book for weaning. My dh and dd have asthma, eczema, hayf and an egg allergy and that book was brilliant for the first few months of weaning. It helps you identify exactly what food they could be reacting to (if they do) and it gives you a brilliant, but cautious, food plan to follow. In terms of dairy, just use her formula (whatever she has) to mix in her food if milk is required. If she's already on a milk based formula, then she will most likely be OK with dairy but follow that plan and you'll be fine!

And just to reassure you, although my dd has some food problems, my ds is completely fine and has no allergies, eczema, hayf and only very mild asthma (and I have mild asthma and severe hayf so my two didn't stand a chance) so there's a possibility that your ds will escape!

I have eczema, asthma, rhinitis and nut allergies so was as careful as possible with dd's food. I used Suzanne Olivier's "What should I feed my baby", though wasn't quite as strict as she suggested. Now dd is almost 2 and eats anything except nuts. Having said that granny started to feed her nut-infested muesli over the weekend, saying "it's ok, I picked the nuts out!!". Aaaagh.

The main thing is to take it nice and slow and introduce one thing at a time. Also I think variety really helps. Olivier points out that many kids end up getting wheat based meals three times a day - toast / cereal for breakfast, pasta for lunch, sandwich for tea. And even if you have no problem with wheat that's not exactly a balanced diet. You can't be perfect but I do try to give dd as much variety as I can.

In addition to the info here, I was advised to delay introducing citrus and berry fruits until 9 months. Be v careful reading labels if you choose to give your ds jars of food because lemon juice gets everywhere as a preservative. I would second the advice to give your ds as much home cooked food as you can so you know exactly what he is having. Good luck.