Today, I finally introduced strawberries to my youngest daughter at 11 months old. I was terrified, since strawberries are thought to be a high risk food allergen. Anytime I introduce a new food to one of my girls I’m always fearful of an allergic reaction. Surprisingly, as a first time mom, I really was not so concerned about food allergies. We had no known family history of food allergies, and really didn’t seem to have much reason to suspect any issues. Introducing new foods was an exciting experience. My husband and I both always loved to watch our little girl’s facial expressions in response to the new foods. This all started to change when she was around 9 months old. I am by no means an expert or MD, but this post contains my recommendations, as a mom, to help ease your mind (even if only slightly) when introducing new foods to babies at risk for food allergies….or even those not necessarily at risk.
First, let me start off by saying a little about food intolerances vs. food allergies. We discovered at 9 months that my oldest has a food intolerance to chicken, not an allergy. This just means with allergy testing she is not allergic to chicken. However, her body still does not process it well resulting in her vomiting several hours later. Unfortunately, it took several trials of her eating chicken and vomiting 3 hours later each time for us to discover that chicken was the culprit. And each time this occurred, she got a little sicker. And she took a little longer to recover, and feel like her perky little self again. The pediatrician suggested waiting until she was a year old and her system had more time to mature before trying chicken again.
It just so happened because of her intolerance to chicken, we were concerned about her being allergic to eggs. I read something online about the possibility of an egg allergy in people intolerant to chicken (I know I know, you can’t believe everything you read). But it turns out, she was allergic to eggs. We tried giving her scrambled eggs when she was just over a year. What we didn’t realize was that it can actually take a couple of exposures to the food allergen for the body to really develop the allergy and react severely. The first time she had eggs I noticed she had a couple of red spots around her mouth shortly after eating. But I did not think much of it. She was teething and frequently rubbing red places on her face with whatever she was chewing on at the time. They eventually faded, and that was that.
A couple days later, we gave her eggs again. This time I was more concerned when I noticed the red spots. However, I didn’t do anything because the first time she had eggs the one or two spots never really got worse and went away on their own. After an hour or two when the spots still had not gone away and looked like they were starting to get a little larger, we thought we better give her Benadryl…which of course we had none, so my husband had to run to the drug store. As soon as he got home we gave it to her, but panic started to set in when roughly 3 hours after eating the eggs the hives just seemed to explode all over her face and body, her ears and lips were swelling – needless to say we called 911 at that point. Turns out my grandmother was allergic to eggs as well.
Fortunately, an egg allergy is frequently outgrown as the child gets older. My daughter is still not able to eat scrambled or eggs baked into any foods but we are still hopeful she will outgrow her allergy. We do not yet know about her chicken intolerance as the allergist told us to hold off on trying it again for now.
So, baby number 2. Time to start solid foods. Sweet potatoes are safe right? A great first food. Well, in case I didn’t learn the first time around, sometimes it takes more than one exposure. The third time we gave my youngest sweet potatoes she started vomiting 3 hours later. Again, I did not relate this incidence to food initially as it seemed MUCH more likely that it was a stomach bug. But when the exact same experience happened again a week later, it was way too eerily similar to my oldest’s response to chicken. Yes, go figure…an intolerance to sweet potatoes. The allergist said someone can be intolerant to about anything, but this was one I had not heard of before.
Key points to remember when introducing a new food…
- Have Benadryl on hand! Ask your pediatrician for a by weight dosing chart so you can keep track of how much Benadryl to give if needed as little one grow so quickly. Had we given my child Benadryl at the first signs of a reaction rather than waiting two hours, she may not have needed epinephrine. She has since responded very well to Benadryl at the first sign of reaction with accidental exposure and we have not had to use her Epi Pen.
- Try new foods early in the day. This means for at least the first 3 or 4 times you give the food, give it in the morning. With both my kids’ intolerances I gave them the food at dinner thinking, oh they were fine after the first couple times they ate it, they should be fine to have it for dinner. Evidently I don’t learn quickly…so that meant about 10pm my child was vomiting, I’m calling the after hours answering service and waiting for the nurse on call to get back to me. Then to top it off, I’m up for the next 4-6 hours nursing every 30 minutes-1 hour so the baby doesn’t get dehydrated. By trying new foods earlier in the day, it’s easier to keep an eye on the child for several hours after.
- Try new foods on a weekday and not a holiday. I find it comforting to know I can call the pediatrician if I have any questions or concerns during normal working hours. Trying new foods on a weekday and not a holiday just means it’s easier to get a hold of the pediatrician if necessary. Of course, if it’s a severe reaction or the child has difficulty breathing you would likely be calling 911 ASAP anyway.
Wholesome Baby Food is a great resource that I used when starting solid foods with both my children. Not only does it provide great information about recommended age ranges for various food introduction, but it also provides great information on food allergies and some of the recent changes in recommendations.