Potatoes-anyone heard of them being allergenic and to avoid them in early weaning?

[alibo]

Have started to wean ds, 6 months old, and he is having sweet potato for lunch with another veg. Saw on a website here that potatoes are best avoided along with tomatoes, peppers and aubergines as they contain certain toxins?? Has anyone ever heard of this being correct?

have heard this with tomatoes but not the other stuff-cant see any reason for it not being true though

No, it's not true. A lot of rubbish.

Agree with Aloha. Raw or sprouting potatoes do contain toxins, but the cooked version is fine. Sweet potatoes are widely recommended as a first weaning food. We gave ds normal potatoes too and he was fine.
I did hear that tomatoes could cause a tummy upset though, so only started giving them relatively recently (and can't remember where I got it from so may be rubbish too).

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Thanks for the reassurance guys, potatoes seem like such a basic food, it seems a long time to avoid them for 9 months as this website recommends (need to cursor quite a way down). Think sometimes you can get too much info from the internet-except mumsnet of course!!!

This article says, under "diagnosing food allergy" that sweet potato is used as one of the limited hypoallergenic foods unlikely to cause reactions, when testing for food allergies, on a food elimination diet.

ginababe, this particular website lists sweet potato as ok, but only ordinary potato in the"deadly nightshade group". Do you know if ordinary potato can cause the same side effects as you describe for sweet potatoe?

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bob initially reacted strongly to potato, but lived off sweet potato for a while. Still haven't given him any other nightshade veg but he does eat potato. Anyone can be allergic to anything, how much you want to delay introducing is up to you.

Potatoes & sweet potatoes r related by name only -- potatoes r in the nightshades family (Solanaceae, along with tomatoes & aubergines), which is why they attract suspician. Sweet potatoes r completely different plant family (Convolvulaceae).... see here .

I think it is highly dangerous to suggest that mothers of normal babies and children elimate basic foodstuffs from their diet without any evidence of harm. Of course some highly sensitive babies (like Toddlerbob's son, who is extremely allergic to many things, as I understand) can react to pretty much anything. But it's unusual. Some babies can't tolerate breastmilk, but that doesn't seem a good argument to me to avoid breastfeeding babies. In the whole of S America potato is THE basic weaning food. In every culture people wean their babies onto bland carbohydrates, be that rice, maize or potato. The whole point of weaning slightly later -eg six months is that a baby can go on to a normal diet and eat normal foods, just with reduced salt and, at first, a smoother consistency. Pretty much all fruit and vegetables contain compounds that can chemically be called toxins, but that doesn't mean they will harm people, particualarly, as Edam says, because we cook them. The one small caveat is that it's best to avoid any green bits, which I'm sure you would anyway. I also personally think it is a very unlikely that potatoes would make a child hyperactive. Breastmilk AND formula are largely composed of sugar - they are both incredibly sweet. I am sure they both cause rises in blood sugar but most babies seem to deal with this perfectly well, don't they.

Read your message to say avoid breastfeeding babies Why? Are they dangerous?

Sorry, bit early in the morning.

I cant think of any reasons you would avoid sweet or normal pots. We weaned dd at 6 months and let her eat anything. Just watch out for salt etc. Btw her fav is sweet pot, brocolli and carrot mashed with milk and butter.

Noooooo! I was pointing out that if you say that because a tiny minority of babies have a reaction to potato (or any other food on earth), that's not a reason not to give them to other children. I was comparing it to breastfeeding - a tiny proportion of babies react to breastmilk and this is NOT a reason for the rest of us not to breastfeed...!!!

Anyway, back to potato. This is from the Neocate website and is specifically about weaning children with already proven allergies.

WEANING THE FOOD ALLERGIC CHILD

Babies with food intolerance or allergy are likely to react to a number of other foods, as well as other formula, this is related to their immature gut and immune system. Foods which cause a reaction should be avoided until you are advised by your dietitian to introduce them.
To identify which foods cause symptoms, foods should be introduced one at a time starting with those LEAST likely to cause a reaction. These foods include baby rice (milk free), POTATO, carrot, broccoli, lamb, turkey, chicken, pear and apple.

ALoha- I knew what you meant. It was my pathetic attempt at a joke - you meant avoiding breastfeeding a baby- I said it sounded like avoiding a baby who was breastfeeding!

Sorry Hercules, I was obviously particularly stupid this am!

I have an allergy to raw potato and 'northern european tree fruits'. I have an asthmatic type reaction to fruit, and handling raw, peeled potatoes makes me sneeze and makes my skin itchy. I saw an allergy specialist who said that this wouldn't have any effect on my own children, and that they only thing I could do was to try suspect foods in isolation and see what happened. I am fine with cooked potatoes and fruit and neither of my children have had any problems at all

My DD was 6mths when I introduced solids and was fine with sweet potatoes as I think they contain alot of water but was constipated by normal potatoes. I added them to spinach and she was constipated for 2 days and in alot of pain. She is now almost 2 and I do offer them either mashed or roasted and she isn't interested. Haven't heard of toxins though.
I think if you can for peace of mind use organic but it is pricey. Luckily the quantities are small!