New advice on peanuts?? GMTV article

[Caz10]

Somebody somewhere on a thread here mentioned that they had watched GMTV the other day and there was someone talking about new advice on peanuts during pregnancy...ie eat them! Can't find the thread now and can't see it on GMTV website - did anyone else see this?

I've been avoiding them as both dh and I had v bad hayfever as children - but would really kill someone for peanutbutter on toast, missing it so much!!

I think it's this article here.

I've been eating peanut butter on toast throughout my pregnancy. Not sure if it's a good idea or not though

aaaaaaaaaaaaaaarghhhhhhhhhhh
too late.

OOh thank you! I really do think avoiding them MUST have something to do with the increase in allergies...but then every so often someone will come on here with a scare story which makes me wary.

Do you have any hayfever/asthma etc in your family?

Hi Caz - I am severely asthmatic - and have excema and severe food allergies (though not to nuts) ... and when I was at my sickest in early pg, one of the things that I could stomach was peanut butter on soda bread ... so that's what I ate!

I'm still having the occasional round of peanut butter on toast ... and will continue to do so.

I was the same with DS ... (nearly 5), and he's the most disgustingly healthy specimen I've ever set my eyes on ... ok, it's only anecdotal evidence - just thought I'd tell a non-cautionary tale!

fwiw, American women aren't told to avoid peanuts, and they don't have a higher incidence of peanut allergy ....

Just to muddy the water a bit more...

My ds has a peanut allergy (long family history of allergies but none of nut allergy). I avoided peanuts in pregnancy and whilst breastfeeding.

A friend's little girl had a reaction to peanut butter last week age 1(mild thank God). My friend did not avoid nuts in pregnancy/breastfeeding as no family history of allergies.

Obviously, most of my friends' kids do not have peanut allergies regardless of what their mothers ate, or not.

Through various peanut allergy message boards I have 'spoken' to women who ate peanuts during pregnancy and those that avoided them - both groups have peanut allergic children.

Not saying it is wrong, or right, to eat peanuts etc - only that it is not cut and dried. Whatever you do, most kids don't have nut allergy.

Also to add - I lived in Nigeria for several years where peanuts are a staple part of the diet. Never came across a case of peanut allergy but any child with a severe allegy would have died very quickly and nobody would ever have known why, let alone recorded the death. Children died all the time. Whatever the government advice I hope its not based on comparisons with developing countries with poor/non accessible medical care where comparisons can't be made.

Hi,

I don't have any allergies really no. I've had some weird dry skin/eczema type rash on my face on and off during pregnancy but apart from that I don't generally have allergies and nor does DP. TBH, I had no idea I was meant to avoid peanuts until I was about 6 months pg and I read something about it on MN!

Try not to worry about it whatever you decide to do. I think the list of things that preggers women should/shouldn't do is growing by the day. I reckon common sense a bit of moderation is the way forward (just my humble opinion though! i'm not a doctor!)

Wish they'd make up their bloomin' minds, I've avoided them this time & last time but I'd kill for a big handfu right now. DH nearly lost his nuts last night for eating them in front of me!

I think common sense is needed - like WB said, there are plenty of mothers whose children have peanut allergies who didn't eat peanuts, as well as plenty who did.

I guess its like stretch marks - whether using this cream or that cream stops them seems to vary, and in all likelihood the use of creams probably bears little relation to the chance of getting stretchmarks, in the same way that whether you eat peanuts or not in pregnancy bears little relation to whether your child has food intolerances or not.

I dunno, maybe I'm talking bollocks, but in this day and age if you do enough "scientific" research you can prove anything you want.

Just found this from last year www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/news/news.html?in_article_id=421895&in_page_id=1774&ito=1490
DD is actually scared to try nuts now as there is someone at school allergic to them & we avoided them for her because both DH & I have asthma & allergies/eczema.

I would kill for a peanut butter sandwich - I have been avoiding peanuts as DH has very bad hayfever. Can't help but think that its yet another case of being advised not to do something based on very little or no evidence

I was avoiding them until I realised that the nut in crunchy nut corn flakes means peanuts!!! Ah well never mind.

chortle Stefka.

i've been eating peanuts oblivious to advice but then i've also had raw egg in mayonnaise, quite a lot of wine and a bit of brie. oh and a bit of gorgonzola. i'm a bad mother and my child isn't even born yet.

I feel utterly confused afer reading that Daily Mail article. At 5 months' pregnant just what am I meant to do: carry on avoiding as we've been told, or start stuffing my face with the things? The evidence for avoiding is certainly starting to sound a bit baseless... anyone else now thinking of resuming eating peanuts based on this?

this topic is currently being studied at st Thomas' in London (called LEAP study if you want to check it out). The study has only just started and will last about 5 years, so I wouldn't jump to any conclusions just yet. It is studying children who are more likely to be allergic (but found not to be to peanuts) and they are in 2 groups - one given a peanut snack each week and other to avoid all peanuts. I was going to do this study with dd2 but when we got tested she was found to be peanut allergic so we couldn't take part.

By the way, Neither I or dp are nut allergic, or indeed dd1 (although she is egg and dairy allergic) and I didn't really eat peanuts when pregnant with either, but probably came across them once or twice - so who knows where it comes from?

anyway, I guess I'm saying, don't make any sweeping decisions after ready a Daily Mail article - it is the daily mail after all - check out the LEAP study website instead, they are the professionls after all!!!

I saw the thing on GMTV, have since had a snickers and some peanut butter on toast, the baby is still wiggling around like a good un.

There was an article about this in the Sunday Times yesterday. Apparently a House of Lords committee (I wasn't aware they were experts on allergies ) is likely to recommend that the advice for pregnant women to avoid peanuts be withdrawn as it may do more harm than good.

I think the theory is that very small doses of an allergen are actually more likely to cause an allergy than 'normal' doses and as peanut oil is in sooooo many different products it is very easy for pregnant women to consume small amounts of peanut without realising it, potentially leading to allergies in the baby later on.

Oh gosh it is soooo complicated. Sorry for your wee one Kerrymum that must be difficult. Do you have allergies in your family?