MightyMe Early Allergen Installation Guide
- June 8, 2024
- MightyMe
Table of Contents
MightyMe Early Allergen
Guide-At-A-Glance
- We know introducing common food allergens to baby can feel overwhelming and maybe even a little scary, but there can be life-long benefits to early allergen introduction.
- We’re here to help break down the research and give you a step-by-step guide for introducing common food allergens to your little one, because feeding babies should be fun and stress-free! Understand the Latest Recommendations & Research…………………….3 Is Your Baby Ready To Start Solids?………………4
- Is Your Baby Ready For Early Allergen Introduction?……………………………….5
- Know The Signs of an Allergic Reaction and How to Respond……………………………………….6
- Tips For Introducing Allergens at Home………….7
- Baby Friendly Ways to Introduce the Top 9 Food Allergens…………………………………..8
- Diversify Baby’s Daily Diet………………………….9
- You’ve Got This! Have Fun Exploring Food………….10
STEP 1 Understand the Latest Recommendations & Research
Why do so many kids develop food allergies?
You’ve probably heard your parents or in-laws wonder why so many kids develop food allergies today, when it was so rare when they were growing up.
Food Allergies On the Rise
Well they’re right! In the last couple of decades, food allergies in children have risen by 50% and nut allergies have tripled! Many experts believe old feeding recommendations to avoid peanuts and other common food allergens in infancy, may have unintentionally contributed to the increase.
New Research OFFers Hope
Fast forward two decades and the guidance to avoid common allergens in infancy has been reversed by groundbreaking new research. The LEAP Study, led by Mission MightyMe co-founder and global food allergy prevention expert Dr. Gideon Lack, showed that most peanut allergies are preventable if peanut foods are introduced in the first year of life and eaten regularly until age 5.*
- Based on the LEAP Study, the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) recommends that most babies start infant-safe peanut foods around 6 months, and that high-risk babies (with severe eczema and/or egg allergy) start even earlier, between 4-6 months, after evaluation by a doctor.*
- The USDA also supports the concept of introducing all common food allergens and keeping them in the diet regularly, once a baby starts solid foods.
STEP 2 Is Your Baby Ready To Start Solids?
Whether your baby is ready to start solid foods depends on their development, but most are ready for solids between 4-6 months. Some signs that your baby may be ready to start solid foods include:
- Being able to control the head and neck.
- Sitting up with or without support.
- Showing an interest in food and reaching for it.
- Bringing objects to the mouth.
- Losing the tongue thrust reflex that pushes food out of the mouth.
STEP 3 Is Your Baby Ready For Early Allergen Introduction?
The majority of babies can start peanut foods and other common food allergens
as soon as they’ve started other solid foods.
- If your baby is high-risk (severe eczema and/or egg allergy), the AAP recommends evaluation by a doctor, and possible allergy testing, first.
- You can always talk to your pediatrician if you have any questions about whether your baby is ready for early allergen introduction.
Important: Never feed your baby a food they are already allergic to, except under the supervision of a physician.
STEP 4 Know The Signs Of An Allergic Reaction And How To Respond
Allergic reactions are a common concern. However, they are rare, and the first year of life is the safest time to introduce potential allergens, as reactions are milder in infants.† It’s important to know the signs of an allergic reaction, and what to do if one occurs.
Mild to Moderate Symptoms
- Mild to moderate symptoms may include itching, sneezing, hives, rashes, nausea or vomiting, diarrhea or stomach pain.
- If two or more body systems are ected, however (e.g., vomiting/stomach and hives/skin), it is considered severe.
Severe Symptoms
- Severe symptoms may include trouble swallowing or breathing, loss of consciousness and a weak pulse among others.
- Severe symptoms can be a sign of life-threatening anaphylaxis and require immediate treatment with epinephrine.
- In the case of severe symptoms, administer an EpiPen if available and go to the nearest Emergency Room.
- If your child has an allergic reaction to any food, stop feeding the food and consult a physician.
- Note that redness around the mouth is often caused by skin irritation, but is sometimes mistaken for a food allergy.
- If you suspect your child has a food allergy, it’s important to avoid that food, but seek evaluation by an allergist to be sure.
- Unnecessarily avoiding certain foods may increase the risk of a food allergy developing.
STEP 5 Tips for Introducing Allergens at Home
If your baby has started solids and is cleared for allergen introduction, here are some tips on how to do it safely
DO’S
Start with other solids first.
Introduce commonly allergenic foods after your little one has successfully
eaten other solid foods like cereals, veggies or meat purees
Start early in the day.
Start well before nap time, when you can monitor your baby for a couple of
hours after feeding.
Start small.
Start with a small amount of the allergen and monitor your baby. Give a small
amount on the tip of a spoon. Wait 10 minutes, then feed the full infant-
portion at baby’s pace. Most reactions occur within 2 minutes to 2 hours.
Keep it diverse.
Diet diversity is important for proper nutrition and development. Feed a
variety of foods from all food groups, including common food allergens and
iron-rich foods like fortified cereal, green veggies and meats.
Continue breast milk or formula.
Breast milk or formula remain an important source of nutrition after starting
solids and throughout the first year of life.
DON’TS
Don’t begin when baby is sick or fussy.
You don’t want to mistake illness for a food allergy reaction.
Don’t introduce multiple allergens at one time.
This way if there is any sign of reaction you will know which food caused it.
Don’t use whole nuts or nut butters.
These are a choking risk to babies and toddlers, as are many commonly
allergenic foods in their natural form. Prepare soft foods that are easily
dissolved with saliva.
Don’t start and then stop.
Once allergens are introduced, it’s important to keep them in the diet
regularly. The AAP recommends 6g of peanut protein per week for high-risk
infants (that’s 1 pouch of Mission MightyMe Proactive Peanut Puffds).
Don’t put food in a bottle.
The AAP and CDC do not recommend putting rice cereal or any other food in a
bottle.
STEP 6 Baby Friendly Ways to Introduce the Top 9 Food Allergens
Peanut
Peanut puffs like Mission MightyMe Proactive Peanut Puffs. Smooth peanut
butter diluted with warm water and cooled. Mix peanut powder into purees.
Tree Nut
Tree Nut puffs like Mission MightyMe Proactive Nut Butter Puffs. Tree Nut
butter diluted with warm water, cooled and mixed into purees.
Soy
Soy milk, soy yogurt, tofu or soybeans well cooked and mashed.
Wheat
Softly cooked pasta or finger-sized pieces of toasted whole-grain cereal.
Egg
Include egg in a muffin, pancake or other fully cooked baked good to start.
After that try well scrambled eggs.
Dairy
If you haven’t given your baby infant formula, begin with milk in baked foods
or yogurt. Cheese can be given later in infancy, around the 6-7 month mark.
Sesame
Tahini mixed into a puree.
Fish/Shellfish
Small amounts of mashed, cooked fish or shellfish. Don’t give more than 2
portions of fatty fish per week according to the FDA to limit mercury
exposure.
“Research shows that early introduction of potential allergens in the first year, starting around 6 months of age, and keeping them in the diet is the easiest and most effective way to prevent food allergies at this point. My advice to mothers is to feed their babies potential allergens, particularly infant-safe peanut and egg, early and often.” – Sherry Coleman Collins, MS, RDN, LD
STEP 7 Diversify Baby’s Daily Diet
Once you’ve introduced each allergen separately, begin integrating them into your weekly meal planning so your baby gets all the benefits of early allergen introduction and a diverse diet
Breakfast
- Yogurt with fruit and Proactive Peanut PuFFs on top (dairy and peanut)
- Pancake (eggs and wheat)
Lunch
- Bread with thin tahini spread (wheat and sesame)
- Mashed or cubed tofu (soy)
- Apple sauce
Snack
- Proactive Nut Butter PuFFs (peanuts and tree nuts)
Dinner
- Mashed salmon over whole wheat pasta (fish and wheat)
- Mashed sweet potato with tahini (sesame)
- Mashed soybeans (soy)
- Broccoli
“Try not to stress about getting every allergen in baby’s diet every day. You will go crazy! Aim for diet diversity to set them up for a mighty future.” – Catherine Jaxon, Food Allergy Mom and Mission MightyMe Co-Founder
STEP 8 You’ve Got This! Have Fun Exploring Food
- We’re a food allergy family – our oldest daughter is severely allergic to most nuts after we followed the old guidelines to avoid them in infancy. So when our youngest child started solids, we followed the new research and included common food allergens in his diet to avoid the same outcome. It worked but was a huge challenge, and we knew there had to be a simpler (and tastier!) way to follow the latest allergy prevention guidelines. So, we teamed up with the very pediatric allergist who led the research, to create a solution. Mission MightyMe develops nutritious products that make it deliciously simple to get nuts and other common food allergens into little diets early and often – with less stress and less mess.
- “The research is clear. It is possible to prevent peanut allergies in the majority of children, and potentially other food allergies as well. Yet, many families still aren’t able to easily follow the new recommendations. We created Mission MightyMe to make early allergen introduction simple for families a big step forward towards ending the the food allergy epidemic.” Dr. Gideon Lack, Head of Pediatric Allergy at Kings College, LEAP Study Author and Mission MightyMe Cofounder
Ready to introduce and include nuts in your little one’s diet?
Mighty Moms Agree, Puffs Make It Stress Free
We’ve Gone Nuts! (So You Don’t Have To!)
Try our Proactive Peanut Puffs and our new Proactive Nut Butter Puffs with
Peanuts and Tree Nuts to regularly include nuts in your little one’s diet. And
stay tuned for more yummy products containing other diverse foods!
- FDA HEALTH CLAIM: For babies with an increased risk of peanut allergy (babies with severe eczema, egg allergy or both), introducing age-appropriate, peanut-containing foods as early as 4 months may reduce the risk of developing a peanut allergy.
- Caregivers should check with the baby’s healthcare provider before feeding the baby peanut-containing foods. †2018 Study by Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago
- Mission MightyMe Proactive Puffs contain peanuts and tree nuts and should not be consumed by anyone with a known or suspected allergy to any ingredient.