Do you wait 3 days to introduce a new food?

welly01 · April 2013

For those doing BLW, how often do you introduce a new food, particularly when you first started? Our pedi recommended to wait 3 days between foods but I swear I've seen something related to BLW that said that's no longer considered necessary. Something about if an allergic reaction is going to happen, it will only take a short time, like within an hour?

Does anyone doing BLW (or not) know of a resource that says its okay to give a new food every day and maybe even two foods at once?

We sort of started solids yesterday by giving LO a fresh carrot to gnaw on (for teething). He was having a lot of fun, so I gave him a small piece of steamed broccoli. DH was irritated because he wanted to wait 3 days between foods.

I feel like its a little silly to be concerned about being allergic to broccoli and carrots. We don't have any allergies in our family. Of course when we introduce foods that are more likely to cause an allergic reaction, I would want to be really careful...but just regular veggies?

DottyBlue · April 2013

we don't, but we also don't have any major allergies in either side of the family. We'll be careful with the big allergens (peanuts, milk products, mango), but I agree with you it's silly to be worried about veggies.

ASmallWonder · April 2013

The three day way is more about your comfort level because it doesn't change whether or not an allergy will present. But if one does and all you've given in three days is carrots, you know it was the carrots. If you've given carrots AND broccoli you'll need to hold off on those and reintroduce each of them again slowly since you can't be sure which one caused it. My feeling is that as long as you're not giving them some complex meal and you accept possibly having to back off of multiple things for a time due to a reaction, you don't have to be SUPER strict with the wait period.

Ladiebug710 · April 2013

I used to follow the three day rule pretty strictly, but I'm a little bit more lax with it now. I wouldn't worry about new veggies too close together.

abbyful · April 2013

The 3 day wait rule lasted about a week in our house. Now we just LO anything except for honey. Including ethnic food; he's had kheer, tabbouleh, curry, etc.

This is a good read about variety vs allergies: https://www.itsnotaboutnutrition.com/home/2012/1/31/early-vegetable-variety-the-french-advantage.html

ChristyML · April 2013

elmoali:
The three day way is more about your comfort level because it doesn't change whether or not an allergy will present. But if one does and all you've given in three days is carrots, you know it was the carrots. If you've given carrots AND broccoli you'll need to hold off on those and reintroduce each of them again slowly since you can't be sure which one caused it. My feeling is that as long as you're not giving them some complex meal and you accept possibly having to back off of multiple things for a time due to a reaction, you don't have to be SUPER strict with the wait period.

I agree with this. I have only given DS two things so far (bananas and applesauce) both in the three day period, and he hasn't had a reaction except maybe constipation but bananas will do that, but if he had, it's not difficult to hold off on two things or just try bananas or just applesauce to find the culprit.

Empireceo · April 2013

Haha, we're the same way. One of his first foods was homemade refried beans (we don't use lard) and he loved them, but I've definitely been side-eyed for not sticking with the "normal" foods!

melody921 · May 2013

LoisLayn23:
Yes, an allergic reaction presents quickly. However, an allergy take repeated exposure. Which is why they recommend 3 days in between. That way, you will see that they've been exposed 3 times with no reaction.

This. It's easier for you to figure out the reaction was from carrots if that's the only thing you gave. As PPs said, it's probably not critical with veggies, but you'll want to be more careful with nuts, strawberries, eggs, other more common allergens. I find, just by nature of DD being the second kid and us being busier, I'm lucky if she tries a new food every week let alone every three days, so she's had plenty of time between foods.

ljhgrey · May 2013

I was going to ask this same thing. I read in the BLW literature also that it wasn't necessary to wait between foods. So I didn't. DS's skin became pretty pimply after one of our early food adventures. I think it was pears. Or, he has dry skin and heat rash. I really don't know. He's acting fine and not having any severe reactions to anything, but I'm laying off pears to see if it helps. He also had mango early on. I missed the memo about that being a tricky one. But in a week's time he's tried a handful of new things.

Want a personalized experience?

Do you wait 3 days to introduce a new food?

Re: Do you wait 3 days to introduce a new food?

Choose Another Board

Search Boards