Citrus, Allergies and Babies

When Should Citrus Fruits Be Introduced to Baby?

By Kelly Burgess

Parents often don't think of the possibility of food allergies when their children start eating solid food – especially when it comes to "good" foods such as fruit. The fact is that certain fruits, citrus in particular, are a common source of early food allergies.

Elizabeth Schilling, a mom from Arlington County, Va., is the mother of 1-year-old twins and she's extremely careful about what she feeds her children. She often counsels other parents to avoid seemingly kid-friendly foods, like fruit cocktail, until after their child's first birthday.

"Fruit cocktail often has pineapple in it, which is a big allergen and not recommended before age 1, just like citrus," Schilling says.

Schilling's right, says nutritionist Julie Matthews. Matthews is the founder of Healthful Living (www.healthfulliving.org) and she works extensively with babies with food allergies and intolerances. Matthews notes that there has been a widely recognized increase in the incidence of food allergies.

"There's been an increase of allergies in general, but especially food allergies, which have increased by 400 percent in the last 20 years or so," Matthews says.

Citrus is one of the top 10 food allergies, even though it's not as well-known as allergies to peanuts, wheat and dairy. Sometimes a parent may give a sensitive child citrus, and not even associate the resulting rash, diarrhea or fussiness to the food, simply because it's not associated with allergies as often.

Another point about food reactions that Matthews thinks parents need to understand is that there are actually two levels of food allergies. The first is a true allergy, which is acute and immediate and can be very serious, with symptoms ranging from hives to breathing difficulties to death. The second level is food sensitivity, which is less serious and the response can be delayed by several hours or a day. Symptoms can include diarrhea, constipation, headaches, depression, aggression or irritability. This is why foods should be introduced slowly.

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