Peanut butter

[serenmoon]

Is it ok for babies to eat peanut butter? I was going to give it to my 11 months old on toast but then a relative said babies under 2 shouldn't eat it.

It's now recommended that children are exposed to peanuts from six months. They need to be ground up to prevent choking. You can easily make sugar and salt free peanut butter in a blender. Avoiding peanut exposure is linked to peanut allergy.

Babies can have any nut butter from 6 months (unless it's very salty) and exposing them early is actually now known to correlate with a reduced risk of allergy. Unsweetened nut butters are an excellent baby food, full of protein and healthy fats. The Meridian range of nut butters are made without sugar or salt - usually just the nuts and oil.

Toast fingers with peanut or cashew butter are a real baby favourite in Archenland.

Almond butter is good as it’s high in calcium too. I was always told to use smooth nut butters but I’m not sure if that’s necessary.

Yep same as PP’s - was speaking to a paediatrician the other day who said it’s important to expose babies to nuts after 6m (unless close relative has an allergy for example) as avoidance can lead to allergy later on

That's really interesting about exposing them to nuts early on. I hadn't given it any thought and then when this relative said I shouldn't I remembered something about avoiding it but that must have been before the guidelines changed. Does anyone know what low salt and sugar actually mean for a baby, below what number should I look for in the jar?

Avoidance can't lead to an allergy, that's incorrect. As the prevalence of peanut allergies is rising I'd suggest you try your child with a small amount first before giving the intended amount.

There's no specific number re sugar, it's just not great health-wise or for their longer term food preferences to give babies many foods with added sugar, therefore I'd always give an unsweetened nut butter at that age. Salt-wise a baby should have a maximum of 1g total a day - limit processed foods and don't add salt to cooking.

The NHS say peanut butter is fine from 6 months as long as there’s no close family members with allergies.

Sren under 12 months it’s less than 1g a day. After 12 months until they’re 3 it’s 2g a day.

Sorry, should have said I was referring to salt.

*Seren

You can get peanut butter that is 100% peanuts if you want to be as healthy as possible! Meridian (I think it’s called that) is one brand. But I just look at ingredients and choose one that’s as close to 100% peanuts as possible.

Thank you, that's really helpful. I hadn't even thought to check salt and sugar , although they hardly get any processed stuff at all except for cream cheese and grated cheese.

My baby has an allergy and apparently it was because I haven't given it often enough.

@Frogpond can I ask who told you this about your child's allergy?

It was the allergy specialist. This is in Australia. Just thought I would mention it. Perhaps look into it.
I gave my baby peanut butter a few times and he reacted badly about the fourth time.

@serenmoon keep an eye on the salt in bread/toast. Two slices can be a significant part of their daily salt.

Also, you need to try cashew butter if you never have :) it is deelish. Back when my youngest was a baby I used to buy my Meridian nut butters from the local health food shop, but now any large supermarket tends to stock them.

@Frogpond going on the literature here in the UK food allergies are part genetic part environment. I have a peanut allergy as does my child and never been told by a consultant that it's due to not enough of the allergen. I am aware that food immunotherapy seems to be making waves at the moment in the US, so hopefully a viable treatment for allergy sufferers in the future.

You can get Peanut butter with no added salt or sugar but have to do a lot of label reading and usually pay more for it. Meridian is the brand we have

Both mine had it under 1 year.