To feel vindicated regarding recent news articles concerning early introduction of allergens

[Wafflington]

Several news articles recently have highlighted data from studies pointing out that early introduction of allergens (eg peanuts) from 4-6months of age significantly reduces formation of allergies

It feels like a relief somehow. I have a background in immunology and have been aware of these studies for a long time out of personal interest. However I have, countless times, been absolutely ripped to shreds by other mums on social media/forums/etc for daring to suggest that early introduction of allergens reduces the risk of allergies. Literally been called all sorts of horrible names by people who insist you absolutely cannot EVER give ANY kind of solids before 6 months, and absolutely never give any allergens like peanuts before at least 12 months. That if you dare to do this or suggest it, you're a shit mum and should rot in hell and all your children will grow up allergic to everything under the sun

Feels somewhat vindicated now to see news reports on the TV agreeing with me I suppose

Not really sure why I'm posting this to be honest, other than I hope NHS guidelines consider the latest data and make any necessary changes to recommendations on infant feeding 🤷‍♀️

YANBU. I have a postgraduate degree in biology. DD was desperate for food and when I actually looked into it, there’s an abundance of research showing that waiting until 6 months is actively harmful to babies and that the NHS guidelines should be reviewed. This is especially true for EBF babies who should move onto solids earlier. I couldn’t believe how the NHS guidelines are so adamantly declaring 6 months when it’s not at all evidence informed and I’m glad I have the background to conduct sufficient research myself. It’s a minefield for parents to know what’s best and it’s disappointing that the standard advice is so far off piste with what the research recommends. The rules absolutely do need to change.

I feel you OP. I'm a junior doctor, had my son in med school and introduced allergens from 4 months based on studies that I had read too. We have atopy in the family and I wanted to minimise the allergies cropping up in my son. I tried talking to some Mum friends at the time about it who totally dismissed it and after that just kept it to myself.

I know nothing about the medical/scientific side of this at all, but it seems to make sense.

In my youth (70s) there was no widespread concern about giving children things like peanuts - they were a staple of childhood parties, in fact. Nut allergies in my generation are rare. It seems that there are far more allergies since parents were told to avoid these foods.

Of course, there might be other environmental factors in play, but from an unscientific, anecdotal perspective, it doesn't seem that limiting exposure has achieved anything.

This. Breast fed babies often have depleted their iron stores before 6 months.
There used to be quite a bit of information in the EU Who about weaning but I think it has since been removed. But basically there is no evidence of harm weaning between 17 and 26 weeks.

My kids were weaned at 4 months which was common at the time, with cows milk being introduced at 6 months which also was the current advice, very few children were allergic back then.
Working with children for the last 40 years I noticed in the last 10 or so years that there was definitely a big increase in the number of babies with allergies and just more children in general with allergies, it was noticeable.
I,ve always wondered whether delaying solids had some part to play in this but it was just my personal observation.

IIRC don't the recent studies show that you should only introduce peanuts from 4 months if the child has eczema (ie is more likely to have a peanut allergy) - otherwise it should be 6 months? I gave all my kids peanut butter from 6 months so not remotely opposed to giving allergens to <1 year but I do think the introduction from 4 months was in certain cases only.

Following with interest

I have/had no opinion on it but would have saved me some time reading all that if you just wrote "I told you so! I was right!"

People need to, and as they will bear the consequences it is right they do, form their own opinions and being human they don't always get it right.

Yanbu. I have a teen with allergies and for years I've thought the "avoid nuts" guideline was wrong.

FWIW I am of the opinion that introducing solids sometime between 4-6months is ideal, but should take into account every baby is different. Some may be ready to go at 4 months, some may need a bit longer and thats fine - but the 6 month blanket rule and 12 months for allergens is clearly just not right! I'm not going to force a baby who is 4 months old to start on solids if they quite clearly need a bit longer even if say, their sibling was totally fine to try it out at 4 months!

I just think it's really sad there are all these kids with life limiting allergies. I know some and obviously it's just anecdotal but every time the mother did not introduce any allergens until 12months+ in the mistaken belief this reduced them. I don't actually know why, because even 10 years ago the advice was to introduce all foods including allergens between 6 and 12 months.

It’s good to hear this. My big, hungry baby was weaned at 3.5 months when the guidance at that time was 4 months, but he was always hungry, poor thing, and needed solid food. (He’s a tall, lanky young adult now who still loves his food!). There was also a saying about “a peck of dirt” allowing young children to build a better immune system rather than the germphobic ethos of advertising now, feeding into fearful post-lockdown thinking.

My mum always said that the best thing to do is when the baby starts trying to snaffle your food when you're eating, let them have at it. Apparently I started on bits of her food from 4 months. I remember feeling really judgy about that when my son was a baby, even though I'm healthy, have no allergies, and a pretty healthy relationship with food so clearly it was FINE. Slightly embarrassed about that now! It is really shocking the extent to which guidelines are behind the latest scientific evidence, though. If you're not in the medical or scientific field, it's hard to go against what you're told by health professionals. Although, saying that, it's not hard to keep your judgements to yourself.
In my case, DS largely refused solids (anything other than breastmilk straight from the source, in fact) until he was 1. So it was all a bit moot. He was so fat and glowing with health, while I was the thinnest I've been as an adult. Glad we're through those days!

I started solids at 5 months when my daughter was on my lap during dinner and her hand shot out and grabbed food off my plate and put it in her mouth! I agonised over it "ruining her digestion" or some such shit for a long time (precious first child syndrome!) but eventually decided that she knew best!

And that's totally fine if that's what worked for your son, everyone is different! But I have seen some truly insane responses on some (mostly American??) Forums where you are ripped to shreds for suggesting that perhaps for another baby, solids at 4 or 5 or whatever months might be the right thing for that particular baby...

What’s thoroughly depressing is that this is not news. Or rather it shouldn’t be. I read the studies around weaning age when deciding when to wean my DC2 - and came to the conclusion the highest risk was waiting until after 6 months to commence weaning. So I started him in solids at about 20 weeks. He is now 16 years old…why has the NHS stuck so robustly to 6 month’s minimum all this time?!

My baby was grabbing my food and trying to eat it from 4 months- I had additional support from our children’s centre (when that was still a thing!) due to lack of family support, and my outreach worker said gently that if I felt she was ready to try food, though it might not be the official
guidance it wouldn’t be the end of the world. She was well and truly ready, had teeth coming in from 8weeks! And we BLW but it felt almost like a dirty secret to have started so early. She loved it though. Has no allergies, even though I do. She was exposed to foods I can’t eat and aged 8, no allergies at all.

Going with NHS advice or believing an Internet random? You can see why people were/are sceptical.

Take the covid vaccination lots of Internet 'doctors/scientist/randoms' swear it is for population control.

Well I'll forgive my husband for feeding our 4 month olds Nutella then! Now at 4 years and no allergies 🤷

I mean, I'd just be annoyed I didn't get to eat the Nutella myself (joking, obviously, I would never get jealous over Nutella... probably)

I'm really interested in this news but coming at it from a slightly different angle. DS was 'diagnosed' with suspected dairy allergy at 3 months due to his reaction to my milk. I put diagnosed in inverted commas because they couldn't test him at 3 months due to the unreliabilty of testing such a young/changing immune system.
We has skin prick tests at 6 months so that weaning could start: these were positive for dairy, egg, peanut, hazelnut and sesame.
So it would be intetesting to see research into what factors come into play when it's clear (ish?) that allergies are present from birth? I say that because DS was ill from his first feed until he went onto dairy and soya-free formula; me avoiding dairy (and eggs) hadn't improved any of his symptoms so my assumption is that the other allergens I was still eating were affecting him.

YANBU OP - my DD (now 10) was EBF until over 6 months, but we have no family history of allergies at all. I was however aware of research at the time that suggested that babies with strong family histories of specific allergies (eg wheat, etc.) should be introduced to these in controlled ways between 4-6 months. If we had any predisposition to allergies I would have weaned slightly earlier.

DD was a chubby fat baby who did very well on breast milk, and I had loads of supply, so I felt happy waiting until after 6 months. I did know a few families with babies who had specific feeding issues with reflux or other related conditions, who had been advised to wean under consultant medical care as early as 17 weeks though - so I was aware that it isn’t straightforward with one rule for all.

My older dd is very allergic to peanuts, even reacted to them in breast milk way before weaning. She had eczema from weeks old. The allergy clinic advised with my second to eat peanuts, nuts etc. whilst breastfeeding.

In our case it’s hard to know how much of a difference it would have made, family history is not on our side!!

I think there will always be some individuals who will develop an allergy/disease/whatever no matter what, and unfortunately for your son perhaps this was the case? Sounds tough for him and I'm sorry. But for most people, preventative measures make a difference. We will never be able to completely eliminate allergies for example but can try and help the numbers of people in which it could have been prevented (and help those in which it couldn't be prevented in other ways of course)

I didn’t realise we were advised to avoid, my son has a severe allergy, I was advised to expose his sister to small amounts from four months, so I used to sit outside A&E and give her some, then after a few trials do it at home, she is now over a year and no signs of an allergy so far. No idea if it made a difference as biologically they are half siblings and allergies aren’t necesserily inherited.