Addressing Allergy Concerns When Introducing Solid Feeding

At around 6 months old (or older), parents begin their introductions to solid feeding their baby. Aside from hyperanalyzing all the food items that your baby is allowed to eat, another point of anxiety surrounds the possibility of triggering an allergy on your baby. 

We asked pediatric feeding specialists and management at Solid Starts, a comprehensive database created by pediatric feeding specialists  that helps parents safely introduce solid foods to babies. Kim Grenawitzke, OTD, OTR/L, SCFES, Senior Feeding + Swallowing Specialist, and Kary Rappaport, OTR/L, MS, SCFES, IBCLC, Executive Director, both spent years working in major children’s hospitals supporting babies with feeding and swallowing difficulties. “This transition was just hard,” Grenawitzke explains. “Parents didn’t seem like they felt supported by their medical providers. They just didn’t seem like they knew what to do.”

The Oversized Fear Around Allergies

If you ask parents today what worries them most about starting solids, allergies are often at the top of the list. Social media, rising diagnoses, and stories of severe reactions have created what feels like a looming threat at the dinner table.

But according to the Solid Starts clinical team, the fear and the data don’t always match.

“The likelihood of your baby developing a life-threatening food allergy is very low,” says Grenawitzke. “While the effects of a life-threatening food allergy can feel extremely challenging for families… the risks of it actually happening for your baby are very low.”

That reassurance matters. Because when fear dominates the conversation, avoidance often follows. During this process, it is important to be open to practical strategies.

What Actually Increases Risk?

Parents frequently ask whether a family history of allergies automatically puts their baby at high risk. The answer, according to Solid Starts’ allergist collaborators, may surprise them.

“The two main contributing factors to developing an allergy are moderate to severe eczema or an existing food allergy,” Grenawitzke explains. “Family history alone is not one of the main contributing factors at this point.”

That distinction shifts the conversation. A parent with a peanut allergy does not automatically mean their child will develop one. Risk is more nuanced than inheritance alone.

For babies considered higher risk, those with moderate to severe eczema or an already identified food allergy and conversations with pediatric providers are encouraged. But for most families, the guidance remains consistent.

Can Early Introduction to Food Lower Allergy Risks in Babies?

Perhaps the most paradigm-shifting insight from the research is the fact that early introduction can actually decrease possible onset of allergen development in babies:

“The research is very clear that early introduction, even for high-risk babies, decreases the likelihood of developing an allergy by up to 81%,” Grenawitzke notes.

That statistic reframes exposure from something dangerous to something potentially protective. Rappaport adds that while no strategy can guarantee prevention, reducing risk significantly is meaningful. “Even if you have an anaphylactic peanut allergy, knowing that introducing peanuts to your baby could actually possibly prevent them from having that allergy at all in their life is hopefully a little bit motivating.”

Avoidance, in other words, is not always safer as a long term strategy.

The Nine Major Allergens Parents Should Know

In the United States, nine foods account for the vast majority of allergic reactions:

• Peanut

• Egg

• Dairy

• Tree nuts

• Wheat

• Soy

• Finned fish

• Shellfish

• Sesame

Solid Starts provides detailed guidance on introducing these foods “safely and incrementally,” as Grenawitzke describes it, so parents can monitor for reactions and “potentially catch any concerning signs early and know how to respond.”

Education reduces anxiety. Structure reduces panic.

For Parents with Life Threatening Allergies

Practicality isn’t that easy, especially if you yourself are a parent struggling with a life-threatening allergy.

“How do I introduce peanuts to my baby if I have an anaphylactic reaction?” is a common concern in the Solid Starts community.

The team shares practical strategies:

• Have another caregiver prepare and serve the allergen if possible

• Wear gloves while preparing the food

• Wipe down surfaces thoroughly

• Serve food in easily cleanable areas

• For breastfeeding parents, consider feeding the allergen at the beginning of a meal and waiting before nursing again

“A baby’s saliva can contain that allergen,” Rappaport explains, noting that extra precautions can further reduce exposure risk for allergic parents when breastfeeding.

Importantly, simply being in the same room as an allergen is unlikely to trigger a reaction for most individuals and ingestion is typically required.

Replacing Fear With Skill-Building

What distinguishes the Solid Starts approach is that allergy conversations are placed within a broader developmental lens. 

“For some reason, when it comes to eating, we expect that like a light switch is going to flip,” Grenawitzke says. “But eating is a skill. Babies are learning to move their tongue, chew, swallow. It takes time.”

The first months of solids are primarily about practice. “All of the important nourishment is coming from breast milk or formula,” she explains. Food at this stage is “a cherry on top.”

When anxiety over allergies eclipses the learning process, parents may unintentionally limit exposure, texture variety, and skill development. And skill matters — not just for nutrition, but for long-term eating patterns.

The Mental Shift Parents Need

There is a psychological component to allergy anxiety that the team addresses directly.

“A lot of parents have this oversized worry that this is going to happen,” Grenawitzke says. “When in reality it’s very few families that are actually dealing with that outcome.”

That does not dismiss the seriousness of allergies. Rather, it recalibrates perception. Risk exists  but it is often smaller than the fear surrounding it.

Rappaport emphasizes that babies are remarkably adaptable. “Babies are very flexible. They are so incredibly adept at figuring out how to find their way. As much as we worry about getting everything perfect, the reality is in a lot of situations, it’s not going to look perfect.