When did you/will you give shell fish?

[Karenn]

We've been holding out on offering Colin shellfish since it's such a serious allergy but I'm wondering when it's safe to offer it?

We eat a lot of shellfish in our house and last night Colin was actually wanting to try some. I think that's more because the breaded scallops I'd made looked like cookies to him, but still.... :)

Part of me was thinking that waiting until two would be fine, but then if shellfish allergies are supposed to be as severe as peanut allergies maybe I should wait until 3 or 4? What have the rest of you done?

[JElaineB]

From what I have read, shellfish is on about the same level with respect to allergies as peanuts. So I would say waiting as long as you are planning to wait on peanuts is appropriate, either 2-3 years old depending on your comfort level (I suppose some people do wait even longer than that). I think I am going to wait until 3 years old for both peanuts and shellfish.

Jennifer
mom to Jacob 9/27/02

[egoldber]

My neice has a shellfish allergy, so we are waiting until age 3 for both peanuts and shellfish.

HTH,

[Kimberly H]

My thinking today is we're going to wait until 2 years old. Mia's already had peanuts - a sleepy handoff of the wrong bag of Cheerios 2 days after we got her led to her munching about 30 HN Cheerios. However, I'm going to talk to the ped at her 18 mo appointment and see what she suggests too.

Leaving here at the beach it's getting tougher and tougher to keep shellfish away from her :(

[22tango]

HN Cheerios have almonds...not peanuts! Don't know if that changes things for you, though!

[Kimberly H]

Thanks for the info, Alice! That's what I get for assuming ;)

Since I'd already ruined her life, or so I thought, we moved on to PB&J, which she adores, so the cat is out of the bag for nuts anyway. Still undecided on the shellfish though...

[raynjen]

Yikes! My in-laws own a Cajun seafood restaurant and I guess I wasn't thinking - Noelle's been eating shrimp since she could grind/chew!

My poor baby, what other goof-ups do you think I've made?

Isn't it amazing how un-intuitive some of these things are? I never knew that raisins were bad for her either (see post on snackfoods). And I'm one who prides herself on reading up everything.

Sheesh...

Jen in Okinawa
Mom to Noelle (2 1/2)

P.S. Having Cajuns for in-laws can be difficult at times - they wanted to know why they couldn't give her biscuts soaked in coffee when she was 3 months!