Peanut Butter for Toddler?

A THIN layer is the key--after O. it's not so much about the allergies--it's a choking hazard! I would probably try something containing peanuts before peanut butter.

I did it at 13 months. We have no known food allergies to peanut better. My ped's stance is sooner rather than later with it.

I introduced like all other foods. I gave him a little bit for a snack 3 or 4 days in arrow. I did snack time so if there was an allergic reaction I would (hopefully) see it before bed.

My son loves pb&j I just use a thin layer with lots of jelly. Its a great easy lunch!

Because you have nut allergies, you should wait until he's 2 or 3, then get a skin prick test for all the nuts to see how he reacts. If he's negative on the skin prick test, then you can introduce nuts. Please don't feed him any nuts unless you have an epi-pen handy and are ready to use it if needed.

I want to add that my daughter was found to be very nut allergic during infancy, and we waited until her little brother was 3 before the skin prick test for nuts. He was negative, thankfully, so we know it's ok to introduce.

As for the quack doctors who think that avoiding foods leads to allergy... I've read their journal articles and I say they're full of bs and are ignoring what has been learned about the mechanisms of sensitization...

I gave my little ones peanut butter at 8 months or so. No problems ever. I have some friends who never gave their kids peanut butter but instead offered jelly sandwiches. How unhealthy! Now at age 5, some of them have never had peanut butter. Another one whose daughter has a severe peanut allergy, and the AAP is now reversing their decision and saying waiting too long to introduce it may cause more allergies. Thanks alot, glad I never listened in the first place!

Leah is right, doctors are finally realizing their advice to wait is actually causing the rise in peanut and other allergies. It finally began to dawn on them when they looked at other countries that had hardly any peanut allergies in children. In those countries parents offered peanut-flavored treats to babies at pretty early ages.

Our immune systems begin to develop from day one - or before - and the longer the body goes without encountering something (like the protein in peanuts or eggs) the more likely the body is to see it as an invader and react. In fact, the standard US pediatrician advice to limit all solid food until 6 months is a really, really bad idea (which came out of results from only 1 - ONE - study on mice) and has resulted in the rapid rise in dangerous food allergies in our country.

There was a great article about the work of an NIH scientist who is trying to undo the standard US approach in the Feb 7th New Yorker magazine - "The Peanut Puzzle: Is there a better way to prevent food allergies" by Jerome Groopman http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2011/02/07/110207fa_fa...

If you are allergic to walnuts, then there is a family history of peanut allergies, and your son could be allergic. If and when you decide to introduce peanut butter, then spread it on the bread very thinnly and watch for rashes, and if he has a strong reaction to it, it could swell up his throat. Ask your pharmacist about this and see what they recommend. You may be able to have a dose of benadryl ready just in case he does have an allergic reaction. The benadryl will counteract the allergic reaction. Check also with your pediatrician. Since you are allergic to walnuts, there could be a possibility that your son will be allergic to peanuts.
All in all, I would avoid introducing peanut butter at this age, only because you are allergic. I would wait until he got a little older, like around 3 years of age. Just get your pediatricians thoughts on this. Just to be on the safe side.

My neice is allergic to peanuts. At first, she just got hives from eating a little bit, but the reaction has gotten worse to where she can't touch a peanut or anyone who's had contact with it. She still breaks out in hives, but they're all over her body now, not just localized. The dr said she'll have worse reactions each time, and now they have to carry an epi-pen just in case because her airway could close up. Keep an eye on him for skin rashes, but I think it would be better to find out for yourself if he's allergic so you can take him to the dr right away than letting someone else give him something by mistake and discover it!

I agree w/Becky R because you do have a walnut allergy & mild tree nut would definitely wait until he is about 2 yrs old.

I have a walnut allergy and my son is allergic to peanuts. I found out when I tried peanut butter when he was 2. He had a bad rash. His allergy numbers have went up since then so he could have a worse reaction now. If you want a substitute for peanut butter, try Sunbutter. That is all we have in our house and we love it. It is made from sunflower seeds.

My brother-in-law has a peanut allergy (not me or my husband or his parents). On mistake my son was exposed to peanuts at 2 and vomited but no hives. I didn't realize it was an allergic reaction. I didn't purposely give him peanuts until 4 years old. He ate one peanut and in half an hour started vomiting and complaining his throat hurt. Now I know vomiting is a more advanced symptom of allergic reaction. From testing he is very allergic to peanuts and we have an epipen. Luckily, no respiratory problems have arisen. Allergies manifest differently depending on the person, so you may be mildly effected while your child may have a severe allergy.

I have no allergies and neither does my husband, so I was not too worried. I gave peanut butter to my babies when they turned 12 months old. I know that in families with allergies, especially severe allergies, there is advice to wait longer. What there is not, however, is evidence that simply waiting does any good. For many children, they will be allergic no matter when the allergen is introduced. For other children, they will be fine no matter when the allergen is introduced. And here's where it gets sticky, for some children, waiting TOO LONG will make them MORE likely to have an allergic reaction. It is a mess, and many doctor's opinions on the matter are not even based in scientific research. My advice to you would be to do some research of your own and draw your own conclusions. At this point, your conclusions are as likely to be true as a pediatricians’. Here are a couple of articles that I like:

http://www.jacionline.org/article/S0091-6749(09)01534-6/a... (This one basically showed that 66% of kids diagnosed with peanut allergies were not actually allergic)

http://www.time.com/time/health/article/0,8599,###-###-##... (This article cites a study done on early exposure vs. later exposure of peanut products and the incidence of allergies)

She was 1. I have a whole wheat english muffin with peanut butter every morning. One day I had it in my hand and my head was turned talking to my guy and she snuck up on it like a ninja and took a bite.
We just watched her, and gave it to her a few days in a row. There was no reaction so we started occasionally giving it to her in thin layers on crackers, toast, soft bread, etc. She loves it.

Does your pediatrician know that you have a nut allergy?

I would think that if your baby is 16 months and eats a regular old 16 month old diet, somewhere, he has been exposed to peanuts and other tree nuts. So I wouldn't worry too much. But mention your allergy to the Ped and see if he has you wait until 2. Otherwise, just spread a little on a cracker and feed it to him. Good luck!

I gave it to my son, with ped's ok, at around 8 or 9 months, but we have no allergies in our family.
However, I agree with what Robin said about waiting to introduce foods maybe causing more problems than it solves.

our son is the only one with peanut allergy. He can eat all other types of nuts. The rest of us are a.o.k.

My niece is allergic to walnuts only.....& can eat every other type of nut. The rest of her family is also a.o.k.

While allergies can run in families, it doesn't always happen!

I gave it to them as soon as I had the green light. And they love peanut butter. Here are symptoms to look for: http://www.livestrong.com/article/18120-symptoms-allergy-...

We started giving peanut butter on crackers at that age to our son.
He loved it!
PB and J is now one of his favorite lunches
and I've introduced him to PB, honey and banana sandwiches.
PB on celery is good.
We're not allergic to anything.

We waited until my daughter was 2.5 years old. No family history of ANY food allergies (husband and I both allergic to sulfa, and many different seasonal/environmental allergies). She had HORRIBLE ezcema as an infant, that we never figured out the cause of other than something I was eating (stopped nursing at 14 months and it cleared right up, so obviously tied in to that, since nothing else with her changed). Our pediatrician recommended waiting until age 2 for eggs, peanuts, tree nuts, and fish ... which at the time was the recommendation (pretty sure this has changed in the last year or so).

We ended up finally giving her half of a 3" peanut butter cookie, which she ate about half of (so 1/4 of a cookie) before I noticed she was starting to have a cough like she had some crumbs caught in her throat. She refused to take a drink of water and started FREAKING OUT ... running around the living room and her bedroom. Told her if she was going to act like that, she needed to go lay down and take a rest - went to change her diaper and noticed white spots (not hives yet). Called up the pediatrician to see if I was just looking for things or if this could be an allergic reaction. While on hold for the nurse (about two minutes), she started to complain that her mouth hurt. Nurse told us to hang up and call 911 -- we opted to just start driving to the ER (about 10 minutes away) instead of waiting for an ambulance. Just made sure to take Zyrtec along and something for her to throw up in! It took her about 15 minutes or so from beginning to eat the cookie to having the first signs of allergic reaction (the coughing). That is the one and only time she's had anything peanut butter -- each exposure increases the reaction so I'm very alert to what she is eating. We now carry an epi-pen everywhere with us, and a dose of Benedryl. Any place she spends time, especially without us (daycare, Grandma's house, and then an extra at our home) has an Epi-pen.

That is supposedly the only thing (peanuts) that she's allergic to, but we haven't tried her on tree nuts, mainly because of the cross contamination that goes hand in hand!

I asked her allergist at our last appointment about how to go about introducing foods to the one I'm currently pregnant with, and he said that really the research seems to be conflicting and he recommends going with what the AAP says. Granted, this was me asking more about introducing foods to an infant not going in to the allergenic foods.

Honestly, with you having a food allergy (which increases the chances of your children having an allergy to SOMETHING, not necessarily food -- could be a drug, or just simply environmental) I'd wait until he's older and can communicate better what is happening to him if he does react.

Our daughter had a "regular" infant/toddler diet, just minus peanuts/tree nuts (we didn't hold off on anything that was "may contain" ... so she could have plain M&Ms but not peanut M&Ms, until she had her reaction).

Good luck, and here's hoping that you continue to be the only one with an allergy in your family!

Hello!

This may get long, but please read! This will tell you exactly what to look for.

A couple of questions first. Does your son have excema or did he have it as a baby? Also, has he showed any signs of asthma? These are both hallmarks that he may have sensitivities to environmental or food allergens. I didn't know that and really wish I had because my son did have excema and also a very early asthma diagnosis at around 16 months.

My son was exposed to things that "may contain traces of" nuts such as candy at Halloween right after he turned 2. He refused to nap on those days and I thought it was from the excess sugar so didn't give him much. Over the next two months it became clear that any time he had candy in any amount, it made him completely unable to nap. Two days before Christmas, he had his first taste of pure peanut butter. I was shocked when he refused to nap and showed all the signs he had with the candy. At that point I realized it was the sugar at all, but the traces of peanut that had caused it and I had just given him the very thing that was causing the problem.

By the time I got in his room he had hives and by the time I got the doctor on the phone he was wheezing. I gave him Children's Benadryl and raced him to the ER where he was already in full anaphylaxis (reaction affecting two or more systems - skin and respiratory in his case). He was given additional Benadryl, epinephrine, and steroids to open his airway and counteract the reaction. He was then monitored overnight because those medications raise his heart rate. We did blood tests a week later and he was diagnosed with severe peanut allergy and also mild reactions to most tree nuts.

I consider myself lucky that his first reaction took over two hours to fully develop. I could clearly see the progression of agitation, itchiness, coughing, then the hives, swelling, and eventually the wheezing. I had plenty of time to get him to the hospital and get a crash course on food allergies and anaphylactic reactions. I knew the basics about hives, but was completely unaware about the anxiety/agitation symptoms that can go along with a severe reaction.

The second time my son was exposed to peanut butter (this time he was 2.5) it was by a well-meaning church lady who brought p.b. Ritz Bits crackers to his Sunday school class unaware of his allergy. They had never had snack in there before so I didn't realize it was an issue. That time it took about 10 minutes from the time he ingested two tiny crackers to the time they came running for me because he was covered in hives and coughing. By the time I got him to the ER 10 minutes later I could hear his airway closing and he was struggling for each breath. I laid on a bed with him on top of me as a team of eight people worked on him for 45 minutes to open his airway and save him. We were in the hospital for two days but thank God he was fine.

I hate to say it, but there was a third time. I can't catch every person every time and there are an awful lot of people who give food to children they don't know well without asking their parents! This time it was a mere 5 minutes from ingestion of a bite of brownie with nuts in it to full hives, swelling, struggling for breath and lips turning blue. Thankfully we now carried an Epi-pen everywhere and were able to buy ourselves enough time for paramedics to arrive.

With your history of tree nut allergies you have to wait. He doesn't know what he's missing and I don't want anyone else to go through seeing their son struggling for breath like I have three times. I don't just want sympathy, I don't enjoy typing my son's story, I want you to LISTEN. It is not worth it. Please advise your doctor about your own allergy, heed whatever advice he gives you, and have Children's Benadryl on hand before you give your son a peanut product!!