Food & Nutrition
PhillyGal34
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3 day wait question...
PhillyGal34
member
How do you handle things like herbs and spices and baking/cooking supplies. For instance I am making pancakes for DS tomorrow. They call for baking soda. Do I need to count that as a food and wait another three days? I feel dumb asking but I'm wondering what others do. I'm thinking that I shouldn't but I'm not sure if any of these things are allergenic!
Our little hippo was as impatient as mom!
Hoping for a full 40 weeks!!
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Re: 3 day wait question...
At 10 months (or even 8 months) you don't need to worry about waiting between new foods. That recommendation is more for people who are introducing before 6 months, when the digestive track is developed.
However, that being said, before 1 year you should keep an eye on sodium. All other spices are okay. I basically just excluded salt from cooking before 1 year (with the exception of baked goods where it's needed chemically) and added it to DH and my portions after.
I never waited 3 days, but ditto PP at his age I wouldn't worry.
Specifically regarding spices, I do not think they count as food and I would imagine it's extremely rare (if even possible?) to be allergic to things like basil or whatever. I'm not an expert, but I've never heard of anyone counting those as foods.
At his age, I wouldn't worry about waiting unless he's had a lot of allergic reactions; you didn't mention this so I assume he hasn't.
The 3 day wait rule lasted less than a week in our household!
Even if he were younger i don't think you need to worry about baking soda or baking powder. The flour, if untested, yes.
This happens to be related to my area of research so i figured i'd give you my understanding of the 3 day rationale. The 3 day wait is to see if the adaptive immune system (t and B cells) will trigger an overt reaction to the food item. You allergies can be either hard wired (i.e. genetic) in which case the first time you are exposed to the allergen your response will be immediate, or acquired....that is, a t or B cell that can mistakenly see the food as a foreign invader and would othwise float around minding its business does see it, and triggers a massive response that includes clones of that cell. The first time that response is put into action it takes about 72 hours for the cell to make millions of clones and for those clones to start to be released...and cause the symptoms of an allergy. The next time you are exposed to the food the response will be initiated by memory B cells...and will be immediate. It's a bit more technical than that, but that's the gist.
This initial response can be triggered at any age, it's just that the little throats and lungs of infants makes anaphylaxis, always very dangerous, that much more dangerous.
All of that to say if you are worried about a particular item I would totally follow the 3 day rule. For food additives, I'm personally less worried. Herbs and spices might be a concern. Might make sense to talk to an allergist about that.