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We could be creating an outbreak of food allergy because we do not get babies off allergens sooner, according to a leading pediatric allergies specialist.
The Public Health England board recommends introducing peanuts and other allergens from around six months old, but Gideon Lack, a pediatric allergy professor at Kings College London, could arrive two months too late.
"Food allergy is a growing problem, it has become a big problem.I would say that the use of the word" outbreak "would not be inappropriate."
Every year, 64,000 new cases of children with food allergies emerge.
From peanut to cheese, the problem worsens. Two percent of babies born in the UK will have a severe peanut allergy at the age of three and nearly one in ten will be vulnerable to anaphylactic food allergy.
Professor Lack advocates a strategy that, in his opinion, would reduce these numbers. In a 2015 study, he urged health policies to consider weaning infants from four months of age.
"Six months is certainly too late for egg allergy – the majority of which is between four and six months," he said.
"If we want to prevent an egg allergy and a substantial proportion of peanut allergy, we need to step in earlier."
Nathalie Newman must check all the food before giving it to her son Callum
The new national health guidelines in North America advocate that peanuts be considered as early as four months of age in children at high risk of severe eczema. Australia and some European countries have also adopted the strategy.
Callum Newman, seven, suffers from 28 food allergies, including eight anaphylactics.
His mother, Nathalie, said that she was so vigilant about safe food for her son that his investigative skills would shame the FBI.
She said: "All labels must be checked, in case the manufacturing methods are changed.
"And when you're eating out, make sure the right questions are asked to make sure food is safe and cross-contamination is not a problem."
The recent case of 15-year-old Natasha Ednan-Laperouse, who died of an allergic reaction Having eaten a Pret à Manger sandwich on a flight, pointed out the terrible consequences of eating the wrong thing.
"Some food allergies are there to last a lifetime and all of them can cause life-threatening reactions, or even very sadly, in some cases, deaths from anaphylaxis," said Professor Lack.
"This is a very heavy burden of disease and a heavy burden for the people."
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