The calendar is tidy. The high chair won’t be.
How the calendar works
The calendar introduces one new single-ingredient food every 4 days, inside the 3 to 5 days the CDC suggests, so you can spot a reaction. It starts with iron-rich foods, because babies’ iron stores run low around 6 months. The common allergens come in alongside the other first foods: there’s no reason to hold them back.
Move faster or slower as your baby lets you. Foods your baby already eats can be mixed and repeated freely between new ones. If your baby was born early, ask your pediatrician when to start.
Peanut and eczema
In 2017, an expert panel sponsored by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases found that introducing peanut early can help prevent peanut allergy. What to do depends on eczema and egg allergy:
- Neither: introduce peanut freely, alongside other solids.
- Mild or moderate eczema: introduce peanut at around 6 months, usually at home.
- Severe eczema, an egg allergy, or both: talk to your pediatrician first, and soon. The guidelines say the doctor should strongly consider allergy testing before peanut, and the first taste may happen in the office. For these babies, peanut can start as early as 4 to 6 months, after other solids, so don’t let the conversation wait. If your baby has an egg allergy, leave egg out until your pediatrician says otherwise.
For more, read the starting solids guide.
Sources
- CDC, “When, What, and How to Introduce Solid Foods.” cdc.gov
- National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, “Addendum Guidelines for the Prevention of Peanut Allergy in the United States” (2017). niaid.nih.gov
- American Academy of Pediatrics, “Starting Solid Foods.” healthychildren.org