allergenic foods, which ones did you try first?

[alibo]

we have fh of allergies, bad excema etc, and ds is 9 months now. now going to try him with oats, normal yoghurt, fish, tomamtoes. has anyone delayed the introduction of these foods, and which did you try first?

Hi alibo - me again!!

Trying to remember what we did - and I can't honestly remember the order, except that we did oats, natural yogurt and fish all around the 9 month mark. The main thing is to leave a gap after each new food to make sure there are no problems.

It was incredibly liberating to be able to branch out from simple veggies and fruit! Even more amazing when we introduced cheese at 12-ish months and suddenly dd could really start eating what we were eating.

Good luck.

hello pidge, hoped you'd reply!! decided to buy the s.oliver book in the end, as ds has actually developed some quite bad excema on the back of his knees. dh is in a panic, and i now feel even more wary of new foods and whether they will make it worse. when you introduced the new foods at 9 months, did you do one at a time for a few days? can you remember when you did ordinary potato? am sure ds is going to look like a sweet potato soon! and just to go off the subject a bit, we are still struggling with tea a bit, and feel wary of this freezing rice buisiness; plus if we have been out, i need something quick to heat up for him. how did you go on at teatime, my niece just has a sandwich which is quick, bit don't want to give bread yet.

btw, he's still waking hungry in the night at 4-5am ish, if he hasn't eaten much tea. i am wondering whether he just needs more calories overall in the day. did you avoid butter as well as cheese? sorry for all the questions

Eczema patches at this age are very common and not necessarily linked with food - so don't panic. Yes, we did introduce one thing at a time - leaving 3-5 days between new foods.

The main thing with rice is to cook it - cool it down immediately (e.g. under running cold water) and freeze it immediately. I know there are lots of scary stories about rice - quite rightly - but it really is the storage after cooking before reheating that causes problems.

Anyway - we didn't do potatoes till nearly 12 months, just because I wasn't finding that particularly troublesome. Dd was eating rice and wheat-free pasta. I think I tried wheat before potatoes (around 11 months), because it was getting to be a nuisance not to be able to give her normal pasta, bread, couscous etc.

I do think that if you're finding the lack of a particular food inconvenient it's worth thinking about trying it out and then if there's no problem you're sorted. I also felt a bit like that about dairy in the end. Though we stuck it out till 12 months, it was great once I could put cows milk into food and give her cheese which she loves.

For us tea was not much different from lunch - some veggies, maybe lentils, or chickpeas. Also around 8 months I tried egg yolk which was fine and which you can just mix in with some veggies. Then I would give dd some natural yogurt from 9 months, which she adored. And some fruit. So 3 courses! But often not very big helpings.

All the best.

Posts crossed - yup we didn't give any dairy except the natural yogurt till 12 months - that was mainly because I was so anxious to give dd the best chance of avoiding my eczema, asthma, nut allergy syndromes! I wonder if I'll be a bit more relaxed next time round (due in March with no 2).

Have you tried Olivier's coconut milk and spinach and chickpea recipe - I always thought that must be pretty fattening and calorific! Also lentils beans and chickpeas are filling.

I think you may find the sleep thing is not related to food though - just wish I had an easy answer to the problem!

thanks pidge, just about the rice again; what kind of rice did you use, and what kind of consistency did you get it to freeze ok, ie quite soft and mushy or firmer? also when you reheated it, how did you do this?

Sorry alibo - have only just seen your question.

We used either brown rice or white rice. Tended to overcook it slightly and then use a potato masher to mush it up a bit with a tiny bit of cooking liquid. But it still ended up very granular. Just froze it in blocks like that and then reheated in the microwave or in a saucepan with some sauce until piping hot, and let it cool before giving to dd. It was still quite lumpy, particularly the brown rice, but she never objected to it. She was always quite keen on chewing things!