At what age can you introduce nuts?

[Mya's Mommy]

Hello,
I have found conflicting information on the age you can introduce nuts. I am specifically wondering about introducing almond butter. DD is almost 1 year old and I know to at least wait until after 1, but am not sure when it is safe. Any thoughts?
Thanks.

[alegna]

I did nut butters, spread thin on crackers and the like, before a year. Whole nuts sometime around 18 months? Starting with softer ones- pecans, walnuts, then cashews before any harder ones. BUT both of my kids chewed well and I'm not particularly concerned about food allergies.

-Angela

[petey44]

We gave dd peanut butter right around her first birthday. We drove to the ER and fed her a spoonful in the parking lot . Don't know why I was so concerned, no one in either of our families has food allergies.

[LindsC]

We didn't introduce nuts to DS until he was around 2 years old, but there is a family history of nut allergies. We will probably wait the same amount of time with DD.

If there is no history of allergy, around a year old seems to be a safe time to introduce them.

[MujerMamaMismo]

Originally Posted by petey44

We gave dd peanut butter right around her first birthday. We drove to the ER and fed her a spoonful in the parking lot . Don't know why I was so concerned, no one in either of our families has food allergies.

That's the best idea ever! I was really nervous about nuts, probably irrationally, but if I'd thought of that...hmmm

I did wait until my SIL, who is a nurse, was around to introduce strawberries.

[butterfly_mommy]

Originally Posted by alegna

I did nut butters, spread thin on crackers and the like, before a year. Whole nuts sometime around 18 months? Starting with softer ones- pecans, walnuts, then cashews before any harder ones. BUT both of my kids chewed well and I'm not particularly concerned about food allergies.

-Angela

I did this as well

[mamadelbosque]

We never 'watied' on anything... ds2 just had nutella on tpast fpr the first time (I *think* its possible hes had it before...) a couple nights ago - hes 10 months today

[JBaxter]

Ds4 was fed part of a peanut butter and jelly sandwich at 10 months. Big brothers do that. Ever since we just did nut butters and the past few months he has loved cashews and almonds.

[lach]

They've recently changed the recommendation. It turned out that waiting to introduce nuts actually seemed to make allergies worse. Now you're supposed to do it whenever you'd like.

BTW, it's rare that a child will have a serious reaction on the first exposure to nuts. They might have a small reaction (usually a rash), or nothing at all. Then on the second or third exposure is when they'll have a serious reaction.

[Super~Single~Mama]

My DS has eaten almond butter almost every day for...months! He loves it!

[lnitti]

dd1 was 18 months with peanut butter.
dd2 was around 18 months also with a granola bar (almonds, sunflower seeds and peanuts). We found out with that first intro that she most definitely is very allergic. About 9 months later, we found through testing that she is allergic to both almonds AND peanuts.

[nukuspot]

1 yr with all nuts (in nut butter or ground form) except peanuts. I am going to wait until 18mo-2 years for peanuts, I think, just to be on the safe side.

[baglady]

At about 13 months DS stuck his hand in some peanut butter and went to town. It was fine, and I was relieved he made the decision for me. I was so stressed about when to introduce it.

[Surfer Rosa]

Unless you have a family history of nut allergies, you can proceed with nut butters at a year. My brothers have nut allergies, so were advised to wait til DD was 4. We started with almond butter (wanted to try a tree nut, not a ground nut first) and one bite in, she told us her mouth was itchy. Sure enough, she is severely allergic to almonds.

I have to say, I was so grateful she could verbalize what she was feeling, AND that her first reaction wasn't life-threatening.

[Honey693]

We did nut butters before a year. I just made sure we had Benadryl and the dosing info on hand in case she had a reaction.

[kcstar]

1 yr for pecan pieces, since I wanted his 1st cake to be carrot cake. I waited longer for peanuts. There is no history of allergies in my family.

There was a week or two where I had two slices of toast for breakfast each morning, one with peanut butter and the other with jam. DS started wanting some. For a few days, I could give him a piece of the bread with jam and he'd eat it. One morning he wouldn't take the jam, he had to have some from the peanut butter slice. I alerted my husband, gave DS a bit, and watched him for about 15 minutes. Everything was fine so I went on to work.