We’ve written a lot of about peanut allergies and two studies that have confirmed that introducing peanuts to infants early on can actually help prevent an allergy later on.
Today an expert panel from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases released its guidelines:
It’s safe to give babies peanut butter once they start eating food. It might also help prevent them from developing a peanut allergy.
Delores Johnson/Kansas City Star
Guideline 1: For infants “deemed at high risk of developing peanut allergy because they already have severe eczema, egg allergy or both,” they should be introduced peanuts as early as 4 months 6 months of age. Parents should check with their doctors before introducing the food. The doctor might want to perform an allergy blood test or send the infant to a specialist for more testing such as a skin prick test, in order for the food to be introduced safely.
Guideline 2: For infants with mild or moderate eczema, they should have peanuts introduced around six months of age.
Guideline 3: For infants with no eczema or known food allergy, they should be given peanut-containing food freely.
Read more about previous peanut studies both the 2015 study and the 2016 study and about Austin allergists at ‘Specially for Children conducting peanut allergy research as part of its new status as a Food Allergy and Education network site.
Watch this video from National Jewish Health, which better explains the recommendations:
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uf0bbYJ5l_U&w=560&h=315]