Preventing Food Allergy - Guide to Prudent Weaning

In my previous post on Food Allergy, probiotics have been mentioned as an important element to prevent food allergy. It has also been reported to be an important factor in reducing the risk of colic among young babies. So, what exactly are probiotics?

Probiotics are live cultures of friendly bacteria that are used as food ingredients. When ingested, they offer health benefits to the host such as:-

• Protection against allergic diseases
• Protection against intestinal infections which may cause diarrhea
• Help in the absorption of minerals
• Help in the synthesis of vitamins B and K

Breast milk is still the most important source with special properties to promote and encourage the growth of probiotics.

In this final part on Prevention of Food Allergy, we will look at a simple guide to prodent weaning. We will look at types of food that is safe to introduce to infants and at what age to best avoid the development and risk of food allergy.

Foods which are LEAST LIKELY to cause food allergic reactions (to be introduced from 6 months)

• Rice, Carrot, Pear, Apple, Prune

Foods which are usually well tolerated, but OCCASIONALLY CAUSE allergic reactions (to be introduced from 6 months)

• Barley, Oats, Wheat, Beef, Lamb, Chicken, Broccoli, Cabbage, Potato, Spinach, Corn (and corn oil), Banana, Turnip

Foods which are MOST LIKELY to cause allergic reactions (to be introduced from 9 months)

• Egg Yolk (must be fully cooked), Legumes (soya beans, beans), Fish

Foods which are HIGHLY ALLERGNIC (to be introduced from 12 months)

• Seafood (prawns, crabs, dried and fresh scallop), Egg White, Peanuts

Happy Weaning!

Other related post:-
Preventing Food Allergy – The role of bifidobacteria
Preventing Food Allergy – Causes and Symptoms
Preventing Food Allergy – Is my baby at risk

Ryans’ First solid milestone post:-
Milestone – Ryan’s First solid (Part 1)
Milestone – Ryan’s First solid (Part 2)
First Solids – Taste of Apple
First Solids – Taste of Pear

First taste of Pear!

Several days ago, we tried giving Ryan’s his first taste of pear from Heinz. It tasted much better than apple and he liked it. We then tried moving him on to carrot. Bought a stick of carrot, boiled it, blend it and gave it to him. It was a total failure. He totally disliked it. Can’t blame him though. I didn’t like it much either.

So, yesterday, I bought some pears home, double boiled them to soften them, mash it up and gave him some. He totally loves it and finished the whole pear for his dinner. It was a pretty sight. Towards the end, he was fighting to have the spoon and insisted to feed himself and make a mesh out of it. But it was a happy moment for us, as you can surely see from the picture. I think his mommy’s mouth is bigger than his…Haha!

Next, I will try to boil the apples I have bought for him too and see whether he love that too.

Preventing Food Allergy - The Role of Bifidobacteria

Our intestine produces 80% of all antibody-producing cells, thus, making it our largest immune organ. It is the home of trillions of both friendly and unfriendly bacteria, forming an intestinal microflora. Its role is to keep us healthy as well as preventing allergy.

A newborn’s intestine is sterile but within hours from birth, it will quickly become colonized by microorganisms from the mother’s birth canal and environment. A particular type of bacteria known as the Bifidobacteria becomes dominant and will eventually takes up 99% of the total bacteria count in exclusively breastfed babies.

The role of the Bifidobacteria is to stimulate the maturation and functions of our child’s intestinal immune system. It is reported that young children with food allergy have lesser bifidobacteria. In addition, Bifidobacteria also protects against intestinal infections caused by harmful bacteria such as gastroenteritis leading to diarrhea, which in turn is still the leading cause of infant mortality.

How does the method of child delivery affects the population of Bifidobacteria? The mother’s gut, skin and vaginal flora are sources of bacteria for colonizing the newborn’s intestine. Hence, it was found that infant delivered via caesarean section, where there is minimal or no contact with the mother’s vaginal and faecal flora, experienced a delay in the building of their intestinal microfloral and it may be disturbed for up to 6 months after birth. The Bifidobacteria population is further reduced if these caesarean-born infant are not breastfed or breastfed for only a very short time. Breast milk still has the special bifidogenic properties that will encourage the growth of Bifidobacteria.

Weaning also affects the population of Bifidobacteria, leading to changes in the intestinal microfloral population and decreasing the count of Bifidobacteria. Hence, solid food has to be introduced carefully since weaning is considered a high risk period due to the risk of developing food allergy.

Herein, lies another strong reason why we should be breastfeeding our babies as long as we possibly can, all the more so, if your baby is delivered via caesarean section.

Preventing Food Allergy - Causes and Symptoms

In my earlier post Preventing Food Allergy – Is my baby at Risk, we have seen that infants from parents with food allergies have a higher risk of developing food allergies themselves.

What is food allergy? How does it come about? Normally, our immune system will attack harmful bacteria, viruses and foreign substances in the body while recognizing food as harmless. However, food allergy arises when the immune system mistakenly identified a particular food or component, usually a protein, as dangerous and attacks it.

Symptoms of food allergy vary, including itchiness, eczema, dermatitis, nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, wheezing, asthma and bronchitis. In some severe attacks, severe reactions can be fatal.

Any type of food can cause an allergy although the possibility for some is higher than others. Highly allergenic foods include cow’s milk, egg white, soy fish, shellfish, crab, shrimp, lobster or crayfish and peanut. It is reported that allergy to cow’s milk is particularly common in infants.

Since, there are no cures for allergy; it is only prudent that parents help to prevent the development of food allergy for babies at an early age.

Measures that can be taken include the following:-

• Recognize baby’s risk by knowing or recording your family allergy history


• If you are not breastfeeding, discuss with your doctor other options such as hypoallergenic formula. (It’s protein is less allergenic and is formulated to prevent allergies)


• Using soya milk and goat’s milk formulae do not reduce the risk.


• Wean your baby only after 6 months and avoid highly allergenic food for the first year.


• Reduce dust in the house.


• No pets at home or child care centre.


• No smoking during pregnancy or in the presence of the child

In our next post, we will look at the role of our intestine, the largest immune organ of our body and how a friendly bacterium plays an important role in preventing food allergy and why babies delivered naturally has fewer tendencies to develop food allergy as compared to those delivered via caesarean section.

First Solids - Taste of Apple!

We started Ryan on apple yesterday. We bought a bottle of Heinz Fruity Apple and we gave him his first taste of apple. I personally find it a little sour. Honestly, I would not have like it if I were made to eat it. And obviously, Ryan has the same taste bud. At the very first taste when the apple puree touched his tongue, he squirmed and squinted. He adapted to the taste after awhile but I don’t think he like it very much.

We started with apple because it is reported as one of the safest solid food to be introduced to a 6 month old baby. We are starting him slowly on one food product to another to ensure that we know what he likes, dislikes and allergic to (hopefully none). Next food product on the menu is PEAR! I will let you know the outcome when we get to that.

Preventing Food Allergy - Is my baby at risk?

As I have mentioned in my earlier post where Ryan had his first solids, we were quite eager to get him started the moment he reached 4 months old. We saw some baby foods that are recommended for babies of 4 months and above. We bought a packet of the organic rice cereal and were about to start him on that before we were advised by our paed to refrain from doing so. He explained that starting Ryan only upon 6 months is much safer to prevent him from getting food allergy. Of course we obediently followed. Hence, when Ryan started his solid a couple of days ago, Ryan could only take about 6 spoonfuls before the packet expired. Sigh! What a waste of hard earned money.

So, how does a baby develops food allergy? Is there any prevention? What are the risks of a baby getting it?

We did some research and found some pretty interesting facts.

For this post, we will share what we learnt about the risk of food allergy.

Food allergy has no age barriers and it usually begins during the first year of life. It is reported that most children will outgrow certain allergies by the time they begin schooling. However, some may persist into adulthood. High risk group are those with a family history of allergies.

Risk of developing allergy based on family history:-

Both parents with no allergy – Only 5%-15% risk of allergy
One parent with allergy – 20%-40% risk of allergy
Both parent with allergy – 40%-60% risk of allergy
Both parent with same allergy – 50%-80% risk of allergy

I have a couple of good friends who are extremely allergic to egg white for example. Just a brush with egg white in their food (apparently even the apparatus that cooked them) can bring them down with severe symptoms including asthma, nausea and black-out. Frightening isn’t it?

For the next post, we will share how food allergy comes about, common symptoms and the type of food that would commonly causes allergies.

Milestone - Ryan's First Solids (Part 2)

This is part of the moment that will remain precious to us forever.

Hope that you enjoy the moments as much as we do.

Milestone - Ryan's First Solids (Part 1)

Date : 2nd December 2008
Time : 2pm

We have been waiting anxiously for the day that we could feed him his first solids. So, once he reached his sixth month birthday, my wife happily took out the rice cereal that we bought much earlier to feed him.

We sat him on his highchair, prepared the rice cereal with some breast milk and gave it to him. His reaction was so funny. He was so eager for the food. Maybe it is because the rice cereal was something new to him. He was eagerly waiting for his next spoonful and getting impatient when we were a little slow.

We were equally excited and my wife was ecstatic as she fed him and seeing the way he responded and reacted. I was more amused with my wife’s expression. Watch out for my wife in the pictures above. It was indeed another priceless moment that will remain in my memory as proud parents forever.