Information Low Allergy Diet For Babies The food listed is recommended for children without food allergies, and in addition to breast feeds or formula. Your allergy specialist will advise you if your child cannot eat some foods.
Every new food introduced should begin with one teaspoon then double this amount daily until two tablespoons has been reached. 6 months Your baby can start with rice cereal, pureed apple and pear. Introduce the following individually (i.e. one vegetable per week) potato, pumpkin, zucchini, squash, silverbeet, spinach, broccoli, cauliflower, sweet potato. Steam or boil the vegetables without salt, and mash or puree them well. 7 months The vegetables should be mashed with a fork. Cereal: plain rice products only, for example rice noodles (egg free) and plain rice.
Fruit: banana or cooked apple or pear.
Vegetable oils: margarines, Nuttelex, Becel, Sundew.
Extras: soup made from allowed vegetables, rice, chicken and lamb. Golden syrup. 8 months The vegetables should be chopped to encourage chewing. If possible, keep the vegetables separate so your baby can learn different tastes and textures.
Meat: Start introducing lamb, then chicken or beef, cooked, minced or finely chopped. At this time your baby may be enjoying some finger food.
Encourage self feeding and drinking water or formula from a cup.
Sample Menu In addition to breast or formula feeds.
Breakfast: cereal or mashed fruit.
Lunch: minced meat or chicken and mashed vegetables.
Dinner: homemade soup of meat and vegetables or mashed fruit.
Snacks: soft fruit or rice crackers.
9 months Your baby should be eating a wider range of vegetables, apples, pears, bananas, rice and rice cereal, lamb chicken and beef.
At this stage you may wish to expand the range of vegetables to green beans, carrots, cabbage and green peppers. You may use dried beans (not soy beans or chick peas) or lentils in your cooking, for example soups.
By 9 months of age wheat may be added but not milk. Initially try plain breakfast cereal for example Weetbix or Vitabrit. If tolerated, bread and toast can be introduced.
If you wish, you may try plain spaghetti or noodles (with no egg or flavourings).
10 months Your baby can be introduced to apples, pears and bananas but not berries, citrus fruits, kiwi or mango.
Remember, use only allowed milk free margarines. No Vegemite, peanut butter or jam.
Suitable commercial foods: Strained apple fruit juice, rice cereal, apple fruit gel, stained apples, strained pears, strained banana and apple, breakfast cereals and rice products such as rice cakes and rice bubbles.
Not before 12 months Do not give your baby milk products such as all cheese and cheese spreads, ice-cream, custard, cream, yoghurt, butter, some margarines or commercial products containing any of the above.
Do not give your baby cow’s milk in any form except recommended infant formula before 12 months of age.
No dairy alternative products such as goat’s cheese or milk, soy milk and soy products such as tofu, tofu ice-cream, soybeans.
Most fruits: all fruits to be avoided except apple, pear and banana. This includes fruit products, e.g. dried fruits and jam. Some vegetables: tomato and tomato products, corn, onion, mushrooms, peas, soybean. Eggs: (egg yolk and egg white) powdered eggs. Fish: fresh and canned fish.
Chocolate: chocolate blocks, lollies, chocolate powder (e.g. Quick, Milo, Aktavite, cocoa), chocolate toppings and syrups. Carob and carob products.
Nuts/seeds: all nuts including coconut and peanut butter. Sesame seeds. Vegemite: Marmite, Promite and colourings.
Risk Minimisation for Food Allergy Allergy to foods is a concern for children and parents with many children having a range of reactions to a variety of foods. Some reactions can be milder than others but some can be severe and potentially life-threatening. Testing (such as skin prick testing) does not help distinguish between those likely to have mild or severe reactions so once a child has been identified with a food allergy, education and avoidance strategies become very important. There are 4 useful strategies to employ and for any allergic child to be taught; - Question any food offered by anyone as to whether it is likely to contain the food concerned and if uncertain, reject the food.
- Smell the food offered – many children (and adults) can smell eg peanut or hazelnut in food and it is helpful to recognize the smell and reject the food.
- Taste the food offered – pause before eating and take a small portion, place it on the lip and tongue. If there is any sensation such as tingling, burning, itching or nasty taste – reject the food.
- Vomit if a food is swallowed and a child feels like being sick – they should be encouraged to do so.
These measures are designed to reduce the likelihood of accidental exposure to a food in sufficient quantities to produce an allergic reaction, particularly a severe one.
Epipens are often recommended as part of an action plan for anaphylaxis (severe food reaction) but is NOT the treatment for food allergy.
The treatment is Avoidance and Education.
Immunotherapy The increasing incidence of allergy world wide especially in the developed countries, is a concern.
Allergy is all about the body’s immune system perceiving things in the environment as “threats” or foreign and producing antibodies to attack them.
True allergy (as opposed to various sensitivities) involves the over production of allergy antibodies called IgE (all the antibodies the body produces are given certain numbers: IgA, IgM, IgG) and these attack proteins in foods (eg: peanut, egg, milk etc.) and aeroallergens (protein particles in the air such as house dust mite, pollens and animal fur) to cause reactions by releasing histamine and other chemicals from cells around the body.
Immunotherapy or desensitization has been around a long time to try and restrict or “turn off” the body’s production of IgE.
Desensitization to house dust mite, pollens and bee stings by regular subcutaneous injections (for at least 2 years) has been available in Australia for more than 20 years.
Recently, immunotherapy or desensitization has been carried out by drops under the tongue on an every day or 2 – 3 times per week. This technique is being used extensively in Europe and has many advantages over the injection method. It is much safer, can be carried out at home, is less painful (most children do not like injections) and seems to be as effective as the injection method. However, the course is for 3 – 5 years.
Sublingual immunotherapy (SLIT) treatment is now available for desensitising children as young as 5 or 6 years with persistent hayfever/rhinitis in particular but also for asthma. It is not available for foods or bee sting allergy.
If you wish for more information about immunotherapy, please contact us here at Peninsula Paediatrics – 03 9781 3711 |
