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

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.

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.