Prawns??

[Iklboo]

DS is 8.5 months old, feeding really well and likes to try new foods. When can I try him with cooked, peeled prawns?
DH has mild eczema, DS has very very mild baby eczema (more like allergic dermatitis)

[Iklboo]

?

[archiesmummy]

Hiya,
I think the advise for seafood is 2 (or even 3) years. We also have family history of eczema and are not gonna introduce prawns for a long while yet. Don't know if there is other advise out there????

[ruthydd]

I give my 10.5 month-old prawns and have done for a while, but I'm not sure if I should be. I think its one of the things that some children are allergic too. I figured its a good nutritious finger food for a little one but we don't have any allergies in the family.

I had a heated debate about peeled prawns the other day. dh told me to stop buying them because they are shipped to India to be peeled by hand like this!

So, I emailed Ocado who said this wasn't true at all ... they are done by machine.

[Iklboo]

Thanks - just had a look at familydoctor.com and they say wait till 12 months.

Just have to give him turkey twizzlers till then

[ruthydd]

"advice for seafood is 2" ???? what all seafood ? why ? is it an allergy thing or is it because we Brits can't be trusted to cook things properly without giving ourselves food poisoning ?

[beckybrastraps]

My mum gave ds prawn curry when he was 10 months old. He loved it, she changed the resulting nappies, and now at 5, prawns are still a big favourite. But I am not well-versed in when you SHOULD give which foods. I've done all sorts of things wrong.

[MrsBadger]

Apart from the allergy issue (and some shellfish alergies can be quite spectacular) I don't think it's a not-cooking-properly issue - some of the food poisoning problems particularly associated with seafood are caused by toxins that can't be destroyed by cooking.
Often a problem that a healthy adult would shake off, eg D&V, can be more dangerous for a tiny... hence the advice to wait till later.

[Seona1973]

Annabel Karmel says 1 year for shellfish but all the food standards agency says is to avoid it for the first 6 months.

I dont think dd had prawns until she was a bit older but then she didnt like the texture and they got spat back out anyway!!

[Kelly1978]

I never knew there were limits on seafood! I've always given mine it. They love prawns, salmon, crabsticks, tuna, cod etc.

[wherethewildthingsare]

My dp (works with food safety) says shellfish is fine if heated through thoroughly (less risk than cold) and I adopted this advice through pregnancy. Allergy is a potential issue - my mum can eat them but if she peels them her hands come out in a rash! I think I have avoided them till toddlerhood with my own kids.

PS don't listen to AK - she says honey is ok for babies and everyone else says 12 months as it has a tiny potential for food poisoning.

[wherethewildthingsare]

Mrs Badger - you are right, there are nasty toxins like paralytic shellfish something but everyone I know who works with environmental health says it is all down to your supplier and these things are more of an issue if you are on a tropical holiday and eating the local wild seafood. I think if you buy your prawns from tesco they are not likely to have seen any sea! (they have to eat other contaminated stuff that passes through the food chain).

[MrsBadger]

you're spot on wildthing - am a microbiologist at heart and was taking the cautious line!

I developed what looked like a spontaneous sensitivity to bivalves a few years ago when even immaculately-sourced ones gave me terrible stomach upsets, so am wary of them myself, let alone for little ones. Prawns, on the other hand, I can eat by the plateful...

[Seona1973]

wherethewildthingsare, AK says 1 year for honey too (I have one of her books and it is on her website as well)