Parental concerns of allergy or hypersensitivity and the infant's diet

Abstract

Aim: To investigate a possible association between children’s current diet and parents’ reported avoidance of appropriate foods in the child’s diet at the age of 10 months, due to fears of allergic or hypersensitivity reactions. Design: A cross‐sectional study. Methods: In 10 randomly selected municipalities willing to participate, 686 children represented by their parents visiting the child health centre were enrolled in the study. From January 2015–January 2017, 440 (64%) parents completed a semi‐quantitative food frequency questionnaire concerning their child. Results: Thirty‐four percent of parents reported that they avoided introducing some food items due to fears of allergy or hypersensitivity in their child. A statistically significant relationship emerged between this reporting and parents wanting more information about food for infants and toddlers. However, the reported fear was not associated with dietary restrictions regarding actual feeding of the child.