Food Allergy or Intolerance?

Weaning your baby is such an exciting and much anticipated milestone in your little one’s early life and yet at the same time it can be fraught with worry and concern, particularly where allergies and intolerances are concerned.

The Difference Between an Allergy & Intolerance

A food allergy

Is a reaction by your immune system (your body’s defence against infection). Your immune system mistakenly treats proteins found in food as a threat
Symptoms usually happen quickly after eating a small amount of the food, such as a rash, wheezing and itching
Common food allergies in babies and children include milk, eggs, fish, peanuts and other nuts

A food intolerance

Does not involve your immune system – there is no allergic reaction
Causes symptoms that happen gradually, often a few hours after eating the food
Only results in symptoms if you eat a substantial amount of the food (unlike an allergy, where just traces can trigger a reaction)

I’ve worked with many families over the years whose children have become anxious eaters or incredibly selective about the food they will or won’t eat due to pre-existing health conditions including severe reflux, allergies, intolerances and coeliac disease. Whether you’re just starting out or in the middle of your weaning journey, I always advocate a relaxed, fun approach to weaning to help the experience become enjoyable and a positive one for everyone involved.

Making weaning fun and interactive can enable you to feel excited and in control rather than apprehensive when trying things for the first time.

Top Tips to Try When Sampling a New Food

Knowing the difference between a food intolerance and a food allergy is essential for your baby during your weaning journey, so we’ve got some simple and fun tips to try out with your baby when sampling a new food. Each tip comes with some easy, hands on ideas to try with your little one, with the aim of making new foods fun.

Finger Food Fun

Sticks of soft fruit or soft cooked vegetables are great for encouraging independent feeding. Lead by example and demonstrate how your little one can brush their gums or teeth with a baton of soft cooked carrot or other root vegetables.

Join in with lots of enthusiastic “ahhhhh” and “cheeeese” as you brush your own teeth to encourage them to do the same.

Mirror Time

Babies love looking at their reflection! Place a small amount of puree at the sides of your little one’s mouth and encourage them to stretch their tongue to reach it.

This only uses a small amount of new food on your baby’s skin but also encourages tongue dexterity which supports the muscles required for speech and later controlling more challenging textures in their mouth as they progress through the weaning stage.

Join in with your baby and model for them. Have fun watching each other in the mirror as you stretch your tongues out to reach the puree. Older babies and children might like to paint a spot of puree on the tip of their tongue and watch the magic as it disappears when they close and then open their mouth again!

Introduce Textures

It’s really important that we introduce food textures to our babies early on in weaning as they can sometimes be met with a little resistance. A really simple and effective approach of early desensitization to textures is to use food combining to bridge the gap between two food textures whilst offering an independent feeding experience.

Pairing something like Carrot Puffs with an organic carrot puree provides your baby with the opportunity to dip and self feed. Your baby will experience a small textural addition to the puree when dipped and enjoyed together.

For slightly older babies from seven months who are moving onto more challenging textures, food combining is still a brilliant tool to offer an independent feeding experience and some added texture.

Pairing some organic apple puree with an Apple Rice Cake provides an independent feeding experience using the rice cake as a dipper or edible spoon and offers added texture to the puree that’s being enjoyed by your baby.

Get Messy!

Finger popping is a brilliant way to have fun, encourage independent feeding and introduces only a small amount of food to begin with.

Demonstrate how you can dip your own finger into a new food – this could be a puree, porridge or mashed food, then suck your finger to make a loud popping sound! Encourage your baby to do the same and give lots of encouraging praise for their efforts!

Take Baby Steps

If you are particularly concerned about how your little one may react to a certain food, use only a small amount in isolation. Encouraging your baby to smell, kiss or simply lick a new food is a great way to build their confidence with an unfamiliar food but also will allow you the opportunity to watch out for any reactions that may occur on their hands or face.

Joining in with your baby and having fun together exploring a new food will help you to relax and in turn your baby will have a positive experience too!