pregnancy and peanuts

i don't know if anyone can help me. I'm currently 16 weeks pregnant and read somewhere that if you have a history of asthma, hay fever, ezcema, allergies (which i do) you should avoid peanuts in pregnancy in case it increases the risk of your unborn child having these conditions. However, then I went to the midwife who said by avoiding peanuts it may actually make it worse as a child might react badly to peanuts etc. if they have never had them/come into contact with them before. So, now I don't know what to do. Does anyone have any advice/experience? thanks.

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I'm 33 years old and 3 years ago I developed a severe peanut allergy despite eating peanuts lots and lots of times before. I do however remember becoming very ill after eating peanut butter when i was a child. I asked my mum about this recently and she said that when she carried me, she used to eat a few peanuts as part of her healthy diet every day. Whether there is a connection or not, I don't know, but it's an interesting point. In a recent article (news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/... scientists have found that by eating a small amount of peanuts each day it can actually help build up a tolerence, which backs up what your midwife has advised you. Other views that I have heard is that you can have too much of a something which can actually cause the allergy. So I wouldn't know what the best advise would be for you, but I'd be interested in hearing other people's views on this too. Obviously for me, when I do decide to have children, because of my allergy I won't be eating peanuts and I do wonder what effects that would have on my children too....

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Hi

I think the advice is only to avoid peanuts in pregnancy if you have an allergy to them (obvious advice I know) or if a close relative has a peanut allergy (your parents/ siblings).

I'm not sure about the a few peanuts a day will help stop your baby having an allergy to them????

I'm not sure peanuts ingested by the mother would pass through the placenta to the baby....!

A normal heathy diet is the most important thing in pregnancy, avoiding soft cheese, shell fish, liver, raw eggs and having caffine, tuna fish in moderation.

Good luck with the pregnancy

Truly x