Breastfeeding and Peanut Allergies

pI breastfed my son for 13 months. I'm sure I ate some peanut butter, but not a lot--I just don't eat it that often. He tested positive for peanuts at age 4 1/2. He has never had a reaction. I never gave him peanut butter until he was over 3 yrs old and he didn't like it. I don't think you "give" your child the allergy through nursing, but they may develop it sooner from the earlier exposure.`/p
pI would like to find out more about breastfeeding and peanut/nut allergies. I am a big breastfeeding advocate, member of LLL. I will see what I can find out from LLL. In general, breastfeeding protects against an amazing number of things. If you had known your child was peanut allergic, probably removing peanuts from your diet and continuing to breastfeed for a longer period of time would have been best. But of course, how could you have known. If I am able to find any info, I'll post it./p

pFound this article on the LLL website. It basically says that breastfeeding is the best way to protect against allergies and asthma, but that if you have a history of some kind of allergy, you should avoid that allergen in your diet while you are breastfeeding.br /
[url="http://www.lalecheleague.org/llleaderweb/LV/LVAugSep97p75.html"]http://www.lalecheleague.org/llleaderweb/LV/LVAugSep97p75.html[/url] /p
pI think this is a really important topic because breastfeeding is so good, especially for kids with family histories of allergies and asthma. I am convinced that if I had not nursed my son, he would have asthma now. He has wheezed badly once, but that's it. I'm also convinced that if I had never given him cow's milk (which I introduced at an early age, and as he got older he drank a lot of it) he would be in better shape now. The nut/peanut allergy was a shock because, as I said, I never gave him peanut butter until he was 3, and we have no family history of it. His allergy is extremely mild though. I wouldn't even know about it if we hadn't had him tested due to a mild reaction to walnuts (his lip swelled a little.)/p
pAnyway, my point is, that I would never consider NOT breastfeeding my babies. That is not the answer. I nursed my daughter for 2 years. If I have another child, I will nurse, and keep nuts and peanuts out of my diet./p

pI nursed my daughter for 15 months. I never ate a peanut or peanut butter while nursing. My daughter has never had a peanut but tests positive for peanuts. I did eat peanut butter when I was pregnant./p

pI nursed my daughter for 18 months. I did not eat nuts or peanut butter in the pure form at all.I had a small bit in cookies and crackers. We have no family history of allergies. I was very strict with her diet, very healthy and she still developed the allergy. If I were having more children ( which I am not) I would definitely nurse again./p

pHi. I breastfed all 4 of my babies but with the last one who is PA I practically ate PB every day that I was pregnant and breastfeeding. They were all breastfed for their 1st year. My 1st 3 kids do not have any food allergies. I wondered about the possiblility of my diet causing this allergy in my 4th so, I also wrote to La Leche League too. They sent me this link:br /
[url="http://www.bmj.com/cgi/content/full/316/7149/1926/a"]http://www.bmj.com/cgi/content/full/316/7149/1926/a[/url] /p
pThey also wrote: "At La Leche League, we counsel mothers with a family history ofbr /
allergic reactions (on either hers or her partner's side) to delay the introduction ofbr /
solids until at least six months and to be more restrictive as to which foods are introduced before the baby reaches one year. [I realize that children with a family history of allergic reactions are generally advised to delay the introduction of peanuts until age 3, but we typically onlybr /
see mothers until they wean their babies, which is usually around the first birthday.]br /
Highly allergenic foods include cow's milk, egg whites, wheat, corn, pork, fish, shellfish, peanuts, tomatoes, onions, cabbage, berries, nuts, spices,citrus fruits and juices, chocolate, and any food that causes allergic reactions in other family members or that the baby has shown sensitivity to through the mother's milk."/p
pI might add that although I don't have any allergies, my husband suffers a number of allergies.So there's where the family history plays a part!/p

pI breastfed my PA daughter for 8 months and did eat quite a bit of peanut butter. (I'm a huge peanut butter lover...even though it's the ENEMY) I'm breastfeeding my son now (he's 7.5 months) and I don't eat very much peanut butter at all because I can't have it near my daughter. My daughter also had terrible excema when she was baby which they say is sometimes a precursor to other allergies. My son does not. So, hopefully he won't have this allergy. Breastfeeding is awesome for babies. It's totally the natural thing to do, if you're able to. I'll do it with all of my babies. (The only problem is I can't get my son to take a supplemental bottle to save his life!)/p

pI nursed my first for 26 months. She lovedbr /
nursing. We never gave her a nuk and *I*br /
was her nuk. Sounds weird, I know. I wasbr /
2 months pregnant when she finally was ablebr /
to stop nursing. She has no allergies. Ibr /
nursed my son for only about a year. Hebr /
decided to quit. He had a nuk until he wasbr /
3! Most of his baby pictures show terriblebr /
exema on his little cheeks (the face cheeksbr /
that is! LOL!). He developed PA andbr /
allergies to wheat, egg and dairy all beforebr /
one year of age. I ate the exact same withbr /
both of them which did include peanut butterbr /
but not excessive. We have no immediatebr /
family history of food allergies, only frombr /
a cousin of mine (not PA). I didn't evenbr /
know there was such a thing!br /
Tracy/p

pI don't think you can give your baby an allergy by breastfeeding. I think they just develope the allergy they have sooner. I breast fed all my babies for various lengths of time. Four in all. It helped save my second at 3 month old when he was sick with infantile botulism because it was easy to digest, protects the nervous system in ways we still do not know and the closeness I had allowed me to feel a difference in his suck when the paralysis started. He never developed any allergies. My youngest has allergies to nuts but I do not believe I gave him this. He had excema and after one asthma attack the doctor told me he had allergies but I did not know what and never thought of food. I drink lactose free milk and avoid peanuts. I eat nuts at the holiday or in choc. He developed ear infections one after the other. By 8 months I was tired. He was crying, teething and I wanted him to be less dependent on me. I put him on a sippie cup made by avanta. It had a soft nipple to suck on but it is not a bottle. 6 months later I noticed the blisters under his lip and had him tested. He is very healthy and does not have excema or asthma and only has the allergy to nuts and peanuts. My other son has no allergies but he does have a lactose intolerance and I nursed him unlill 11 months old. I did not nurse My oldest long and she does not have food allergies but she does have mild asthma when she is around dogs and cats. I was not careful with her diet. Untill my babies are one I usually give the 2nd foods./p

pI chose to bottle feed both of my sons. But I do feel I was a major factor in my 3 yr old developing his pa. When I was first pregnant I lived on peanut butter and pickle sandwiches. I was so sick at the beginning of the pregnancy (lost 10 lbs.) that pb sandwiches were the ONLY thing I could keep down most of the time. So that was pretty much my main nourishment for the first 3 mos. I never once heard that it could cause food allergies for my child later in life. Obviously I did things differently with my second pregnancy so we'll see what happens with him. Deanna/p