Early introduction matters in all kids, and it matters when you introduce common allergens. Medical guidelines direct parents to introduce infant safe forms of common allergens starting at 4 – 6 months. There is even a difference between 4 mo and 6 mo.

Introducing peanuts at 3 months, you reduce the risk of peanut allergy by >80%. Introducing peanuts at 9 months by ~50% and at 12 months by ~30% risk reduction.

Dr. Lack and his team modeled this data for all children and then for children by eczema status. As infants get older, there is a lower chance to reduce the risk of peanut allergy with early introduction.

In kids w/o eczema, the risk of peanut allergy goes from 2% if peanuts are introduced by 6 mo to 7% if peanuts are introduced after 8 mo and 11% to 23% for children with moderate eczema over the same period. Delays in intro correlated with an increased risk of peanut allergy.

Using data from both the EAT and LEAP study, his team modeled outcomes based on eczema status age at introduction. In children with severe eczema, the risk of food allergy goes from 20% if peanuts are introduced before 6 months to 29% when introduced after 8 months.

Image courtesy of ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/article…

Image courtesy of jacionline.org/article/S0091…

Come check out the @_ReadySetFood booth at the @AmerAcadPeds conference in Anaheim, CA (we’re booth #2727)! We’ll be here until tomorrow featuring our new Organic Baby Oatmeal and ready to talk about all things early allergen introduction! #AAP2022 @AAPexperience