What NOT To Feed Your Kids

BabyCenter has an extensive list of foods unsafe for children, mostly for their allergenic potential:

Foods to avoid: Newborn to 4 to 6 months
All solid food: The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends that you feed your baby only breast milk or formula for the first four to six months.

Foods to avoid: 4 to 12 months
Citrus: (because of allergies)

Egg whites: Yolks are fine, whites can be allergens, if your child is allergy prone, wait until age 2.

Honey: Honey can harbor spores of Clostridium botulinum, which causes botulism.

Peanut butter: Highly allergenic, wait at least until 1 year old, 3 if there’s a bigger risk of allergies or if you or the other parent has peanut allergies.

Wheat or wheat products: Most babies can handle wheat — found in many cereals and breads — when they’re about 6 to 8 months old. Wheat is the most common grain allergen, though, so if you’re concerned about allergies, it might be a good idea to wait until your baby is 1.

Shellfish: Because it can be highly allergenic, experts recommend excluding shellfish from your baby’s diet until his first birthday. (If you suspect he’s susceptible to allergies, wait until he’s between 3 and 4 years old.)

Tree nuts (like pecans and walnuts): If you think your baby is at risk for allergies, you might want to wait until he’s 3 or 4 before giving him nuts. Otherwise he can probably handle them when he’s 1, as long as they’re pureed in food or in nut butters. (Whole nuts and pieces of nuts pose a choking hazard.)

Other potential allergens: If you’re concerned that your baby may be prone to allergies because of your own allergies or your mate’s, you might choose to delay the introduction of other commonly allergenic foods — like corn, soy, chocolate, or anything else you’re allergic to — until your baby’s at least 1. Depending on the severity of your allergy and other factors, you may want to wait even longer. For help making this decision, talk to your child’s doctor.

If you’re breastfeeding, avoiding all nuts and possibly eggs and milk in your own diet may help in delaying or preventing allergies in your baby.

Cow’s milk: Stick with breast milk or formula until your child’s first birthday. Why? Your baby can’t digest the protein in cow’s milk for the first year, it doesn’t have all the nutrients he needs, and it contains minerals in amounts that can damage his kidneys.

Avoid large chunks and small, hard foods. Also avoid feeding a small child in the car, where it’s hard to monitor them, and be extra watchful if the child has used a numbing medication in their mouth.

Foods to avoid: 12 to 36 months
Low-fat milk: Your toddler needs the fat and calories of whole milk for growth and development.

Choking hazards: Continue to avoid all the choking hazards listed above, as your child might still have trouble getting them down safely.

Highly allergenic foods: Most kids can handle common allergens by their first birthday. If you’re concerned about allergies, experts suggest delaying the introduction of egg whites until age 2, and holding off on shellfish, tree nuts, and peanuts (including peanut butter) until your child is at least 3.

The Good News:

A University of Portsmouth [uk] study tested 1,000 or so babies for food sensitivity. 54% of them were reported by their parents to have a sensitivity, but when they were double secret blind tested, between 2.2% and 5.5% of infants actually have food hypersensitivity in the first year of life. CLINICAL IMPLICATIONS: In the first year of life, the rate of parentally perceived food hypersensitivity is considerably higher than objectively assessed food hypersensitivity.