ARGH! Peanut butter.

[wagner36]

Charlie is 2.5. Until Friday, when my mother gave him some Reeses Pieces (3 to be exact), he had never had peanut butter. He had no reaction, which is great. He has had other nuts from time to time since turning two, but no peanuts. We were waiting until 3 per our ped's recommendations.

I know this is petty, but I just CAN'T get over the fact that she gave him candy with peanuts. My mom is SO GOOD about this kind of thing normally, and she swears that it just slipped her mind. She was eating a handful and he asked her for some too, and she gave him a few.

I just feel like all that hard work was for naught. I guess we should still hold off until 3, right? Isn't early exposure the issue?

[kboyle]

If you have peanut allergies in your family I would definately wait. My DS1 has had PB since he was around 12 mo. DH didn't know that PB was a no-no so he was always giving him bites of his PB sandwiches. We don't have any fam history of allergies so we got lucky. Plus reece's pieces are his fave candy!!

[saschalicks]

I think the waiting until 3 is if you have other allergy issues. DS had super bad allergies to formula so Ped said we had to wait until 2 for PB. We introduced all foods gradually and had no issue, but we are waiting for PB and all other nuts. DH has always had bad allergies, but never associated with food. I think that although your mom was thoughtless you are in the clear to introduce if you would like since he had no reaction. I know it sucks when the grandparents "forget".

[Piglet]

I would think that once you determined that he didn't have a reaction you would be in the clear from here on in. I could be wrong, but there is a relatively small difference between 2.5 and 3, in the big scheme of things.

As for your mom, I can understand where she is coming from, since it is hard for people outside the immediate family to think about every possible scenario. I have had my parents offer things here and there that I had to veto. They remember the biggies like peanuts, but often forget sesame seeds, honey, etc. because they are less publicised. I always remind them, but they are not as vigilant as I am because they are not watching the kids full time. I suspect your mom just forgot that she was eating something with peanuts (there aren't whole nuts in Reese's) and that you were waiting until age 3.

If it is any consolation, I nearly killed DH when I discovered he had been putting peanut oil in our stir-fry since DS1 was 1 year old. I thought we hadn't tried peanuts when DS was over 1, only to be told that we had been eating lots of peanut oil for a few months and that DH had determined he wasn't allergic!? In some ways, I was relieved that he had been exposed already and I didn't have to freak out about his "first peanut", but I was pretty miffed that DH had decided for us that it was time to introduce peanuts without talking to me.