Once your food allergic baby, fed with amino acid hypoallergenic infant formula, is symptoms free and is recovering, gaining weight and growing well, the doctor or dietitian may allow you to start introducing a few foods into your baby’s diet.
The aim of challenging your baby with foods is to find out which food(s) your baby can tolerate and to broaden the child’s diet as much as possible. In this phase, it is important to continue taking the prescribed amount of amino acid hypoallergenic infant formula as it continues to be the major source of nutrition for the baby.

Here are a few things to remember when introducing new foods:

• Only introduce new foods when your child is well.
  
  
• To identify which foods cause symptoms or illness, foods should be introduced one at a time. This way, if your child has an allergic reaction to a food, it can be identified quickly.
  
  
• Start by introducing foods that are least likely to cause an allergic reaction.
  
  
• You may be advised to leave 1-2 weeks between the introduction of each food to see which foods are tolerated.
  
  
• Small amounts of food should be given first. A “pea size” amount should be given the first time. The amount can gradually increase over several days if there are no symptoms.
  
  
• If symptoms occur, it is important to stop the food being tested, record the symptoms and discuss them with your doctor or dietitian.
  
  
• If symptoms occur, wait approximately one to three days after symptoms have ceased, before giving another new food.
  
  
• The frequency with which each new food is introduced (e.g. daily twice weekly, weekly, etc) will vary. Discuss this with your doctor or dietitian.
  
  
• Continue to give your child those foods that have already been introduced and tolerated.
  
  
• Always follow the advice of your doctor and/or dietitian.

As new foods are introduced and tolerated, the baby’s diet can become more varied. Different food combinations and recipes using the permitted ingredients can be introduced. At this stage, the amount of amino acid hypoallergenic infant formula may be decreased. This needs to be discussed with your doctor and/or dietitian, that will assess the nutrition content of your baby’s diet and adjust the amount of formula accordingly.

The process of finding foods that can be tolerated can take some time to complete. It can be a difficult time for both the parents and the child.

Some, but not all food allergies are outgrown. It may take awhile (months or years) before it is safe to re-challenge a food that your baby initially reacted to. Discuss with your doctor or dietitian if and when it is safe to re-challenge a food that has been shown to cause a reaction in your baby.