Experts Recommend Exposing At-Risk Infants To Small Amounts Of Peanuts

BOSTON (CBS) - About three percent of children in developed countries are now allergic to peanuts and now a leading group of pediatricians is coming out with new recommendations to try to prevent peanut allergies.

For years, it has been recommended that parents avoid exposing their children to peanuts until they're older, for fear that early exposure may lead to an allergy to peanuts, but research earlier this year suggested that advice was wrong.

Now the American Academy of Pediatrics and leading allergy groups, are recommending that babies at high risk for peanut allergies be given foods containing peanuts before they turn one, specifically between the ages of 4 months and 11 months. At-risk infants are those who have had skin reactions to eating eggs or severe eczema which suggest they may develop food allergies.

However, parents of high risk infants should not start giving peanut products to their babies without consulting a doctor first. These babies should be formally tested to make sure they don't already have an allergy to peanuts and then should be followed closely by a physician.