Fw: Advice changes for preventing baby allergies - Kids and parenting- msnbc.com

[Guest guest]

thought this might be interesting to some of you that may have further babies

since so many of our kids have trouble with asthma etc.

BARBIE

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Subject: [Heartlandmidwives] Advice changes for preventing baby allergies - Kids

and parenting- msnbc.com

http://www.msnbc. msn.com/id/ 22527940/

CHICAGO - Breast-feeding helps prevent babies’ allergies, but there’s no good

evidence for avoiding certain foods during pregnancy, using soy formula or

delaying introduction of solid foods beyond six months.

That’s the word from the American Academy of Pediatrics, which is updating

earlier suggestions that may have made some parents feel like they weren’t doing

enough to prevent food allergies, asthma and allergic rashes.

In August 2000, the doctors group advised mothers of infants with a family

history of allergies to avoid cow’s milk, eggs, fish, peanuts and tree nuts

while breast-feeding.

That advice, along with a recommended schedule for introducing certain risky

foods, left some moms and dads blaming themselves if their children went on to

develop allergies.

“They say, ’I shouldn’t have had milk in my coffee,”’ said Dr. Sicherer of

the Mount Sinai School of Medicine’s Jaffe Food Allergy Institute in New York.

“I’ve been saying, ’We don’t really have evidence that it causes a problem.

Don’t be on a guilt trip about it.”’

Sicherer helped write the new guidance report for pediatricians, published in

the January issue of the journal Pediatrics. Earlier advice about restricting

certain foods from moms’ and babies’ diets has been tossed out and the only

surefire advice remaining is to breast-feed.

The report says:

There is no convincing evidence that women who avoid peanuts or other foods

during pregnancy or breast-feeding lower their child’s risk of allergies.

For infants with a family history of allergies, exclusive breast-feeding for at

least four months can lessen the risk of rashes and allergy to cow’s milk.

Exclusive breast-feeding for at least three months protects against wheezing in

babies, but whether it prevents asthma in older children is unclear.

There is modest evidence for feeding hypoallergenic formulas to susceptible

babies if they are not solely breast-fed.

There is no good evidence that soy-based formulas prevent allergies.

There is no convincing evidence that delaying the introduction of foods such as

eggs, fish or peanut butter to children prevents allergies. Babies should not

get solid food before 4 to 6 months of age, however.

The evidence for the earlier recommendations was weak and hasn’t been

strengthened by new research, Sicherer said.

“You never know what’s going to come around the corner, but in the past seven

years there hasn’t been enough evidence to support the old recommendations,”

Sicherer said.

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Dr. Vadas of the University of Toronto conducted prior research that found

peanut protein in breast milk. His work has been cited as a reason for nursing

mothers to avoid eating peanuts.

Vadas said he advises breast-feeding mothers to avoid peanuts, but only if there

is a family history of peanut allergy, and he makes it clear the advice is

arguable.

“There’s really no reason to engage in a lot of dietary manipulation except in

very specific instances,” Vadas said.

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