Stephanie Report post Posted September 15, 2006 I have tried my 5 year old with peanuts and he is fine, I have not tried any other type of nuts yet. He had a packet of peanut M&M's and I was on "high alert" but he was fine with them so I have given him food with nuts in since. My 20 month old son has never tried anything with nuts in .... at what point is it safe to try them with peanuts, nuts etc. He isn't allergic to anything as far as I know. Am I being paranoid?? I am the kind of parent who would only let him try them if we were sitting in the car outside of the casualty department - just in case. They say don't give nuts to small children, especially peanuts, but no one defines what age is appropriate to let them start. I have eczema and allergies to fruit and some vegetables (OAS) - touching and eating but am fine with nuts etc. Any comments?? Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
jools Report post Posted September 15, 2006 They say don't give nuts to small children, especially peanuts, but no one defines what age is appropriate to let them start. i always thought this was because the risk of choking was higher, not for allergy reasons. my eldest has a nut allergy which was dx at the age of 2 after she ate one. the house is now a complete nut free zone and as a result the boys have never had peanut butter or the like. G has had a nut sweet but was about 5 before i tried him.....he's fine. my youngest (7) has never tried one and doesn't want to, although i am starting to wonder if i should get him to try something before he tries it somewhere else. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
LittleRae Report post Posted September 15, 2006 Have always heard no nuts until at least 5. The earlier you try them, the greater the likelihood of developing allergies. A Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
mrs phasmid Report post Posted September 16, 2006 just to say and this relates to mine only all of mine were born before all these scares were published. they all had smooth peanut butter in finger foods from the minute the were able to 'finger food' all pre 1 yr old, they all had soft egg pre 1 yr old, pate, soft cheese, real mayonnaise, none of them are allergic to anything but then i ate all of the above, except peanut butter [yuk] when pregnant, liver twice a week[ preggy mums had too for iron] rare steakand fruit straight off of the trees my youngest is 11 and eldest 16 whilst i dont beliitle ANYONES allergies, i've seen what can happen too many times to do that, i wonder if things would be different if we still did this and the children WERE exposed to tiny bits at an earlier age. after all is this much different than when specialists expose them to little bits of stuff to desensitize them please note this is only an opinion and my one at that Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
jools Report post Posted September 16, 2006 i agree to a certain extent mrs phas. nut allergies are much more common than they used to be while pregnant with my eldest i ate peanut butter and banana sandwiches till they were coming out of my ears and also fed her peanut butter as she was weaning. (had never eaten it before and couldn't stomach it afterwards!) she showed no reaction till she was 2 and took a peanut out of a bowl at my mums when it was G's christening. she then got the swollen lips and hives. it was dx straight away and her reactions got gradually worse as she got older until at the age of 7 she ended up in hospital when the school fed her fruit cake laced with nuts!! i can sort of see teh funny side now as i was dealing with her projectile vomiting and gradually losing it, G screaming and scratching cos he had chickenpox and my youngest just screaming for attention cos he was only 2 at the time. its a wonder i'm not grey! anyway i ramble the point i was trying to make (not very well.....lol) is that my eldest has been given nuts and still has a severe allergy. G is fine but i wonder if by keeping my youngest of them for so long i may not have done him any favours. its a difficult decision to make Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
jlp Report post Posted September 16, 2006 I have a peanut allergy (I'm 30 so when I was a child it was one of those things no-one had heard of) so sought advice for ds#1. They advised no nuts until he was 5 just incase then under medical supervision (because of the risk that he had allergies from me - he had other risk factors too, severe eczema, asthma and hayfever). He had blood tests at 5 and they were positive, skin prick tests about 8 months later whoch only showed a tiny reaction, then a peanut challenge at 6 which was fine and he can eat them now. With ds#2 I have been a wee bit less cautious - he had a hazelnut praline sweet on his birthday the other day (3) but I'm holding off the peanuts till 5 when we will probably go through the same routine as ds#1. He had skin prick tests for a milk allergy at 1yr and was tested for peanuts which was negative, but you don't become allergic to something unless you have already been exposed to it so that doesn't mean much in his case as he's never had them. I'm pretty sure the advice to keep them off nuts if there's a risk is because the younger they are exposed then the body is less able to cope where as a more mature gut (or whatever!) will handle it better. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
darky Report post Posted September 18, 2006 thing is, the nut allergy thing is real scaremongering. my sister has 3 kids who have never eaten nuts THAT SHE KNOWS OF. point is, there are nuts or traces of nuts in MANY everyday things, bread, cakes, buiscuits etc if there was a severe allergy of nuts im sure you would know right away. just touching a peanut or the slightest trace is enough to trigger the major reactions. mine all had nuts in peanut butter when they were less than a year old, they are fine, all three of mine have asd but not one of them even has the slightest of gut problems, allergies or anything. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
jlp Report post Posted September 18, 2006 You are probably right in that if you had a severe allergy to peanuts then you'd find out sooner rather than later. However I don't think avoiding nuts as a precaution when there are risk factors in the family is being over cautious. Risk factors are mum or dad having a peanut allergy, eczema, hayfever, asthma etc. By extending the age at which your child is exposed to nuts you can reduce the risk of them getting a nut allergy or maybe lessen the severity if they do. Although all sorts of companies cover themselves by putting a nut warning on their food I have yet to have an allergic reaction to food that says 'may contain nut traces' or similar. I imagine if there's the faintest chance (say peanuts being used elsewhere in the factory) they have to cover themselves. I take that chance with my own health as otherwise I'd have a very restricted diet - I wouldn't take this chance with my child however. I used to test 'may contain...' foods first myself. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
DaisyFulkirk Report post Posted September 18, 2006 Just another thought about the age thing. I don't think it is a good idea for a child to start at school and not have tried nuts yet. It would be much safer to find out if there is an allergy or not at home with adults and help closely available. Babies of all the other mammals that I can think of wean onto whatever their parents normally eat. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
bid Report post Posted September 18, 2006 If your child has a 'true' allergy to any food, you know about it! I have 4 children, and 2 have severe life-threatening multiple food allergies. I ate nuts, etc, when I was pregnant with all of them. Mine were all breastfed, but as soon as I started mixed feeding the two with food allergies had severe reactions to milk and eggs, later followed by other foods (nuts, fish and others). It's no fun when your child's airways start to close...I have had to give epipens twice, and do the whole 999 routine and ambulance into hospital Bid Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites