Peanut Butter Safe to Eat for One Year Old?

Pediatric advice is now shifting in favor of introducing peanut butter earlier rather than later. This is based on a fairly recent study of peanut allergy around the world. Where kids are introduced later, there is a much higher incidence of peanut allergies.

Here's one summary: http://blogs.babycenter.com/mom_stories/early-introductio...

However, if there is a family history of food allergy, peanut or latex allergy in particular, it would be a good idea to get a pediatrician's advice.

My son started to lose his hearing from the fungus that is attached to the peanuts. We stopped it and did a fungal detox on him and in 3 months, his hearing came back. We feed him sunflowerseed butter and agave nectar sandwiches. When he has the occassional peanut products, he has no issues.

We get the sunflowerseed butter at Trader Joe's and the Agave nectar at a local store.

My pediatrician had me hold off on peanut butter until my kids were about 1 1/2...she said there was nothing wrong them eating it, but it was difficult for them to eat and could pose a problem in that way. Hard for them to get off the rough of their mouth, stuff like that.

-M

I think it's probably fine, but just something my pediatrican said was to make sure if you're making a sandwich or something that you make it kind of skimpy on the PB. One of the risks of PB is not always an allergy but that it can get gloppy and become a choking hazard. Just keep that in mind, but I think it's probably fine to introduce it now. For an additional source of protein try cottage cheese as well. It's really high in protein and it's something my daughter always ate b/c she didn't eat much meat either and my son seems to be following in her footsteps!

Congrats on the first birthday...how exciting!!! :)

All the advice you have received is in line with current recommendations from the American Academy of Pediatrics.

Yes, you can give your 1 year-old peanut butter. If there is a known family food allergen to peanuts, you should speak with your pediatrician first. However, the current belief is that withholding the foods actually create the allergies instead of the previous mindset to delay introducing them.

Regardless, you should probably make a call to your pediatrician's office to make sure you are in agreement with his way of thinking.

Goodl uck!

When my one year old went for his 12 month check up last month, our pediatrician advised us to feed him peanut butter. As long as there are no peanut allergies in your family, you can give him peanut butter. He probably will not be able to eat peanut butter in school once he attends because of the nut allergy issues.

I've always given my one-year old daycare kids peanut butter after the age of one, unless there is a peanut allergy in the immediate family. I did the same for my daughter. As with any food that you're introducing for the first time, be watchful of rashes, vomitting, etc. and stop if any symptoms do occur. Good luck!

The allergy research is constantly changing. Some doctors believe that you should wait until a child is 3 years old to introduce peanuts to minimize the risk of an allergic reaction. However, new research is saying that you should introduce it early to help them get accustomed to eating it. Many doctors agree with this new thinking. So, the bottom line... no one knows for sure and there probably isn't a reason to wait if you don't have any reason to believe that your son is going to be allergic.

That said, a few things to keep in mind when trying peanuts/peanut butter for the first time:

1. Try a TINY amount to begin with. Seriously, like a bite the size of a pea. If your son is severely allergic, this will be more than enough to set him off. If he does well, you can very slowly offer more.

2. Have children's benadryl right next to you and know the proper dosage for your child based on his weight. That way, if there is a sign of immediate reaction, you are prepared.

3. Try it during the day, at a time when a phone call to your doctor will be answered and it'll be easy to get medical care if needed. Don't wait till dinnertime when the doc's office is closed and rush hour traffic has set in just in case you need to rush somewhere.

I don't mean to scare you, but I just think it's best to be prepared. My son has some pretty bad allergies and I know from experience that it's better to be overly cautious than to just jump right in.

K.
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I didn't realize with my first child that there was any controversy with regard to peanuts. I gave it to her, she loved it, and was perfectly fine. Kids used to eat peanut butter all the time until just a few years ago when allergies suddenly became more prominent. If there's no history of nut allergies in your family, I think peanut butter is a great source of protein for your son. It makes a fun dip for them for apples, graham crackers, etc.

Although peanut butter is probably fine, don't give up on lean meats. Turkey, chicken, tuna, salmon, etc.. keep offering this stuff. Peanut butter is technically a fat. Yes, it has protein but you must take in a lot of fat to reach an optimum amount of protein from it. A healthier option would be almond butter.
Use caution with either as they are both choking hazards.
As for allergies - it's not that he could be allergic now but that the sooner you introduce the more likely he would be allergic later. At least that is what my ped. said (not that I believe everything he says). My son had peanut butter -on accident (sort of) very early. He is now 5 and so far no problems.

My kids didn't really follow what people are saying now. Two of my kids had peanut butter young and they were both allergic. Two of my children didn't have peanut butter (or peanuts) at all but I had them tested when they were 7 and 9. My 7 year old was allergic to peanuts and cashews (he'd been eating cashews but not peanuts) and my 9 year old wasn't allergic at all. So, I'd give it a try but watch for any symptoms. Good luck!

I'm not going to say anything about the PB since you have a lot of responses on that, but I will mention some other great protein options. Yogurt, beans, cottage cheese, tofu. My son wasn't in to meat and has always been on the light side, so I gave him all kinds of extra protein. Just realize that too much protein can be bad, although I doubt he could get too much unless he only ate food full of protein.

It is odd that with the high amount of food allergies developing in our children these days that doctors say as long as there are no food allergies in the family, the child should be fine. Neither my husband or I or our families have food allergies and our son has a severe allergy to most nuts. So please be careful when starting on peanut butter.

Our dr says that PB is OK at 1 as long as there is no family history of peanut allergies. My hubby has already given our 9 month old PB *sigh*, he didn't have any problems eating it.

Be careful - our pediatrician said that peanut butter can cause chocking - it is hard to swallow for little kids.

We don't have a history of peanut allergies in my family, and I hadn't heard anything about not giving little kids peanuts, so my daughter was eating off my sandwhiches when we introduced solids. We have never had a problems... Just watch for problems and he should be fine.
Good luck
R.

Some "experts" say peanut butter is fine as long as there is no history of family allergies...I personally feed my kids organic almond and sunflower seed butter - my one yr old loves it!

My son had his first PB&J at around 9 months old.

As for the ability to eat it, I just spread it very thin. He had no problems at all.

As for the allergy issue, they used to say kids were more likely to develop allergies to the most common problem foods like peanuts if they ate them before one year old. NOW they're saying not only does it seem that might not be the case, it seems it may actually increase the rate of allergies if their not exposed till very late.

So personally I think that unless there's a history of severe food allergies in your family, at one year old I think it's fine. I would start with just a thin amount on a piece of bread and go from there.

This is what I did, I gave my daughter a taste of PB on my finger when she was 13 or 14 months old. I waited 3 or 4 days before giving it to her again. It worked out fine. This way, if she had a reaction, we would have been ready and we would have noticed it.

I gave my son peanut butter after his first birthday... he loved it! I had researched quite a bit, and most African mothers use peanut butter as a first food, well before their first birthdays... so I figured an American mom can try it too! Just be aware of your son's behavior and look for any symptoms of an allergy. I may also have some Benadryl on standby, just in case.

My Dr said not to introduce it until two yrs. I would ask your pediatrician. They usually know best on those topics.

If you give him peanut butter before the age of two, you are more likely to create an allergy to peanuts especially if ANY food allergies run in your family.

*My son seemed fine with it by 22 months, but now he's 35 months and he's developed an allergy. Please be careful!

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Our doctor said it was fine for us to try peanut butter for our son fairly early on. To be safe, we didn't give it to him until the morning of a doctor's appointment - basically on the way out the door, we gave our son a bit of toast with peanut butter. He turned out to be fine with it, and it made us feel a little better knowing we were heading into the doctor's office if anything should happen.