Food Allergy Living Blog Tagged Results

The first few years of a baby’s life are filled with so many exciting little milestones. One of them, of course, is transitioning your child to solid foods. Some parents find it a big relief and others feel a little sad because it’s a reminder that baby is growing up, (Don’t worry, she’s probably not ready for college quite yet!) but all in all it’s not too much of a big deal.

When you have a little guy or gal with a food allergy, like a milk allergy, this transition can cause a little angst. “How do I avoid an allergic reaction?” and “How do I make sure the baby’s getting enough to eat/the proper nutrition?” are questions we hear a lot around here.

Some parents also wonder if they should take the risk of introducing solid foods at all!

Unfortunately, it’s not that simple. Your little one actually needs solid foods so that they can start developing the necessary motor skills for chewing, biting (food, not people J) and speech development. So how can you safely begin introducing solid foods to your baby? Here are some important things to remember.

1. Wait until your baby is six months old to start them on solid foods, this will allow their immune system to mature a bit more.

2. Have a challenge phase where you introduce a few core foods to see what your baby can tolerate.

3. Introduce the foods least likely to cause allergic symptoms first.

4. Allow your baby to get used to the taste and texture of solid foods, as well as feeding from a spoon.

5. Introduce new textures in three stages:

• Stage 1: thin and smooth
• Stage 2: lumps and chunks
• Stage 3: finger foods

6. In the later stages, the solid foods now in their diet should provide most of your child’s nutritional needs.

If you are nervous about allergic reactions in the challenge phase, check out Neocate Nutra. It’s a hypoallergenic, amino acid-based semi-solid medical food that you can give to children over six months old. The texture is similar to yogurt and it can be eaten by itself or you can mix it with other foods (my favorite is mixed with apple sauce!).

Have any tips for transitioning to solids? Let us know what you think below.

- Sarah

I’m excited to let everyone know about a new product Neocate just launched called Neocate Nutra – the first hypoallergenic semi-solid medical food for children and infants over 6 months of age. The product is great as a snack for a toddler with cow’s milk allergy and also for transitioning infants onto solid foods.

To learn more about the product check out the product description on the Neocate Web site. Do you think this is a product that will be useful for children with milk allergies? We’d love to hear your thoughts. Let us know by commenting on the blog, or join the discussion on Facebook by visiting Neocate’s Fan Page.

- Sarah

For infants and children with food allergies, transitioning to solid foods can be tricky. I recently helped write a transition guide to help parents through this sometimes-difficult task. Even though this transition might cause anxiety, it is an exciting and very important time in a child’s life.

The guide, called Feeding Tips for a Successful Transitionis a great quick reference for parents when they are at this step in their little ones lives.

To allow the immune system to mature infants with food allergies should wait six months before having any solid food introduced to their diet.

The early stages of the transition should allow your baby to get used to the taste and texture of foods, as well as feeding from a spoon. In the later stages, the solid foods should provide most of your child’s nutritional needs.

The various sections of the Guide detail the different phases of food introduction as well as what foods your child should be given. Here is a list of the provided sections:

The Challenge Phase – Consists of introducing a few core foods to the diet to see what your baby can tolerate;

Which Foods Should I Give My Child? – You should introduce the foods least likely to cause allergic symptoms first;

The Importance of Texture – The food introduction process should be gradual and split into three different texture stages: thin and smooth, lumps and chunks, and finger foods; and

Recipes – A list of recipes are provided to make the management of your child’s new diet easier.

To download the entire transition guide, click here. Of course, you should always discuss any changes in your child’s diet with your doctor or dietitian first.

- Sarah

Many parents come to April and I with questions about when and how to introduce new foods to their child once he or she is symptom free and growing strong.

Of course, this is something you should talk about with your child’s doctor or dietitian. After all, every child – and every child’s allergy – is different. But we’ve also put together a transition guide that we think you’ll find helpful. Here are a few highlights; however, if you would like the full guide, which includes more information and helpful recipes, just email me at babyhealthblog@ecius.net and I’ll mail you a copy.

· Only introduce new foods when your child is well.
· Introduce foods one at a time so that, if your child does have a reaction, it is easy to identify the culprit.
· Start with foods that are least likely to cause an allergic reaction.
· Leave 1-2 weeks between the introduction of a new food.
· Give small amounts of foods first. Start with a “pea size” amount and gradually increase over several days if there are no symptoms.
· If symptoms occur, stop the food being tested and discuss with your child’s doctor or dietitian.
· Continue to give your child foods that have already been introduced and tolerated.
· Again, always follow the advice of your healthcare professional.

Take care,
Marybeth

We get questions related to starting solid foods from parents pretty often, and have blogged on topics such as how to start and some specific tips for infants with allergies. Most questions about starting solids are best answered by your little one’s health care team, since there isn’t always consensus in the medical community. Today we want to share an interesting study that was published recently in the Journal of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics that may be helpful.


The Article and the Study

The title of the article is “Associations of Infant Feeding Practices and Picky Eating Behaviors of Preschool Children.” We can simplify it to “how feeding infants might add to picky eating later on.” The authors looked into the way that feeding patterns in infancy, when eating patterns start to develop, affect picky eating behavior later in life. We know that every child will exhibit picky eating at some point; what we don’t know is how picky they will be and how long it will last. We don’t know any parent who wouldn’t do whatever they could to lower the risk of picky eating!

The authors of the study looked at data from 129 mothers of preschool children. The focus was on how early the moms started solid foods. They compared this with how willing the children were later in life to try new foods and how much variety their diets had.


The Results

The authors found that children in the study who were exclusively breastfed for the first 6 months of life were less likely to be picky about how their food was prepared, less likely to reject food, and less likely to be afraid of new foods. By waiting until 6 months to introduce solid foods, their children were less likely to be picky eaters later in childhood.


What the Results Mean

While it’s tempting to take the results of this study at face value, waiting until 6 months to introduce solids will not guarantee no picky eating. For starters, the authors admit that picky eating is hard to define, and each parent sees picky eating differently. This study also relied on parents’ memories about feeding their infants, and the small study group may not represent the whole population.

What we should take away from this study is that infant feeding practices, particularly the age when solids are started, can have an impact on picky eating behavior later in childhood. This study presents evidence that waiting until 6 months may be a good start, and that further studies could be useful. Introducing solids at 6 months is in line with the recommendations of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics (AND) and the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP). For infants with documented allergy or risk of allergy, an expert panel has also suggested that it’s best to wait until 6 months to introduce solids. This is part of the reasoning behind why we suggest waiting until 6 months to introduce Neocate Nutra, the only hypoallergenic, amino acid-based semi-solid designed specifically for infants and children with allergies.

Would you change the age that you introduce solids based on the results of this study?

- Rob

[Image Source– http://www.babybites.info/2012/03/08/forgo-the-food-fight/]