Young Kids and Shellfish

[Anonymous]

When did you allow your young child (1-2 year old) have shell fish? I believe recommendations have changed from 2 years to between 6-12 months.

I have a recently discovered allergy to lobster (very slight), so I was thinking of holding off on giving my kid shell fish until 1.5-2 years.

[Anonymous]

I think... think... that we gave DD SHELLfish around 1 year.
I have an allergy to one type of shellfish only, so we just fed her a teensy amount and watched her like a hawk.
I figure, the sooner you know...

[Anonymous]

My kid tried shellfish around 14 months, but I would have been more cautious if there was a family history of shellfish allergy.

My husband has tree nut allergies. so I waited until my son was more than 2 years old to try out those--basically until he was old enough to communicate if he was in pain or having any problems.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My kid tried shellfish around 14 months, but I would have been more cautious if there was a family history of shellfish allergy.

My husband has tree nut allergies. so I waited until my son was more than 2 years old to try out those--basically until he was old enough to communicate if he was in pain or having any problems.

This sounds reasonable. My DC1 has a lot of allergies and while I've been told there is no correlation making DC2 more likely to have allergies than any other child, it still makes me nervous. She is 5 months, so we are just starting to think about introducing food (obviously, not shellfish yet!). Trying possible allergins that DC1 is not allergic to on the younger side but waiting until DC2 can communicate well to try DC1's Big Three makes sense to me.

For what it's worth, we discovered some of DC1's allergies when he was old enough to tell us something tasted "spicy" (between 12 and 30 months old). I am pretty sure that he was using "spicy" to describe an uncomfortable tingly/numbness in his mouth but he didn't know words for that. Later, our allergist told us this was common.

[Anonymous]

No allergies here, and we fed mussels to our baby at 11 months.

[Anonymous]

First child 2 years. Second child probably around 9-10 months.

[Anonymous]

Not planning to for a long time. I have a shellfish allergy which I only discovered after moving to the East Coast from the Midwest. We rarely had shellfish when I was growing up and I never really liked the texture or flavor. DH likes it okay, but I am sensitive enough that we would never cook it at home and he has gotten out of the habit of eating it.

[Anonymous]

Shrimp at like 10 months, clams at about a year, lots of other stuff right after a year. I've got a history of allergies but the doctor said that it's better to introduce earlier unless the kid themselves has a reaction. She also told me it's better to introduce when still breastfeeding.

[Anonymous]

Shellfish allergies are most often adult onset. The thinking is changing from delaying allergenic foods to pushing them to a younger age. My dd is allergic to peanuts, and we fed her fish at around 2 because at the time it was thought that you should delay giving food they may be allergic too. If I had to do it over again, I would introduce it sooner.

[Anonymous]

11 mo with shrimp