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When to Introduce Peanuts
The recommendations on when it is OK to introduce peanuts to your child vary widely from 12 months all the way up to 7 years. On average pediatricians recommend waiting until 2-3 years of age before introducing peanuts into your child’s diet. With such a wide range of recommendations parents are often left wondering what the right thing to do is.
An allergy to peanuts is one of the most common food allergies affecting 1.3% of the general population and the leading cause of a severe food allergy reaction. Due to the severe reactions that people often have to peanuts parents can often be very worried about that first introduction and making the right decision on when to introduce them.
So, how do you weed through all the varying recommendations and determine when the best time to introduce peanuts into your child’s diet is? Well, that depends on your child’s allergy history and your family allergy history. If your child has other food allergies or if there is a family history of food allergies you should not introduce peanuts until your child is 3 years of age. If there is no personal or family history of food allergies you may be OK to introduce nuts as early as 12 months. However, it is a personal decision that should be made with the consultation of your child’s pediatrician.
When you do introduce peanuts it should be in the form of peanut butter or ground up in other dishes to prevent choking. Whole nuts pose a severe choking hazard. You should monitor your child very closely for signs of any reaction. The signs of reaction to look for include:
- Skin reactions: itching, redness, swelling or hives.
- Gastrointestinal reactions: vomiting, diarrhea, nausea, or cramping.
- Respiratory reactions: runny/stuffy nose, itchy/watery eyes, sneezing, wheezing, difficulty breathing or asthma.
- Cardiovascular reactions: light headed or fainting.
If you see any signs of an allergic reaction contact your pediatrician right away, if the reaction is severe head directly to the emergency room or call 911.
Sources and other helpful websites:
Two tips worth noting:
1) when you do decide to introduce peanuts, do it early in the day (so you can more easily monitor them for any reaction) and on a weekday so you have full access to your usual doctors and medical care should it be necessary
2) Be aware that some kids have no reaction with the first introduction, but have one after the second time.
Christie,
Great tips, thanks for sharing them. My daughter reacted the first time we gave her peanut butter, but I know not all kids will do that.
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