Solid Foods

If you wait longer to start solid foods, your baby won’t get as many allergies

The origins of some myths are difficult to figure out. This is not one of those myths. And, to some extent, we physicians are to blame.

For the first few months of life, the only thing babies are supposed to eat is breast milk or formula. That’s it. No water, no juice, no foods. But as babies get older, they have to start eating solid foods. Usually we recommend that they start with cereals around four months of age, progress to vegetables or fruits around six months, and then finally on to more complex foods.

The process by which babies are introduced to new foods has been made more and more complicated over time. You can imagine that mothers long ago did not really think too hard about what foods were introduced or when. But today, we usually recommend starting one new food at a time, and giving that food alone for at least a few days. That way, if the baby is allergic to that food, we can find out in the least confusing manner. If the baby starts several foods at the same time and has a bad reaction, we would not know which food was causing the problem.

This focus on allergies is not limited to when you start foods. For some time, there was a lot of confusion and debate on when to start introducing solid foods. Many believed that delaying the introduction of solid foods would make it much less likely that babies would have allergic difficulties.

Allergies are a pretty big deal. According to the CDC, about 4 percent of children have a food or digestive allergy. Some of these reactions are quite severe. Moreover, children who have food allergies are also much more likely to have other disorders or allergies. So preventing allergies or limiting their development is important.

Unfortunately, the recommendations to delay the introduction of solid foods were not based on good science. In fact, a 2006 systematic review looking at all the studies on this issue concluded that there really was no evidence to support a connection between early feedings of solid foods and asthma, allergic rhinitis, animal dander allergy, or persistent food allergies. (Aaron was actually a co-author of that study.)

Since then, several more well-designed studies have confirmed that there is no link between starting foods early and developing allergies. Many medical organizations have adjusted their recommendations to no longer promote delaying introduction of solid foods to prevent allergies. And, in 2010, a study published in Pediatrics found evidence that the late introduction of “potatoes (>4 months), oats (>5 months), rye (>7 months), wheat (>6 months), meat (>5.5 months), fish (>8.2 months), and eggs (>10.5 months)” was actually linked to an increased risk of developing allergies.

As always, you should talk with your pediatrician about the best time to introduce solid foods for your baby. There is no one correct answer for every baby, and it is a personal decision. You and your doctor should know, however, that delaying the introduction of solid foods in order to prevent food allergies is a myth.