Mom's Diet Unlikely to Give Baby Allergies

Jan 08, 10:20 AM

Jan. 8--Breast-feeding is the best prevention against food allergies and not a way to give a baby one, according to the January issue of the journal Pediatrics.

In 2000, the journal's parent organization, the American Academy of Pediatrics, said breast-feeding moms with a family history of food allergies should avoid cow's milk, peanuts, tree nuts, eggs and fish while breast-feeding as a precaution.

"Seven years have gone by, and various statements have been verified by continuous studies and some of them haven't been," said Dr. Scott Sicherer, an associate professor of pediatrics at the Mount Sinai School of Medicine's Jaffe Food Allergy Institute in New York.

Sicherer was one of the doctors who helped author the new report and said doctors haven't been able to prove that diet changes during pregnancy or breast-feeding or holding off giving children certain foods until a certain age prevent allergies.

"We still do not have any studies that say changing your diet has any significant impact," he said, adding that this means parents should not blame themselves for a baby's food allergy. "They should not be on a guilt trip because we don't have studies that say they caused an allergy."

The main thing to keep in mind is that breast-feeding is still best, Sicherer said.

"The good news is that there are things that parents can do that seem to have an effect in preventing or delaying allergies. One of those is to breast-feed," Sicherer said. "If a mom has a family history of allergy and wants to do what she can to reduce allergy in a baby, the best she can do is to breast-feed."

Dr. Lynette Martin, a pediatrician at Owensboro Pediatrics, said doctors always endorse breast-feeding because of the benefits.

"I tell moms that all pediatricians recommend breast-feeding because we know that it's the best for babies. It's the only food that's made specifically for babies. There are multiple medical reasons why it's beneficial, but specifically the immune system benefits in the first two months of life, because that's when babies are the most vulnerable to serious infections," Martin said.

"There are other, probably yet-to-be-identified components in breast milk that are good for babies because breast-fed babies have lower incidences of other diseases besides allergies and infectious illnesses. They have even a lower risk of colic and childhood obesity. Even some studies show a lower risk of certain types of diabetes and multiple sclerosis and some studies show higher intelligence," Martin said.

Dr. Lee Clore, an allergist/immunologist at Owensboro Medical Health System, agreed that breast-feeding makes for the best defense against disease and allergies.

"Breast-feeding is still the best way to feed babies until 6 months of age," Clore said. "It's not a cure-all, but it certainly decreases the likelihood that you'll have those kind of problems (with allergies)."

Restricting a mother's or child's diet may actually be a bad thing, Clore said.

"You can get real militant with this stuff," Clore said. "From our standpoint, we don't want to restrict the baby's nutrition or the mother's nutrition by being overly cautious."

If moms are having trouble breast-feeding or can't breast-feed, Sicherer said there's still something that can be done.

"If they can't breast-feed, using a formula that isn't a regular cow's milk or soy milk formula would be the thing to do," Sicherer said.

Keeping babies off solid foods until they're at least 6 months of age is also key to preventing allergies, Sicherer said. Once the switch to solid foods is made, Clore said it should be done slowly to help babies adjust.

"When your pediatrician lets you start introducing solid foods, introduce one or two a week. Slowly introduce those foods so that if there's going to be an adverse reaction, you know what the culprit might be," Clore said, adding that family histories help doctors find the problem should an allergy appear.

Clore also said it's important to remember that some allergies naturally go away. In 80 percent of children, dairy allergies disappear by the age of 5, but peanut allergies are the opposite, and from 80 to 90 percent of those never go away.

If there is ever a question, Clore said, parents must talk to a doctor.

"That way, if there's a doubt they can have their fears confirmed (so it can be cared for) or their worries relieved," he said.

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