At six months, you may be excited for your baby’s next milestone—being introduced to solid food. While there are a whole lot of food choice that you can grind and mash for your little one, it’s important that you know and single out exactly what kinds of food can be harmful to your baby.
Here are a couple of food items that you should keep off the menu, at least for now.
Nuts/Peanuts
Because it’s very common for anyone to be allergic to peanuts, you may want to hold off until your baby grows a little bigger before taking the risk. This is particularly important if you or anyone in your family is allergic to nuts. Should you wish to introduce peanuts to your baby, make sure to get your doctor’s go signal. And when you do, start your child off with peanut butter spreads and observe from there. He or she can’t have solid nuts until after age four, anyway.
Egg Whites
Although eggs are naturally nutritious, thanks to its protein and vitamin D content, some pediatricians would ask you to hold off on whole eggs for babies less than a year old. This is because egg whites are allergens. As for the yolk, you may be able to get the doc’s permission to feed your baby with some at the 7-10 month mark but check for any signs of diarrhea, rashes or vomiting.
Honey
You may know honey as a natural health booster. But for your baby under the age of 1, it can be very harmful as it may contain the spores of Clostridium botulinum, which your baby’s intestinal tract (unlike yours) won’t be able to kill off. When ingested, the spores could grow, produce life-threatening toxins and cause constipation, appetite and even lethargy in your baby. Scary, huh? Doctors might tell you it’s okay at 8 months, but it’s usually best to wait as long as you can or after your baby’s first birthday.
Cow and Soy Milk
Your baby can have all the nutrients he needs with your breast milk and, if necessary, milk formula. There’s no more reason for you to give your little one cow or soy milk before the age of one, especially since it’s packed with (now) harmful minerals that can damage your baby’s kidneys and protein that he/she can’t digest this early. After the first year, it’s still important that you only give your baby this other kind of milk in moderation.
Wheat
Though very easy to digest, it contains gluten, the protein found in wheat (as well as in rye and barley). Your baby might end up having some allergic reactions to it, such as skin rash, loose stools, constipation, hives, wheezing and even poor sleep when ingested before the first year. These are pretty uncommon, but if you do try feeding your baby with wheat and he ends up with any of the aforementioned allergic symptoms, do contact your doctor right away.
Read up on what other food you shouldn’t feed your baby yet HERE.
Photo by avlxys / CC BY-NC-SA 2.0
