Wednesday, November 21, 2012

Wheezy Fishy

"You are giving your baby salmon?!?" That's what I heard the day after we decided to let Dino share our salmon with us at dinner. Honestly, I didn't even question it when I gave it to him, but after others questioned it, I sort of panicked! So of course I hurried to Google to make sure Dino wasn't going to have a crazy reaction and die! I was quickly reassured he was going to be ok and apparently my search was timely. A new study was just published November 12th in the journal, Pediatrics entitled, "Fish Consumption in Infancy and Asthma-like Symptoms at Preschool Age."

So according to this study, not only was the fish ok for Dino to eat, but we may have decreased his liklihood of asthma! The study was done in the Netherlands with over 7000 children. The results showed that when fish was introduced between the age of 6 and 12 months, there was a significant decrease in asthma-like symptoms compared to prior to 6 months and after 12 months of age. NBC's news report (When Babies Eat Fish) stated, "Between 40 percent and 45 percent of parents of children who did not eat fish until after their first birthdays said their children wheezed, compared to 30 percent of children who first ate fish when they were between six and 12 months old. That, the researchers said, works out to about a 36 percent decreased risk of wheezing for the children who first had fish between the ages of six months and one year."

Of course, this is only one study, so more research should be done to verify these findings. Meanwhile, we will continue to include fish in Dino's diet while I continue trusting my instincts of what he should and shouldn't eat.


2 comments:

  1. Fish is a great choice for babies, with lots of iron, protein and Omega-3s. The Canadian health guidelines were recently updated to recommend offering meat or fish twice daily for babies over six months old.

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  2. My kiddo loves salmon too!I can't wait for the general public's knowledge to catch up to research.

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