How do I know if this is food related?

There are many symptoms for infants when it comes to food being a clue. The biggest clue is often baby poop! Significant mucus, blood, diarrhea, or very “off” colors may indicate a food issue. Eczema, reflux, gas, and colic can be other signs. However, those symptoms are not limited to food. The best way is trial and error in your diet.

Am I hurting my baby?

Breastmilk can cause pain for babies if certain offending foods are being consumed by mom. The good news? Food proteins peak in mother’s breastmilk within hours after consuming a food and should be gone soon after. If your baby continues to have symptoms after you consumed a food, it’s likely just your baby recovering from the reaction unless you are unknowingly continually consuming an offending food.

Can I continue breastfeeding?

Your baby may be struggling with weight gain or food sensitivity issues, but that does not mean that you have to quit breastfeeding. Breastmilk is still the best thing for baby as long as YOU want to keep going and your pediatrician is not concerned about your child being failure-to-thrive.

What are the Top 12 reactive foods for infants?

Unfortunately scientific research is limited in the realm of infant food allergies, even more so when it comes to food proteins transferring via breastmilk. In 2020, Fed Well Baby conducted two surveys of over 500 mothers collectively. Through our surveys and reading the limited scientific literature on this topic, we compiled a list of “Top 12” infant food triggers and created an elimination program to help mothers effectively eliminate those 12 foods to determine what is specifically bothering their baby.

To learn more about the Top 12 infant food triggers, we invite you to join our FREE membership and read the Starter Guide.

When do I reintroduce foods that I know are an issue for my child to see if they have outgrown?

The scientific research supports waiting 6 months after the last known reaction to a food and ideally after 9 months of age. We also know that the majority of infants outgrow their food allergies after age 1. The USA has no standardized protocol for reintroducing IgG allergens (food reactions that don’t show up on allergy testing). We are the first to create an evidence - based course that walks you through the entire process with food links for each step of the dairy, soy and egg ladders, daily prompts and troubleshooting, plus lots of nutritional guidance for this important phase! Click HERE to learn more.

*In 2021 we removed chocolate and split peanuts and tree nuts into two different categories to better align with similar research from Free to Feed.