J.B.
I think there are as many different opinions about nuts, nut products and when to give them as there are kids with nut allergies out there. Even pediatricians differ widely on what age they advise peanut butter. I had 3 different doctors in the same practice tell me 3 different things -one year, 2 years and "it doesn't matter" as long as the child is eating solids (most books I read varied as well). There are no nut allergies in my family, so I started giving CREAMY ONLY peanut butter to my son when he was around 10 months. He LOVES it, and it's a great nutritional source for him. Evidently, one school of thought is that if you give it to them too early, then they'll develop an allergy to it later, and I'm sorry, but I think that's ridiculous. It seems to me that since pediatricians, allergists and nutritionists have all gotten crazy about exactly when to give nut products for the first time, nut allergies have skyrocketed. I was in the later years of college before I ever even heard of someone with a nut allergy! Now they're everywhere. I'm not trying to make light of it because I know it's extremely serious, but before we were so obsessed with it, people just gave their kids peanut butter whenever they wanted and didn't worry about it. I know there were some kids who must have been allergic, but not like today. Evidently if you don't have a family history of nut allergies, the likelihood is greatly decreased. If you're still really concerned about it, wait until you're going to the pediatrician and give him a peanut butter cracker right before you go inside. If he has a reaction -he'll be at the doctor's office.