Baby Nutrition Rules: The 4 Days Wait

What is the ‘4 Day Wait Rule’ and should you really keep it in mind? A lot of mothers are following this rule because this is the easiest way to see the baby’s reaction to the new kinds of food and also to see whether the little one has any allergies or other sensitivities.

Keep in mind that the foods could cause some other negative reactions as well, besides allergies, such as pain in the abdomen, poop troubles and painful gas. The main point of the rule is to introduce the new food, one at time, leaving 4 days between them. This means that in case you introduce a kind of food on Monday, you should wait until Thursday to add another kind of food.

If you allow these four days to pass you will see the exact reaction of the baby. The rule is even more important in case there is some history of food allergy in your family. If there are some negative reactions it will be very easy for you to determine which kind of food is the culprit.

4-Day-Wait-Rule’Is this rule really necessary?

According to the studies that have been conducted regarding this topic, introducing the different foods one by one makes no difference in developing or not different food allergies.

There are also some healthcare providers who say that mothers could introduce a variety of food at once if they would like to.

Finding the allergies

In case you opt for the ‘4 Days Wait Rule’, as it has been mentioned before, it will be a lot easier to find those kinds of foods that could cause problems to the little one and it is easy to eliminate them from the nutrition. Also you should know that in case there is an allergy, you will be able to see it 24 hours after the little one has eaten.

Nonetheless in case we are talking about digestive issues, these take longer to show signs.

When to introduce the new kinds of food?

It is said that the best time to introduce the new food is during the morning and the early afternoon. This is because there are some negative effects, you can be sure that the pediatrician will still be in the office. Another advantage is that in case there is a negative effect, this will have a smaller impact on the little one’s routine.

Mixing the food

Once you have tried a larger number of foods and there has been no negative reaction, you could start mixing them to offer variety to the baby.

When to stop using the rule?

When the baby reaches 9-10 months, most probably you will have introduced a larger variety of different foods and you have seen which ones are those that induced an allergic reaction or that have upset the little one’s tummy. At this time you can start paying less attention to the rule. Nonetheless this doesn’t mean that you don’t have to pay attention when you introduce the new kinds of food.

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