Understand and prepare for the day you start giving your baby foods that could contain allergens.
For first-time parents, or even parents who have been around the block a few times, introducing your baby to foods associated with allergens is a scary and overwhelming process. However, introducing these foods early on in life can significantly reduce the risk of developing certain food allergies by"Babies should be introduced to foods classically thought of as allergens around six months of age, [but] not before four months of age," says Dr. Scott H. Sicherer, M.D.
"Some babies are ready for solids and they're able to take those pureed foods and keep it fine," he says,"others might dribble it out and not be ready yet." Once infants begin to wean off of liquids as their only forms of nourishment—which can be past the six-month period in some cases—then it's officially time to start introducing allergen foods.
"The biggest thing that a baby could have that would make you think they might have allergies is if they have skin rashes called eczema or atopic dermatitis," Dr. Sicherer says. These rashes are itchy and might occur on a baby's face, arms, legs, chest, and/or back.in their first few months of life may be more prone to allergy, Dr.
"If the baby doesn't really show any signs of allergy—no eczema or anything else—there's no strong reason to expect there's going to be a problem," he explains., many severe reactions will typically happen about 10-15 minutes after eating the food, but some mild reactions could take a few hours to begin to show up.