TTMA introducing peanut butter

fitmama418 · December 2014

I have to say I'm surprised I didn't find a thread on this yet! I thought for sure I'd missed one.

I'm waiting for a call back from Sophia's pedi/the nurse to get what the proper Benadryl dosage is for her at this age since we plan on introducing peanut butter for the first time tomorrow. I'm a nervous wreck about it and I'm not entirely sure why. Neither DH nor I are allergic to peanut butter, she hasn't shown any adverse reactions to any foods at this point. @keight38 gave me some advice to try and smear a little PB on her skin first to see if anything happens and then give it a try, but does anyone else have any advice? Please share your experiences or your anxieties with me! I'd love the help/to know I'm not alone.

DebateThis · December 2014

Try to remember that PB allergies are still really rare in the grand scheme of things. Also, the sooner you introduce it, the better. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3710027/

https://online.wsj.com/articles/SB10001424127887324662404578334423524696016

mwhipple77 · December 2014

Our pedi told us it was fine to introduce at any point now, but to stick with smooth peanut butter for the choking hazard still. I have given her a little bit on banana and she didn't seem to mind it.

I have to buy both smooth (creamy) and super chunky now since DH likes his nutty!

fitmama418 · December 2014

Great advice so far everyone, thanks! Yes, my exact thoughts for breakfast tomorrow was going to be toast with PB and banana.

73jewels · December 2014

We tried it at about 10 1/2 months. No one in our family has any food allergies and he had had no bad reactions up till that point. Plus I had eaten peanut butter throughout my whole pregnancy, and while breastfeeding, had it on my hands when touching him as an infant, etc., so I figured we were safe.

I started with a tiny bit on a cheerio, just out of curiosity. He loved it and clapped his hands for more.

The next time I did a tiny bit on a corner of bread. Then after those times were successful, I made a small PB&J sandwich. A very light layer of both peanut butter and jelly.

Over the past 6 weeks he's probably had 15 PB&J sandwiches. They are one of his absolute favorite foods.

UntaggableKatie · December 2014

My mom was watching him one day and she said he ate PB and Jelly... he snarfed it right down!

cagoldi · December 2014

Even though allergies were suspected our pedi had no issue with us giving PB so she gave us the green light at his 9 month appointment. He had no issues.

I'm sure it will be fine but I do want to say I'm glad you have the Benadryl JIC. When A had his reaction to raspberries it was so scary and I really don't know how bad it could have been if we weren't able to give him Benadryl.

PeachsMama · December 2014

My pedi wants us to wait until he can say "mommy my tongue feels funny" because we have a family history. My mom is air borne allergic. So probably 2

Eboote · December 2014

I asked about this at our one year appointment and my pedi said the AAP recommends to wait until age 4! I guess the reasoning is when they are that age they can tell you if something feels funny. I had never heard of waiting that long. We haven't introduced it yet, but not sure we will wait that long either. We have no family history of any allergies to nuts or peanut butter.

cagoldi · December 2014

Eboote said:

I asked about this at our one year appointment and my pedi said the AAP recommends to wait until age 4! I guess the reasoning is when they are that age they can tell you if something feels funny. I had never heard of waiting that long. We haven't introduced it yet, but not sure we will wait that long either. We have no family history of any allergies to nuts or peanut butter.

I'm not going to tell you your pedi is wrong or you should do something different, but those are old guidelines. They were revised last year and actually suggest that children who are introduced sooner are less likely to develop an allergy.

Our pedi specifically instructed us to do wheat, fish, and citrus between 6-9 months, and nuts and pretty much anything else between 9-12. We're only steering clear of WCM.

Even our Allergist said they used to say to wait until 3, but now there is no reason to delay unless a nut allergy is suspected.

Eboote · December 2014

I haven't yet looked up the recommendations myself, but plan to do my own research. My pedi even told me they haven't given PB to their 5 year old, but I think she said there was a history of allergies or something like that. I miss our old pedi and his office staff!

it sucks moving to another state and getting a new pedi. I just want to give J a PB and J sandwich. I think he would love it

so far he hasn't met a food he hasn't liked.

Added: I didn't mean for that to sound bitchy when I said I was going to do my own research. What I meant was, after talking to my pedi about it I was going to research the recommendations on my own. I believe what you said about them being old.

DebateThis · December 2014

Eboote said:

I haven't yet looked up the recommendations myself, but plan to do my own research. My pedi even told me they haven't given PB to their 5 year old, but I think she said there was a history of allergies or something like that. I miss our old pedi and his office staff! it sucks moving to another state and getting a new pedi. I just want to give J a PB and J sandwich. I think he would love it so far he hasn't met a food he hasn't liked. Added: I didn't mean for that to sound bitchy when I said I was going to do my own research. What I meant was, after talking to my pedi about it I was going to research the recommendations on my own. I believe what you said about them being old.

Please see the links above + this:
https://www.aaaai.org/Aaaai/media/MediaLibrary/PDF Documents/Practice and Parameters/Primary-prevention-allergic-disease-through-nutrition.pdf

Your pedi needs to do some reading since he/she is going off of 15 year old inaccurate recs.

88sharonlee · December 2014

Hope it went well.
We tried it around 9 or 10 months, I forget. I was super nervous as well but in the end it was pretty uneventful

Did the check smear, then gave some on toast. Now she gets wheat crackers with PB or J occasionally for snacks.

At daycare today my DCP said B is the only one whose had PB yet! I was shocked, the other two kids are about 2 and a half!

But she's ok with me bringing PB since neither of them have a known allergy, not sure why there parents haven't introduced it yet. ( not judging just curious)

CJS2011 · December 2014

Not sure how much your LO weighs, because Benadryl dosing would be based on weight, but our little guy is 23 lbs and when he had hives last week, our ped had us give him 6.25 mg of Benadryl.

Eboote · December 2014

@DebateThis‌ thanks for the info!

Kfran84 · December 2014

CJS2011 said:
Not sure how much your LO weighs, because Benadryl dosing would be based on weight, but our little guy is 23 lbs and when he had hives last week, our ped had us give him 6.25 mg of Benadryl.

At 19 lbs I was advised to give 3.75 ml. So be careful because it looks like recs vary. We were just trying to dry up congestion thought, not stop hives.

mamabearrbecky · December 2014

I am totally nervous about this, too. I don't know why. Maybe I will bite the bullet and try it this weekend. Like you, we have no history of allergies to ANYTHING, much less peanut butter. And I didn't ever worry about introducing anything else. So, you're in good company!!

CarrieB. · December 2014

Unless you have a family history of peanut allergies, it's fine. And the whole smearing it on skin first is silly. That will not tell you if you have an allergy.

DH has a peanut allergy and was hospitalized because of a reaction as a child, so we waited (per the pediatrician's recommendation) until DD1 was 3 to try peanut butter and it was fine, no allergy. We ended up allergy testing DD2 because of a reaction she had to pine nuts, but she was fine too.

TJHine · December 2014

I started PB at 8 1/2 months. T has it every morning, a thin layer on a whole wheat mini waffle. He loveeees it!

CJS2011 · December 2014

Kfran84 said:

CJS2011 said:
Not sure how much your LO weighs, because Benadryl dosing would be based on weight, but our little guy is 23 lbs and when he had hives last week, our ped had us give him 6.25 mg of Benadryl.
At 19 lbs I was advised to give 3.75 ml. So be careful because it looks like recs vary. We were just trying to dry up congestion thought, not stop hives.

19 and 23 pounds is a huge difference. I wouldn't say the recs differ at all. I'm sure our ped would have recommended less too if our LO weighed 4 lbs less. 6.25 mg is 5mL of the actual medication, so it's not far off from your 3.75mL. OP, what this boils down to is ask your own ped next time you go, just in case you would ever need it.

Kfran84 · December 2014

CJS2011 said:

Kfran84 said:

CJS2011 said:
Not sure how much your LO weighs, because Benadryl dosing would be based on weight, but our little guy is 23 lbs and when he had hives last week, our ped had us give him 6.25 mg of Benadryl.
At 19 lbs I was advised to give 3.75 ml. So be careful because it looks like recs vary. We were just trying to dry up congestion thought, not stop hives.
19 and 23 pounds is a huge difference. I wouldn't say the recs differ at all. I'm sure our ped would have recommended less too if our LO weighed 4 lbs less. 6.25 mg is 5mL of the actual medication, so it's not far off from your 3.75mL. OP, what this boils down to is ask your own ped next time you go, just in case you would ever need it.

I'm reading this as argumentative and I don't know why that would be, but no, 19 and 23 lbs is not a huge difference.

I had to give LO Benadryl at age 4 and 5 mos before he could start Zyrtec at age 6 Mos. So he weighed like 12-14 lbs then and we were told 2.5 ml. That's why going from 3.75 to 6.25 in the span of 4 lbs sounded like a big leap to me.

So. If someone's ped said to give 6.25 for hives, ok, but I'm saying that's not what I was told and OP should ask her ped for recs. I find it kind of irresponsible that you would throw out a dosing suggestion to begin with unless you're a doc or nurse.

fitmama418 · December 2014

I wussed out because she has a cold and the beginnings of an ear infection so now she's on antibiotics. :-/ Stay tuned next for next weekend...

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