ALLERGY BABYCARE\HOW TO WEAN: WAIT FOUR DAYS BEFORE RETESTING
If the baby shows no sign of reaction after the food tested on the first day, wait four days before retesting that specific food. On the fifth day, repeat the test process. A baby may not react to a food the first time around, but may have been sensitised by that first eating. So test the food systematically second time around as well. If the food then seems fine, include it on your list for the baby’s permanent diet.
The reason why you wait four days to retest is that it gives your baby’s system time to clear a food. Any symptoms which might be masked by eating every day then become clear when the baby eats the food again. In addition, eating a food at a fixed interval in this way (called ‘rotation’) can help control mild allergy and intolerance by moderating the baby’s system’s exposure and controlling any overload. It helps to prevent sensitivity developing.
On the second day of introducing foods, try a different food from the first day, follow the same test and monitoring process, and wait for a four-day period before testing that food again. Follow the procedure of testing and waiting four days with four foods, one per day, consecutively.
By Day Nine, unless your baby has reacted to any of the first four foods, you should have identified four tolerated foods which can form the core of the baby’s diet. If this is the case, see page 261 for advice on how to build up and expand your baby’s diet.
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Tags: Allergies