Baby food intolerance or sensitivities in babies can be hard to detect because you can never be sure you’re finding the culprit. The last thing you want to do is to remove a bunch of foods from your baby’s diet, and have them on a restrictive diet.

The positive thing about sensitivities and food intolerances in babies, is that they often grow out of them if you remove them for a little while, and work on their gut health (which is what Fearless Foodies is all about!).

How to deal with food sensitivities in your baby

Identify suspected foods

Use a food diary (like the one inside Fearless Foodies) to work out your culprits
Eliminate the foods from your baby’s diet, and your diet if you’re breastfeeding, for a minimum of 3 weeks
- If you don’t see a change after 3 weeks, I encourage you to go to 6 weeks of elimination
In this time window, you will be working on their gut health
Reintroduce the food at the 4 or 6 week mark, and see how your baby responds
- If you’re wanting to be extra cautious, you can introduce the food through your milk first
- If you have similar intolerances (eg, you know you react poorly to dairy but you eat it anyway), you might like to remain dairy free via the milk but then introduce the food directly to your baby - this rules out whether the intolerance was due to your milk or your baby’s gut
If your baby reacts again, remove for a few months and try again at the following age milestones - 12 months, 18 months, 2 years
- Many babies outgrow their food intolerances by 2 years of age

Things to do while you’re avoiding reactive foods

Work on their gut microbiome

This is particularly important if you also have gut issues, as your baby inherits your microbiome!

I am not a huge fan of probiotics for babies, and much prefer the prebiotics found in breast milk and food. However, sometimes a short dose of probiotics can help replenish the gut bacteria. A round of probiotics after antibiotics is also a good idea, and if your baby has been exposed to any antibiotics, this could be part of their gut/food intolerance puzzle.

You can also take a mother and baby probiotic yourself (if you’re breastfeeding), and introduce fermented foods to your own diet as well as your baby’s.

Soothe the gut lining

Sometimes food intolerances come purely because you introduced the wrong food at the wrong time.

For example, some viral infections can cause some gut inflammation, increasing the chance of having a temporary food sensitivity. This is the same for a stressful birth, or a period of stress in a family’s life. They pick up on our stress after all. Or possibly even a week of restless sleep, causing some inflammation in the body.

Soothing the gut lining is something I recommend all parents do, and this is why the first food I recommend for babies is bone broth! Have you see my bone broth recipe? If not, take a look here.

You can give your baby bone broth directly, or use it to flavour their foods. You could even add a small bit to their smoothies and savoury baking.

The other products I love for gut health is collagen, and gelatin.

These foods support development of the gut lining and reduce inflammation in the gut. They also indirectly support the immune system!

Focus on nutrient-dense wholefoods

The fibre and nutrition found in fruits and vegetables are so good for the gut!

Be sure to give a maximum of 2 servings of fruit a day, and spend the rest of the day focusing on vegetables. You might notice your baby has a preference for fruit, but the sugar in fruit can be irritating to the gut in large quantities.

Animal products are high in quality fats for health gut lining (and brain development), and should be part of your baby’s gut healing diet too.