The National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Disease says that parents can introduce foods that contain peanuts into their infants’ diets asearly as four to six months to avoid potentially lethal peanut allergies down the road.
The panel of 26 experts co-published the report across multiple medical journals, too fficially change the long standing advice that parents should withhold nuts from their kids until their 3 years old.
The report referred to a clinical trial of 600 infants that found introducing peanuts to babies and continuing until they’re 5 years old can lead to an 81% drop in peanut allergy among kids considered “high risk” due to severe eczema or an egg allergy.
The new guidelines call for infants with severe eczema, egg allergy or both to be exposed to foods with peanuts as early as four to six months, after checking with a doctor. Babies with mild to moderate eczema should be exposed to peanuts around six months. Parents whose kids have no eczema or food allergy can “go nuts” and freely introduce peanuts as they see fit.
