Preventing Food Allergy in Your Baby: A Summary for Parents (Guidance Only)

Current advice from the UK health departments for healthy babies is: 

• Exclusive breastfeeding for around the first 6 months of life. 
• From around 6 months of age (but not before 4 months), introduce complementary foods (solids) - including foods known to cause food allergies - alongside continued breastfeeding. 
• Excluding egg and peanut from your baby's diet may increase their risk of food allergy. 
• When your baby is ready, at around 6 months of age, you can start to feed them complementary foods (solids) - usually as pureed foods. Start by offering small amounts of vegetables, fruit, starchy foods, protein, pasteurised dairy. Never add salt or sugar - they don't need it. 
• In addition to fruit and vegetables, include foods that are part of your family's normal diet which are commonly associated with food allergies. If this includes egg and peanut, aim to introduce these by one year of age, and continue to feed these to your baby as part of their usual diet. 

Read the full recommendation from BSACI here.