EAT Study - WWYD?

[LifeOfKate]

Hi All,

We have had an invitation in the post to join a weaning/allergy study, details here

Basically it is a study into the effects of early introduction of allergenic foods (from 3 months old). The control group would be told to carry on as per current advice (exclusive BF until 6 months), the experimental group would have allergenic foods (wheat, dairy etc) introduced from 3 months old.

The researchers seem to think that it is actually later weaning that increases the risk of allergies.

I'm not sure whether to entertain the thought of being involved in this study, so thought I would ask all you lovely people on MN, WWYD or what do you think?

I'm also posting this on the Breastfeeding/Bottlefeeding topic.

Are they giving you the choice as to which group you're in, or is it pot luck?

If it's pot luck I'd avoid it, but then again my DP has random allergies (melon?!?!?) and I'm dutifully waiting until next Saturday when DS is 6m before starting BLW, so maybe I'm a bit over-cautious!

If you get to choose, and you had already decided what you wanted to do and it wasn't going to change anyway, then yes, I would do it.

If people must wean at 3 months then it would be interesting to have the results of that tested. However weaning at 3 months if you wouldn't have anyway (ie against current advice) I would steer well clear.

no i wouldn't.

I would, I have heard Prof Strachan (not one of the team involved in this research but one of the team at Kings) talk about this theory.

I think it's very interesting and would be involved if it was offered to me. At present I intend to ebf ds until 6 months. Dd was weaned at 6 months and is allergic to peas/lentils.

I've decided not to join the study, as far as I can tell, it is pot luck which side you end up in, so I don't think I'll get involved. Also don't really want to potentially jeopardise breastfeeding. Thanks for your thoughts!

Your baby is randomised into the groups by a computer, neither you nor the researchers have a say in what group a baby will end up in.
It is a very good study, as a family living with several allergies in various family members I think it is great that more research is being done.

They couldn't let you decide which group you wanted to be in as it would bias the study - potentially more of one 'type' of family would prefer 6 months etc.