With Allergy Awareness Week in full swing, we thought that it was a great time to highlight some helpful information from some of our favourite resources.
If you’re anything like me, with several diagnosed allergies/sensitivities, weaning your baby onto solids brought a whole lot of hesitation and worry about the “what if’s”.
Baby and Child Nutritionist, Charlotte Stirling-Reed, is now running an Online Weaning Course, a complete step-by-step guide for parents and caregivers to introduce solids to their baby. Find out more at https://www.srnutrition.co.uk/online-weaning-course/
“Many parents worry about allergies during weaning, but research has changed on HOW to introduce allergens to baby in recent years and we now know that it’s important to introduce the foods that can trigger allergic reactions early on in baby’s weaning journey to help prevent an allergy occurring in the first place.
Additionally, it’s recommended to introduce allergens during weaning one at a time and in very small amounts so that you can spot any reaction. Examples of common allergens includes:
- Cow’s milk
- Eggs
- Nuts and peanuts
- Soya
- Shellfish
Once you’ve introduced these foods to your baby and you know they can tolerate them, then you can continue to offer these foods as part of your baby’s usual diet.
It’s good to try to offer these fairly often to help maintain a “tolerance” for these foods early on. Evidence has actually shown that delaying introducing peanuts and hens’ eggs after 6-12 months may increase the risk of developing an allergy to these foods. You can find out more about introducing allergens on my online weaning course.”
Whilst many do feel concern about weaning baby onto solids, you don’t need to. If you have a family history of allergies/sensitivities, it does not mean that baby will. Take my little one for example, I have personally have a high inflammation response to gluten/wheat/oats, but Rory – absolutely no worries at all.
And if your family does not have any concerns around allergies, likelihood is, that a friend or neighbour might. So it’s always a good idea to know how to use an epipen and ask for help if needed. Below we’ve included a fantastic rhyme to help you use an epipen from one of our follower, @positivelyallergic.
If you happen to be a parent or teacher of primary students, you can get a free assembly pack to help teach your kids about allergies and what to do in an emergency.
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