Peanuts, Eggs and Shellfish Before Age One

I gave my daughter eggs before she turned one.

I also gave her peanut butter, shellfish and other foods on the list before she was supposed to eat them. I wasn't being brazen. Quite frankly, I was ignorant. (I really was.)

Now, though, it seems like I did the right thing. (Beginner's luck!)

"Insufficient evidence exists for delaying introduction of solid foods, including potentially allergenic foods, beyond 4 to 6 months of age, even in infants at risk."

That's according to the American Academy of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology.

In other words: Don’t delay giving your kids peanuts, eggs or any other potentially allergenic food. Once you start weaning, you should feel free to feed away.

What a reversal.

• Old advice: Wait before introducing potentially allergenic foods because it will help reduce your child's chances of developing an allergy.
• New advice: Delaying may increase your child's chances of developing an allergy.   

One explanation is that when you finally get around to giving peanuts to a baby whose introduction to peanuts has been delayed, her immune system treats them as a foreign substance. The attack that ensues is an allergy.

Ditto for the process that happens with eggs, shellfish, milk, tree nuts, fish and other recommended "stay-aways."

The peanut allergy rate in the U.S. pretty low: 0.6%.

In Israel, where infants are often given a peanut-based snack, the peanut allergy rate is 0.06%

“The body has to be trained in the first year of life.”

That's the explanation Katie Allen, a professor and allergist at the Murdoch Children’s Research Institute at Royal Children’s Hospital in Australia gave to the Wall Street Journal.

You know my reaction: Your baby's taste buds have to be trained in the first year of life too. 

I'm glad to see some medical advice that doesn't undermine habits.

Early flavor experiences shape your baby's flavor preferences later in life. Delay the range of flavors your child gets exposed to and you may be increasing the odds she’ll be a picky eater.

Remember Early Vegetable Variety: The French Advantage? Compared to German mothers (and American mothers) the French provide an astonishing amount of variety during weaning. They're more concerned about taste development than allergies. And you know the punch line: their kids eat vegetables, and ours...? Not so much.

Most infants go through a phase where they are open to a wide range of new foods.

This stage starts when they are new eaters and ends around nineteen months – two years. Some kids get a mild case of resistance; other kids get a severe case.

If your kids are still in the “I’ll eat anything phase of life,” take advantage of it. Both mother’s feeding practices (i.e. your habits) and your infant’s willingness to accept a variety of foods track from the first years of life. That means, what you do in the beginning is likely to last a lifetime.

~Changing the conversation from nutrition to habits.~

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Sources:

NIAID-Sponsored Expert Panel. 2010. “Guidelines for the Diagnosis and Management of Food Allergy in the United States: Report of the NIAID-Sponsored Expert Panel.” The Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology Volume 126, Issue 6, Supplement, Pages S1-S58, December.

Reddy, Sumathi. “Food Allergy Advice for Kids: Don’t Delay Peanuts, Eggs.” The Wall Street Journal 4 March, 2013. http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887324662404578334423524696016.html, accessed 3/13/13.

Nicklaus, S. 2009. “Development of Food Variety in Children.” Appetite 52: 253-55.

The Lying Zone

Should you let your kids stop eating even if you suspect they're not quite full?

Or let them eat if you know they're not hungry?

The surprising answer is yes.

Otherwise, kids just learn to lie.

In most families, there is only one legitimate reason to eat: hunger.

That means if kids want to eat something they have to say they’re hungry, even if they’re not. “That cake looks good; I’m hungry.”

It also means that if they don’t want to eat something kids often have o say they’re not hungry, even if they are. “Those peas look gross; I’m not hungry.” (Sometimes kids also say, “I don’t like it,” to get out of eating.)

I don’t really think of this as lying, per se. Rather, children are working with the tools we give them.  

A story to illustrate the problem:

One day when my daughter was about four I needed to drag her along during an unusually long morning of running errands. As we were going to be in a part of town that we rarely visited, which also happened to be near my daughter’s favorite ice cream parlor, I told her that I would take her for an ice cream when we were done.

After running around for most of the morning, we headed over to the ice cream parlor. It was around noon so I asked my daughter if she was hungry. I thought the question was relatively benign but when my daughter stared back at me in silence I knew something was wrong.

I waited a moment and then asked again. Still, nothing. After a few minutes I had an insight.

• “You can’t tell me whether you’re hungry,” I said. 
• “You are worried that if you say you are hungry I will make you eat lunch. Then you’ll be too full for ice cream." 
• "On the other hand, if you say that you’re not hungry, you’re worried that I won’t let you have any ice cream because we don’t usually eat when we’re not hungry. Is that right?” 
• My daughter nodded; her eyes welled up. 
• She was in quite a jam; she really wanted that ice cream.

The solution:

• “How about if you tell me the truth and I promise that you can have ice cream either way.”
•  That reassured my daughter enough for her to admit, albeit tentatively, that she really was hungry. 
• So I suggested that we stop off at a restaurant and share a small salad. After that we would go on for the ice cream.

Insisting that kids eat at least some healthy food before moving on to the fun stuff is a common parenting strategy.

But I wasn’t using the ice cream to get my daughter to eat the salad. I was trying to teach her something about hunger.

So what would I have done if my daughter had said that she wasn’t hungry? If we had the time, I would have pushed off eating for an hour or so until my daughter had more of an appetite. Then we would have eaten the light lunch followed by the ice cream.

But if that wasn’t in the cards, if we had to rush right home for instance, I would have taken my daughter for the ice cream, as promised. I just would have talked to her about hunger first. “Remember,” I would have said, “you’re not really hungry. Normally it would be better to wait until you were hungry, but we don’t have time today. So, let’s just have a small ice cream. You don’t want to get too full, or to get a tummy ache.”

Teach your kids to become fluent in the "language" of hunger—no matter how young they are.

Eating is a complicated business because people eat for all sorts of reasons and kids need to know this.

For instance, in addition to Tummy Hunger, people often eat because of the following reasons: 

• Taste Hunger; something looks good. When this happens, it’s best to have a small portion, just a taste.
• Practical Hunger, they need to eat for practical reasons such as when there won’t be time for lunch later. In this case, you might have to have a few bites even if you aren’t hungry.
• Emotional Hunger, the times we eat to quench uncomfortable feelings. These situations are best responded to with a hug, or other comforting measure.

~Changing the conversation from nutrition to habits.~

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Source: Tribole, E. and E. Resch, 2003. Intuitive Eating: a Revolutionary Program That Works., Vol. 2nd Edition. New York: St. Martin's Press.

Help! We Don't Agree on How to Feed the Kids.

Want to know the last time my husband and I didn't agree on something?

About 20 minutes ago. Seriously, we disagree about a lot of things, but we always work it out. This is part of marriage, right? (sigh)

What do you do when you disagree on how to feed the kids?

Brenda writes:

My husband and I do not agree on a few things, particularly when it comes to artificial sweeteners. He thinks "it's better than nothing" and drinks a lot of soda.

In another case, a reader said to me, “My husband loves potato chips and gives them to the kids all the time. When I tell them not to eat the chips, I feel like I’m getting in between my spouse and my children.

I get these questions a lot, so it's strange that I haven't written about this before. (Thanks Brenda for the kick in the pants.) Here's a strategy I recommend: Arm-wrestle!

No? Ok...

1) Come to an agreement about how you’re going to feed the kids.

In one family...

• The father was very overweight and didn’t want any limits on how much or what his son could eat. 
• The mother, who was afraid the child would become overweight too, wanted very clear limits. 
• They found a middle ground by agreeing that there would be times (such as family picnics) when Dad could decide the menu—anything would go. In return, he would support Mom on the menus she planned for everyday. 

2) It's OK to have adult-only eating rules.

Not everyone in the family has to eat the same way.

It's OK to say, “Dad can snack (or drink soda) whenever he wants to. When you’re older, you can, too. But for now, you can have just one snack (soda) in the afternoon.”

3) What YOU Can Do: Think proportion. There's a place in your children's diets for anything.

Candy? Donuts? French fries? Soda? I say, "Bring 'em on." Just don't let the junk outside the good stuff. Read It Doesn't Matter What Your Kids Eat.

Think of this as a learning opportunity for your kids.Your kids aren't going to live in a world without junk so they might as well start learning how to manage these foods right now.It's an essential skill. 

4) What Your SPOUSE Can Do: Be Honest.

The honest approach is the best approach: "Daddy and I have a different way of eating, but we agree on what we want  you to learn about healthy eating."

Honesty is the best policy because...even people who would rather drink artificial sweeteners, fill up on chips, or eat til they're sick, know there's a better way. And that's what everyone wants for their children.

5) What you BOTH Can Do: Agree not to fight about food in front of the kids.

Nobody wants to turn what the kids eat into a judgment against the other parent.

And a stressful eating environment, with parents fighting over what their children should eat, is even worse for kids than unhealthy foods. 

~Changing the conversation from nutrition to habits.~