Advice please on introducing foods when weaning

[fizzpops]

I am currently weaning my 6 month old daughter and have been being very careful as there are allergies in the family although so far she is OK with eggs and wheat and otherwise she has just had fruit, veg, and some meat.

I would like to try her with fish and was going to give her a little fish at her 11 o'clock feed and watch her carefully but as FIL is allergic to fish my husband is being a bit more nervous about this than other foods (DH is allergic to nuts himself so allergies run in the family but don't follow a logical pattern iyswim).

Does anyone have any advice as the best way to introduce a new food to make my husband feel a little happier?

Does she have any signs of atopic disease?
does she has ezcema, chest problems, sleep problems, weight problems?

if healthy and well, stick to the usual guideines.

Although I personally would have held on the eggs and fish until at 12 months.

but thats because I do have a child with allergies, and my last child without allergies had to wait for a long time to have some foods!!

all breast fed for years and started soilds at 5-6 months ( apart from 1st child, and started early!)

She has had a little eczema, she sleeps fine, has had no chest problems and is a good weight and height.

Can you tell me what are the usual guidelines please. I have had little help from the GP and the Health Visitor.

Eggs I tried because there is no family history of an allergy to eggs - irrational I know. The reason for the additional worry about fish is purely because my husband is more nervous about this and nuts than anything else because of his family history.

If you have a family history of allergies then you are more likely to be allergic to something, but it could be anything - so for example I have food allergies and so does my DD (13 months) but not to the same things. So you have no reason to be particularly worried about fish. The advice I had was just to introduce each new thing one at a time and only introduce something new every few days so you have time to work out if it has caused a reaction. It's also a good idea to introduce something new early in the day (eg. 11am as you suggested) so you can keep an eye on them for the rest of the day, rather than giving it soon before bedtime.

Hope this helps.

Thank you very much - sort of what I thought but a little bit nerve wracking! Will give it a go at the weekend when DH is around so we can both keep an eye on her.

Even if she turns out to be allergic, it's pretty unlikely the first reaction would be serious - probably just a rash if anything. Good luck anyway!

Thank you!

Thanks babybarrister. We tried her with a tiny bit of fish and nothing at all happened . So will try again in a few days. Thanks for all your help - believing the reaction wouldn't be so severe the first time gave me a lot of confidence.

DD's first reactions to peanuts and milk were white bumps on her face (just a small number around her mouth). First reaction to egg was vomitting (copious amounts - didn't realise she had so much in her!). But none of the reactions seemed to distress her at all or even make her uncomfortable or itchy, so it wasn't at all scary - just meant we realised there was a problem.

Obv this is just our experience and I guess it's worse for some... Glad your first attempt with fish went OK though.