New Post has been published on https://www.healthiernfit.com/how-many-days-must-we-pass-between-one-food-and-another-at-the-beginning-of-complementary-feeding/
How many days must we pass between one food and another at the beginning of complementary feeding?
For many years the issue of complementary food has been a real chaos at the time of making the recommendations because each center, and each professional, explained it in their own way and in the end it seems that there were as many recommendations as professionals . Some said that you had to start at 4 months, others that at six; some said that first there was to give fruit, others that first cereals and others that did not matter; some said that what gave more allergy had to wait and others that did not need; And so, as I say, each family did a different thing and as they happened to ask other families the debate was served.
Now we know that it is not necessary to wait with practically no food, precisely because the longer it takes to offer greater is the risk of allergy , and that is why there are so many six-month-old babies who are already eating peaches or strawberries, legumes, fish or even eggs Food that until now was not given until 12 or even 18 months.
Now, there is still an important question: how many days must we pass between one food and another at the beginning of complementary food?
All of a sudden a week between food
About ten years ago, when I started working in pediatrics we gave some recommendations in which there was no limitation between some foods and others. We handed out a page where it was said that after six months they could start eating vegetables, fruit, cereals, meat … and every mother and father made and unmade according to what they considered best.
Then, we began to consider that this could be dangerous, and some, like me, we went to the recommendations that then gave official bodies, with guides talking about separating food at least seven days . Thus, each week a food was added to the diet of each baby to be very clear that it was well tolerated and there was no allergic reaction.
Of the week between meals to one per day
The problem of giving a feed every 7 days is that the child is growing and his diet is very poor . If the first week we give potatoes, the second beans, the third pear, the fourth chicken and the fifth orange, for example, we will be talking about a baby over 7 months who only eats 5 foods , and that if accept well and more or less like them.
Another problem is that the allergy to these foods is very rare , so we have thousands of babies with little diversified diets in case you react to a food at a particular time. That’s why in many cases, many professionals started talking about waiting one day between meals, especially if there was no family history of allergy and if the food was not allergenic.
Thus, four or five years ago the recommendation of offering one food per day , never for dinner (in case there was some kind of reaction during the night) became very popular , counting on those 24 hours to observe possible reactions: edema, respiratory problems , diarrhea, vomiting, skin reactions, etc.
Above all, this was done to have a little controlled IgE mediated allergic reactions , which are the most scary because they are those that put more risk to the life of a baby, and usually appear after consuming the food that causes allergy .
The bad thing about waiting one day, is that often the allergic reactions do not happen after the first exposure to the food, but sometimes it is after the second or third , and then the doubt appears: has it been put like this so I have given him new today or for what I have been giving him repeatedly for three days?
But in the end it gives a little bit the same because you have to run to the hospital and there they will ask you what you have given a little while before. And even if one of the foods has never tasted it, those that have been tried will be possible culprits, so tests should also be done to determine which of the foods consumed before the reaction is the cause .
Moreover, I know cases of allergic reaction on the sixth or seventh day, others of bestial reaction on the first day (never having tried it and become fatal with the first exposure), and cases of reaction in foods that were already tolerated because the child was months that I ate it without problems.
From food per day to three to five days
And so we come to the current recommendation of the guide “Recommendations for early childhood feeding”, referring to the most updated evidence, because it is from last year, where it is said that the ideal is that we wait between three and five days , it is also the recommendation of the Pediatric Nutrition Handbook of the American Academy of Pediatrics.
These three days would be a good way to control a little better the possible reactions in the first three days, which are the most “key”, and would not have to wait so long between food to make the diet of children was so poor as the mentioned food per week.
What an eye, the best way to control allergens would be to give a feed every ten days , for example. Or every two weeks. We would have very clear that it tolerates it well and in case of allergy we would have very clear the food that causes it. But it does not make any sense, if what we want is for the child to learn to eat, to taste flavors, textures, smells, tastes, etc.
How many days are then? Seven? One? Three? Five? What do the studies say? Nothing . The studies say nothing . They say that a food can cause an allergic reaction on the first day, although it is more likely to happen from the second day. They say it can happen on the fifth day too. They say that the amount of IgE that a child secretes does not determine how serious the reaction is, because a few days with little can become fatal, and other days with a lot to take it better. And even different people, with a similar amount of IgE may be one on the verge of anaphylactic shock and another in the process of overcoming their allergy.
Come on, that the three to five days are a consensus for what to expect a prudential time . So, personally, in the absence of evidence, and taking into account that allergies to certain foods are very rare, I still keep the 24-hour rule, varying it in two cases: if the food that is going to be given to the Child is potentially allergenic (egg, milk, fish, peach, strawberry, kiwi …) and if there is a history of allergy in the parents.
That is, I (personally, I repeat), I see much more logical offer each day a different food, which do not usually give allergy: potato, carrot, beans, meat, bread, pasta (without egg), rice, pear, etc., and when you reach one of those more allergenic foods, then wait three to five days with the same food until the next one.
This would make even more sense if the father or mother is allergic to something. I do not mean that if one is allergic to the egg the child will have more risk of allergy to the egg, but if it is the case, the child has more risk of being allergic to anything: the allergy to a food is not inherited specific; the predisposition to have an allergy to something is inherited .
So, if, as I say, the parents are allergic, it would be advisable to be more careful on the days when they are going to offer some more allergenic food, being able then to take advantage of the more conservative version of the “three to five days”: be five days with that food to make sure that the tolerance is correct .
So you see, if we throw a little common sense so that children can soon have a varied, stimulating, fun and diversified diet in which they eat many things and can enjoy before so many foods so rich and nutritious, the option of waiting a day between foods may be valid, if then we are more cautious with the foods that can give more allergy . What an eye, there is no reason to wait until later for that reason (7 years ago an article was published that served as the basis for everything we explain now). As I just said, it is known that the longer it takes to offer them, the more likely they are that they will cause allergies .
