By: Laura Sandford of JoyFoodSunshine
This post is sponsored by Crazy Richard’s. As always all opinions are 100% my own.
I have had four kids over the last 7 years. It’s amazing how much the “rules” have changed in that timeframe. From carseat use, to the introduction of specific foods, updated research seems to suggest a new set of “best practices” every six months.
As a parent it can be tricky to navigate the changing “rules” when it comes to raising kids! We all just want our babies to be happy & healthy and wake up every morning knowing they are loved. That’s why I’m an advocate for *going with your gut*. While you should obviously choose a doctor who you trust with your kids’ lives {because you just never know}, and generally abide by his/her health advice, when it comes to making the day-to-day decisions about your kid’s well-being you – as your child’s parent – are most likely to know what’s best for them.
When I had Bethany her doctor told me not to feed her peanuts until she was a toddler. I nodded along, but inwardly laughed to myself and thought, “no chance that’s happening.” It just didn’t make any sense to me.
Now, it should be no surprise that the topic of introducing your baby to peanuts is incredibly important to me. The absolute last allergy I would want my children to develop is an allergy to peanuts {and I feel a deep, real sympathy for moms who sacrifice their love of peanut butter daily for their children with allergies}! I’m pretty sure we’d just have to move to a new house because of the amount of peanut butter consumed here.
No joke…at one point my husband had an employee with an airborne peanut allergy. I had to tell her that setting foot in our house would almost definitely send her instantly into to anaphylactic shock.
Any who, I’m fairly certain that my babies’ sweet little bodies are comprised of about 85% peanut butter when they are born due to the fact that I consume it in embarrassingly large quantities. Plus, while I’m nursing I eat said amount of peanut butter without batting an eye. This means that my babies are exposed to peanuts every day of their lives. So I went with my gut and fed all of them peanuts very early {5-6 months}.
And while the “no peanuts” rule was still in effect when my second child was born, by the time baby #3 came along the “best practices” had changed. At Naomi’s 6-month checkup my pediatrician explained that it was time to introduce her to solid foods if I hadn’t yet {check out this post on how to introduce solids to your baby}. He literally said, “You can feed her anything. In fact, you can make her a peanut butter and jelly sandwich if she’ll eat it.”
He then went on to explain that studies show that early introduction to peanuts prevents peanut allergies! Honestly, I wasn’t surprised at all (hence why we let our kids eat food off the floor and don’t freak out when they eat a handful of dirt at the park). {I know I’m not the only mom who does this}! “It builds their immune system,” we say.
HOW TO INTRODUCE PEANUTS TO BABY: START THEM YOUNG!
Check out the results from a study published in the New England Journal of Medicine in 2015.
“Researchers found that babies at high risk of developing a peanut allergy who were fed the equivalent of about 4 heaping teaspoons of peanut butter each week, starting at the age of 4 to 11 months, were about 80 percent less likely to develop an allergy to the legume by age 5 than similar kids who avoided peanuts.”
Those numbers are pretty remarkable if you ask me! Yes, I rely a lot on *going-with-my-gut* when it comes to parenting. But the scientist in me loves it when my gut and research coincide so beautifully. {I majored in chemistry and was a high school teacher until Bethany was born}! Note that the study says to introduce peanuts between 4 and 11 months of age! That is much younger than the previously held “best practice” of waiting until their toddler years! (Yay for PB!)
HOW TO INTRODUCE PEANUTS TO BABY: USE POWDERED PEANUT BUTTER!
While early introduction of peanuts and peanut butter into your baby’s diet may be beneficial, they can be choking hazards for babies. When they are 4-6 months old they are still learning the mechanics of eating. Even purees can be difficult for them to eat at this stage.
And while I’m not a safety-crazed mom, I am extremely mindful and careful with my children around food. Please never leave your little ones unattended while they are eating. And only feed them foods that do not pose obvious choking threats. {This is one of the reasons I am not a proponent of baby led weaning}.
So, in order to ensure that my kids are introduced to peanuts at a young age without the risks of choking, I use Crazy Richards 100% peanut powder! Simply mix it into a food you have already introduce and know they are not allergic to {like bananas or – as in these photos – applesauce}. I promise they will love it.
HOW TO INTRODUCE PEANUTS TO YOUR BABY!
I am a firm believer in introducing babies to single-ingredient foods with 4-5 days in between. This ensures you can monitor whether or not they are not allergic to the foods you are feeding them.
I recommend mixing Crazy Richard’s peanut butter powder into a food you already know your baby is not allergic to. That way, if your child does have a reaction, you will be able to reasonably determine that it was caused by the new food- peanuts – and nothing else! Here is the “recipe” I used to introduce Mara to peanuts….
Peanut Butter Powder Applesauce
Ingredients
2 TBS unsweetened applesauce (store-bought or homemade)!
½ TBS Crazy Richards powdered peanut butter
Instructions
Add ½ TBS Crazy Richards powdered peanut butter to 2 TBS unsweetened applesauce.
Mix until combined and mixture is homogenous (e.g. no lumps)
Feed it to your baby immediately!
Notes
Any fruit puree can be used in place of applesauce. Recommendations include but are not limited to: bananas, pears and avocados.
I also recommend other fruit purees such as bananas, pears and avocados!
As you can see, my sweet baby girl loved her first taste of peanuts! Peanut butter always makes me smile too, Mara!
How to introduce Peanuts to Baby! Research shows introducing peanuts to babies at a young age helps prevent the development of peanut allergies!Save
USE CRAZY RICHARD’S!
One more note before I sign off and let you go feed your babies some peanut butter powder {or grab a spoonful for yourself….}. I highly recommend using Crazy Richard’s products. Since I go through a borderline crazy amount of peanut butter and peanut butter powder in our house, it’s very important to me to buy the best of the best.
Not only does Crazy Richard’s peanut butter have the best taste and texture of any other variety on the market, but it’s ingredient list cannot be beat. See it below?
INGREDIENTS: PEANUTS
That’s it. Because what else needs to be in there?! Salt? No way! Sugar? Get outta here. I wouldn’t feed my pure sweet babies anything that had either of those two ingredients at this stage of their lives!
Even the powder contains no fillers or added ingredients! See for yourself….
THE MORAL OF THE STORY
If you want help prevent your child from developing an allergy to peanuts, feed them peanuts early and often! Oh, and one more pic of my adorable baby being the cutest ever…
