when to try peanuts?

[*PinkLilly*]

Funny story...my DH gave my 18mth old nephew a piece of toast with peanut butter on it, THEN asked me if it was alright if he could have it. By the time I said 'NO' and found the little tike, he had already eaten it and was asking for more . Peanut butter sangas are now his fav

[Artechim]

In NZ the info handed out by Plunket lists smooth peanut butter as suitable for 8-9 months olds, and only suggests holding off until 3 if there is a history of nut allergies.

[sunshine_sieben]

Don't ask me, I'm a naughty one when it comes to these things. I had nuts while pregnant, DD had cow's milk yoghurt and cheese and eggs from 6 or 7 months and peanut butter sandwiches every now and then from about 8 or 9 months.
There are NO allergy cases in either DHs or my families, not even a slight case of hey fever. So I didn't worry about these things.

Sasa

[~clover~]

My girls started on peanut butter pretty young. around 18 months - 2.

Just remember no actual nuts til over 5 though. So no crunchy pb. They can't digest them.

[Kazbah]

Ummm at our 12-mth-checkup with the MCN she said we could be eating everything now - she suggested we smear peanut butter on his wrist first and see if there was a reaction. There was none, so gave him a little peanut butter and he's fine! I also feed him macademia cookies ;D

Like Sasa, I had nuts while preggers. I figure that heck, I'm not allergic, so bugger if I'm going to deny his immune system from developing recognition.

(darn, now I want toast with peanut paste)

[christy]

But nut allergies can happen in families without history of it. I know that we often think "it was okay for x ... it should be okay for me" But I just don't feel its always worth it.

My children have food allergies, but neither DH or I had issues. In our families its only now that allergies are coming out.

[Nai]

As Christy said, nut allergies do happen in families with no history - like mine! Neither DP nor I have any food allergies whatsoever but DD has a severe peanut allergy and a mild egg allergy. My boss has 3 daughters and has no family history of allergies either. He ate some peanuts, kissed his youngest daughter and she had an anaphylactic reaction.

It just goes to show that you can never be too careful.