How do I consistently include nuts in my baby’s diet?
“Introduce allergens early and often.”
“But what exactly does that mean? How often is often? Does once a week count? Is only a little bit of peanut butter enough? What do I do?”
If you missed our last blog with all the research surrounding allergen introduction and why it’s recommended to introduce allergens early and OFTEN once starting solids, it’s here! We know from that blog that research supports introducing allergens right when baby starts solids, but the KEY is continuing to offer consistently once they are introduced. Since we published that blog, ANOTHER research study called the LEAP Trio-Study was published and it provides conclusive evidence that starting babies on peanut foods early and keeping them in the diet regularly until age five, achieves long-term peanut allergy prevention through adolescence. This study was led by the doctor who developed Mission MightyMe’s Nutty Puffs, one of my favorite baby food brands and my top brand recommendation for parents looking to introduce allergens. So, no question here: early and often IS the recommendation. But, how to do it is the follow-up question.
How much do I offer when it comes to peanuts?
If your baby is at high-risk for peanut allergy (severe eczema, egg allergy or both), the American Academy of Pediatrics recommends they consume 6 grams of peanut protein per week. That is the equivalent of one bag of MightyMe Organic Peanut Butter Puffs per week.
If your baby is NOT at high-risk for peanut allergy (the majority of babies will fall into this category), the general recommendation, based on the EAT study, is 2 grams of nut protein per week (Perkin et al., 2016). That’s about 2 servings of MightyMe Organic Peanut Butter Puffs per week.
Each Puff is more than 50% nuts and contains organic ingredients with no cane sugar.
Now let’s take a look at the nutrition label of a general jar of peanut butter.
Two tablespoons of peanut butter has 8 grams of protein, so half of a teaspoon of peanut butter is needed per week to reach the 2 grams of nut protein threshold. Peanut butter is great mixed IN to other foods, but by itself it is a choking risk for babies. So, thinning with water and spreading half a tablespoon of peanut butter across different foods and offering peanut butter mixed into foods is a better idea for safety. That means baby needs to eat MORE foods WITH peanut butter since they aren’t eating peanut butter alone and the peanut butter is thinned out.
Peanut Butter Nutrition Facts
Peanut butter is a great food, but for babies and younger toddlers, it’s best to mix peanut butter into foods or thin out with water to lightly spread across other solids, as a spoonful of peanut butter is a choking risk.
What about when nuts are mixed together?
Let’s look at the nutrition label of Mission MightyMe’s Mixed Nut Butter Puffs for a great example. Each bag contains equal parts protein from 5 nuts (peanuts, almonds, walnuts, cashews and hazelnuts). It’s amazing that one bag is providing exposure to all of those nuts! One bag of Mixed Nut Butter Puffs contains 5 grams nut protein (1 gram per nut). So consuming two bags of Mixed Nut Butter Puffs per week provides 10 grams of nut protein or 2 grams per nut. This is a really easy way to make sure your little one is getting 2 grams per nut, per week, from each of the most important nut families.
Offering Tree Nuts Made Simple
Peanuts, Almonds, Walnuts, Cashews, and Hazelnuts all in one bag of Mixed Nut Butter Puffs!
So, how can you keep track of how much you’re offering each week?
The easiest way is to use Mission MightyMe’s Nutty Puffs and to have them on hand on-the-go during the week. That way you know exactly how much you’re offering, you can hit the threshold each week, and you can offer safely. While this is the most straight-forward option, it’s nice to mix it up and offer nuts in other ways, too!
Other ways I like are:
Making smoothies with peanut butter and offering to your little one
(usually 2-4 oz for babies under 9 months, 4-8 oz for babies 9-12 months, 8 - 12 oz for toddlers)
Thinning nut butters and spreading on soft fruits or mixing into purees
Crushing Mission MightyMe’s Nutty Puffs down and sprinkling them on top and in foods during mealtimes
Generally, if you’re offering a small volume of peanuts and tree nuts through Puffs and nut butters a few times per week, you’re likely hitting that threshold of 2 grams per week!
Research strongly supports introducing nuts to baby and consistently offering through 5 years of age to significantly decrease the risk of developing food allergies later in life! So be mindful of keeping nuts in rotation in your little one’s diet and check out Mission MightyMe’s Nutty Puffs for easy offering of peanuts and tree nuts!
Code: EAT20 saves 20%
Grab a bag of these delicious organic Nutty Puffs with this special discount code! Keep them in the diaper bag and the pantry and keep offering to your little one.
This blog was sponsored in part by Mission MightyMe.