Food allergies as a result of baby food.?

Question

My daughter is 6 old. I was told to keep changing up her baby foods because to give her one food too long would cause food allergies. Only, she is an incredibly picky eater. She is breastfed and simply will not take breastmilk from a bottle and as for formula, forget it. She will drink regular lactose free milk and apple juice. And as far as her food goes, I have narrowed down the few foods she does like and have been trying gerbers mixed puree's. What i'm worried about is making her allergic to different fruits and veggies. For example. Banana is her favorite, so i tried banana strawberry apple and she liked that and now we've move to something else. But i'm afraid to try anything else with bananas in it. So, will it cause allergies to apple juice, lactose free milk, or any other fruit if they are in puree's if I change them from week to week?

Answer 1

You should stay away from berries until 1 year (huge allergen). also, wheat is an allergen.

Answer 2

At six months of age, she should only just be starting solids. You do not have to introduce a lot of different ones right away. This will not make her a "better" eater.

My oldest daughter is such an unfussy eater, people are shocked. At 2, she would gobble down red cabbage and at age 3, ate pizza with anchovies. I started her on solids at 7 1/2 months and only one food a week. She was on a strict anti-allergen diet and did really well. I can make pretty much anything and she'll eat it. I did the same with her sister with similar success. It's so nice to have an unfussy eaters!!!

Strawberries are big allergens so don't feed them to her until she's at least 18 months old. Also, she's far too young for apple juice. It's basically pure sugar water and will fill up her tummy instead of the milk she needs.

Unless you're returning to work, you don't need to make her drink from a bottle or give her formula. Waste of time! Simply feed her before and after leaving her with a sitter. She can go 2-3 hours now. I put my two daughers in p/t daycare at 7 months each and neither ever had bottles or formula.

Hope that helps!

Answer 3

It is a good idea to get your daughter used to a variety of flavours early in life to encourage good eating habits later in life.
At 6 months, she isn't eating a huge amount and the majority of her nutrients are obtained from breastmilk. Eating the same food a lot won't cause an allergy, but babies can sometimes have a 'reaction' to a food. This may be nappy rash, bowel movement changes, excessive wind and/or abdominal pain and other symptoms. Most of these will be outgrown as your baby develops, so if you observe a reaction, avoid that food for a few weeks and try again. (It is recommended that foods are introduced one at a time so that it is easy to pinpoint the cause of a reaction.)
There are also some foods that have a higher allergy risk. These should be avoided until a child's immune system is more developed and able to deal with potential allergens. The following foods should be avoided until - 9 months: cow's milk; 10 months: wheat; 11 months: eggs; (at least) 12 months: nuts and nut products, sesame seeds, strawberries, shellfish, oranges and tomatoes.
You say your daughter is 'a fussy eater', but she has only just started to eat solid foods! My 10 month old daughter eats almost everything I give her and I make all my own baby food. It's very easy to cook up a batch of vegetables, puree (or mash when she's older) and freeze in icecube trays so I always have baby food on hand. I tried to feed her commercially prepared baby food once recently and she refused to eat it because it didn't taste like real food.
My friend introduced new foods to her daughter by mixing them in with foods she already liked.
Also, it often takes babies awhile to get used to a new food. Don't worry if she rejects a new food the first, second or third time she tries it. Keep offering it on different occasions and she should get used to an increasing variety of foods.

Answer 4

As a rule of Thumb, feed what the baby will eat and enjoy. Introduce new food a bit at a time to allow for variety in the diet.

As for limit diet and allergies from feeding the same thing over and over ... Not likely to happen. A distaste for repeating the same diet is more likely to happen, but allergy? NO!

If the baby is picky, then feed what she enjoyes and keep testing new foods. She might or might not grow out of it, she just might be a picky eater.

I believe my daughter (now an adult) lived on Oodles Noodles and Hotdogs for years on end, she turned out wonderful, bright and beautiful.

Introduce new foods one at a time and with other foods that she enjoys eating, taste change as they grow (or we can only hope so...)

Good luck and Happy Holidays.

ciao

Answer 5

She'll adjust. My 9 month old granddaughter was extremely picky about baby food. In fact, most of the time, I was the only one who could get her to eat. Her pediatrician said that's not uncommon that some babies go straight to table food. Just watch the High Allergy foods. Eggs being a biggy. Although my grandson loved eggs and still does, he has no food allergies.

Check the link below. It will help you a lot.

Good Luck.

Answer 6

If the advice you were given made sense, all babies would have raging allergies to breast milk.

Relax and feed your baby what it pleases your baby to eat. Solids in the first year are for practice only; her main source of nutrition will still be your own milk.

There is some excellent advice on babies and solids (and nursing) here:

http://www.kellymom.com/nutrition/solids/index.html

You can just smush up regular food; you don't have to waste your money on (frequently less healthy) commercial "baby foods."

Answer 7

At 6 months, your daughter should still be getting most of her nutrition from breast milk. Offer her small bits of mashed-up foods, and let her eat what she likes - she won't develop allergies from eating the same things from week to week. Skip the milk and apple juice until she is older, though.

http://www.kellymom.com/nutrition/solids/first-foods.html

Answer 8

Food Allergies: Tips for Eating Out
Whether you're trying to avoid peanuts or dairy products, experts offer strategies for dining safely at restaurants.
By Colette Bouchez
WebMD FeatureReviewed by Louise Chang, MDHaving a food allergy used to mean dining out was limited to carrying your plate from the kitchen to the porch or, at best, eating at the home of a close friend or relative who could guarantee your food offenders were nowhere in sight.

Today, however, eating out is a lot easier -- and safer -- for the 2 million Americans who suffer with a mild, moderate, or even a severe food allergy. One reason: Restaurants are more aware and more prepared.

"The awareness of food allergies has definitely increased within the food service industry, and many restaurants now take steps to not only train their staff about the need for accommodating those with a food allergy, but also train them on what to do if an allergic reaction occurs," says John W. Fischer, associate professor and restaurant manager of Escoffier Restaurant at The Culinary Institute of America.

Among the most important steps in this direction is a training program for restaurants introduced by the Food Allergy and Anaphylaxis Network (FAAN) and The National Restaurant Association several years ago.

Developed as both an educational and informational tool, the program not only helps make restaurants more aware of food allergies, but also what to do in the event that an allergy-related incident occurs.

Medical doctors caution, however, that greater awareness on the part of the restaurant doesn't mean you can let your guard down completely.

"The level with which you practice vigilance is obviously linked to the severity of your food allergy -- but everyone who is allergic needs to personally take steps to ensure their safety when dining out," says David Rosenstreich, MD, director of the division of allergy and immunology at Montefiore Medical Center and professor of medicine at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York.

Where do you begin? Experts say it starts with a good understanding of your food allergy.

(If you have food allergies, do you eat out? How do you keep yourself safe? Share with others on WebMD's Allergies: Support Group message board.)
Food Allergies: Know What to Avoid
Clearly, the most obvious way to avoid having a food allergy reaction while eating out is not to order the offending food. But that's not always so easy. Sometimes you can’t fully see what you're getting on your plate.

"You really have to be aware of hidden ingredients. Your allergen could be lurking in breading, a salad dressing, baked goods, or sauces, then it might not be obvious when your meal arrives," says Jonathan Field, MD, director of the Allergy and Asthma Clinic at NYU Medical Center and Bellevue Medical Center in New York.

You should also know the other names for your offending foods. Sometimes, Rosenstreich says, products used by chefs -- such as mixes for sauces or dressings -- list ingredients by alternate names. That means if you're going to request that something be left out of a dish, it's vital to know all the terms, including derivatives under which your allergen may be listed.

The FDA considered this step so important it instituted the Food Allergen Labeling and Consumer Protection Act in 2004, which mandated that all food manufacturers clearly label product ingredients as they relate to eight major food allergies by 2006. Before the law, people with a dairy allergy, for instance, may not have realized that the ingredient labeled "casein" was really a protein from milk. Now the product must say "milk."

Still, experts caution this law only pertains to the eight most common food allergens: milk, eggs, wheat, soy, peanuts, tree nuts, shellfish, and regular fish. These are responsible for more than 90% of all U.S. food allergies.

Food Allergy Surprises: Hidden Sources
Here are the most likely places key food allergens may be lurking, according to the experts WebMD interviewed.

Allergy: Milk/Dairy

Hidden sources: hot dogs, canned tuna, some chewing gum, margarine made from corn oil (skim milk powder), granola bars, chocolate chips, desserts containing caramel coloring, brown-sugar flavoring, coconut-cream flavoring, natural chocolate flavoring, grilled steak (many restaurants rub steaks with butter after grilling).

Allergy: Eggs

Hidden sources: Milky Way or Snickers bars (nougat contains eggs); any baked good with a shiny surface, including bagels and pretzels; the foam on some coffee drinks; the pasta in prepared foods such as soups.

Allergy: Nuts

Hidden sources: Barbecue sauce, bouillon, chili (nuts are used sometimes as thickener).

Allergy: Wheat/Gluten

Hidden sources: Hydrolyzed wheat protein is sometimes listed only as a flavor enhancer or binder in prepared foods and sauces, alcoholic beverages, hot dogs, ice cream cones, licorice, soup mixes, coffee creamer substitutes (grain based), butter flavoring, caramel coloring, some brands of butter, couscous.

Allergy: Seafood

Hidden sources: Caesar salad (anchovies); caponata (Italian relish/anchovies); foods fortified with omega-3 fatty acids (fish source), including some orange juice, baby cereals, and soymilk.

Choosing a Restaurant
While what you order is important, where you order it matters, too. That's because some restaurants are more likely to not only accommodate your food allergy, but also be better educated on how best to do that.

Not surprisingly, Fischer says that the larger and more established a restaurant is, the more likely it has dealt with food allergies in the past. So the staff is less likely to be surprised or thrown by your requests.

Answer 9

perservatives