Preventing food allergies in babies

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Extract from the article: Baby's food allergies are a real source of worry for parents. What are the best habits to adopt to limit baby's allergies? Here are some paediatric recommendations.

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Baby's food allergies are a real source of worry for parents. What are the best habits to adopt to limit baby's allergies? Here are some paediatric recommendations.

With allergies becoming increasingly common, it's legitimate for parents to wonder about the best way to prevent them in their child. From pregnancy to food diversification, here's how to limit the risk of having a child with a food allergy.

No strict diets during pregnancy

Eliminating certain allergenic foods such as milk, eggs and peanuts from a pregnant woman's diet is pointless. What's more, a special diet can lead to vitamin and mineral deficiencies in the mother-to-be. Avoiding alcohol is the only necessity. In addition, a Swedish study has shown that eating oily fish (salmon, sardines, tuna, herring) during pregnancy helps to prevent the development of allergies in the child. This is due to the omega-3 essential fatty acids, which have anti-inflammatory properties.

Breastfeeding your baby

Breast milk provides babies with all the nutrients they need to develop in good health, and the World Health Organisation (WHO) recommends breastfeeding until they are six months old. «Recent studies have shown that breastfeeding your baby for 4 to 6 months has a protective effect on the development of a food allergy. Continued breastfeeding at the start of food diversification also helps to improve food tolerance.However, breast-feeding does not protect against all allergies, particularly to house dust mites. And be careful not to continue breastfeeding for too long at the expense of dietary diversification, as it could lead to teething problems and rejection of solids or chunks», stresses a dietician-nutritionist.

Choosing a hypoallergenic infant formula 

Breastfeeding is not favoured by all mothers.In Togo, according to the 2013-2014 EDST, only 58% of children under the age of 6 months are exclusively breastfed.From the age of 6 months, all children must receive complementary food.The results show that 69% of children aged 6-9 months receive complementary foods.  The choice of infant milk is one of the most important foods. Some hypoallergenic infant formulas, such as the baby milk sold in pharmacies, provoke few allergic reactions and have a preventive effect on atopic dermatitis, the most common allergic phenomenon in toddlers' food allergies.

Baby milk sold in pharmacies contains probiotics, living micro-organisms that play a beneficial role in balancing the intestinal flora and preventing allergies.Probiotics are effective against infant colic, constipation and diarrhoea.

Diversifying food between 4 and 6 months

Introducing food too early can lead to food allergies.However, it is also possible that introducing foods too late can lead to eating disorders, as children who are less receptive to new tastes may resist them and restrict what they eat.The authors therefore recommend starting food diversification between 4 and 6 months.  At this age, ‘it's important to stick to the recommended quantities of food, because if you force a toddler to eat, he may refuse the food or vomit, but he won't be allergic. And for them to appreciate a food, it may have to be presented up to seven or eight times’.

From 4-5 months, add a little infant flour to baby's morning bottle. Always check that the water in the bottle is suitable for baby.However, don't overdo it, as adding too much infant flour is often the cause of constipation in babies.

From the age of 6 months, avoid offering sweet or salty foods from the outset. For example, give baby pureed vegetables with his midday bottle.Vegetables should be chopped and pureed and can be given by spoon or mixed into the bottle.Make your own vegetable purées, but do not add salt. Vegetables should preferably be steamed, as this method of cooking preserves the vitamins best. From 9 months onwards, they should be presented in very small pieces.

To help your child learn to distinguish the taste of each food, introduce vegetables one by one, followed by fruit one by one. After a few weeks, it will be possible to mix and match.At around 8 months, baby should be eating 2 varied meals and 2 or 3 bottles of 500 ml of milk a day.

William O.