About Peanuts
If your baby is known to be allergic to peanut, do not feed them peanut.
Peanut is a common allergy causing food in Australia.
To reduce the risk of your baby developing a food allergy, it is recommended that you offer peanut to your baby soon after they start eating solid foods.
Once introduced, it is important that you continue to offer your baby peanut at least once a week – so you should only introduce peanut if it is a food that you plan to continue to feed your baby.
Safe eating to lower the risk of choking
Only offer your baby peanuts if they have been finely ground or as smooth peanut paste. This is because babies and young children cannot chew them into small enough pieces, and they are at risk of choking on them.
Why are peanuts and tree nuts different?
Peanuts belong to the legume food group and grow underground. They are different to tree nuts which grow on trees.
People who are allergic to peanut are not always allergic to tree nuts and people who are allergic to tree nuts are not always allergic to peanuts.
Here are some suggestions for ways to offer peanut to your baby.
Choose the texture that your baby is managing.
Smooth foods
- Dilute smooth peanut paste with water and stir into pureed vegetables.
For more food ideas and recipes, click here.
Mashed foods and soft finger foods
- Smooth peanut paste can be mixed into mashed foods.
- Finely ground peanut can be added to cereals.
- Offer peanut paste on small pieces of bread.
For more food ideas and recipes, click here.
More roughly mashed and soft finger foods
- Use smooth peanut paste in sandwiches, spread on toast.
- Add a spoonful of peanut paste to meatballs.
- Try adding pesto sauce containing ground up peanuts to pasta.
- Add powdered peanut butter or finely ground peanuts to muffin mix.
Toddler and family foods
An easy way to keep peanut and tree nuts in your toddler’s diet is to make a homemade peanut sprinkle. Place a tablespoon of peanuts into a food processor or smoothie maker and blitz until smooth. If your child is eating tree nuts, you can add the tree nuts that they usually eat to this mix to make a peanut and tree nut sprinkle.
Here are some suggestions on how you can use the peanut (and tree nut, if added) sprinkle:
- Add to breakfast cereals
- Add to yoghurts
- Add to breadcrumbs for coating meatballs or homemade chicken nuggets
- Add to pikelet, pancake or waffle mix
- Add to crumble toppings for desserts or to top homemade muffins.
You can also keep offering smooth peanut paste, for example, in sandwiches or added to other foods.
