Breast Milk Can Cause Food Allergies in Babies

Babies who are exclusively breastfed can still develop food allergies. Mothers should be fully aware of the food they eat since it would be passed down to their toddlers via the breast milk.

Dr. Sara Connolly stated on Bundoo that the number one culprit is cow's milk. Mothers may want to be extra careful when chugging down a carton of cow's milk since it contains proteins that can potentially cause food allergies in breastfed babies.

Mothers will know if their babies had an allergic reaction when they develop itchy blisters, bloody stools and severe vomiting. Other manifestations are fussiness, dry skin, asthma, red eyes, flu-like symptoms, intestinal upsets and diarrhea. Mothers should identify which food caused the reaction and completely remove it from their diet as soon as possible.

Kelly Mom explained that most babies can absorb anything their mother eats. There is no general list of foods that nursing mothers should not consume. Nevertheless, mothers should always be cognizant of their toddler's sensitivity towards certain kinds of foods.

Web MD has listed eight foods that have a high chance of triggering allergic reactions in babies. These are milk, peanuts, wheat, eggs, soy, tree nuts, fish and shellfish. Mothers are advised to wait until the baby is old enough to try some of the aforementioned foods.

A new study published on The New England Journal of Medicine found that introducing allergy-causing foods to babies can prevent allergic reactions later in life. It is essential that babies get introduced to these foods at an early age.

Researchers discovered that children who started eating peanuts and eggs at three months old are less likely to develop food allergies when they grow older than those who started eating peanuts and eggs at six months old.

"Our study was looking at the introduction of multiple allergenic foods to infants recruited from the general population," Dr Michael Perkin told The Guardian. "This is about what's the best way of introducing allergenic foods to all infants, not just a very selected subgroup. And that is absolutely unique. No one has done anything remotely like this."