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Introducing peanut, egg and other common allergens

The AAP's HealthyChildren.org says babies can try peanut, egg and the other common allergens once they are eating other solids, and that waiting longer can raise allergy risk. The NIAID's guidelines say babies with severe eczema or an egg allergy should see their doctor first, and may start peanut as early as 4 to 6 months.

Checked October 29, 2026.

The NIAID's three groups for peanut

From the NIAID's Addendum Guidelines for the Prevention of Peanut Allergy (summary for parents, January 2017)
Your babyWhat the guideline says
Severe eczema, egg allergy, or bothIntroduce peanut-containing foods as early as 4 to 6 months. Check with your healthcare provider first; they may do a blood test or send you to a specialist.
Mild to moderate eczemaIntroduce peanut-containing foods around 6 months, with your family's diet in mind.
No eczema or food allergyYou can freely introduce peanut-containing foods with other solid foods, with your family's diet in mind.

The NIAID also says never to give whole peanuts to infants and small children, and to introduce other solid foods before peanut.

The nine major allergens

The FDA names nine: milk, eggs, fish, crustacean shellfish, tree nuts, peanuts, wheat, soybeans and sesame.

How the AAP says to offer them

  • Start with low-risk foods such as infant cereal, pureed banana or pureed prunes. Then try the higher-risk foods: egg, nut products, yogurt or other dairy, wheat, sesame, soy, fish and shellfish.
  • Introduce one new food at a time. The AAP page says to wait at least a day before the next; the CDC says 3 to 5 days. Ask your pediatrician which to follow.
  • Peanut: about 2 teaspoons of peanut butter, thinned into cereal, pureed fruit or yogurt, or dissolved in breast milk or formula, fed by spoon. Egg: about one-third of a well-cooked egg, scrambled or hard-boiled.
  • Start with small tastes, then build up if there are no reactions.
  • Whole peanuts and tree nuts are choking hazards. The AAP says to wait until a child can chew them well, usually around age 4.
  • Once a food is in the diet, keep offering it regularly in age-appropriate amounts.

If your baby seems to react to a new food

The AAP says to stop the new food and talk with your pediatrician. If you think it is an emergency, call 911.

Call your pediatrician if…

Talk with your pediatrician before offering peanut if your baby has severe eczema or an egg allergy, and any time you have a worry about a food. More from the AAP and the NIAID:

Peabody editors write these pages from the sources below. We are not doctors, and this is not medical advice for your child.

Sources