Thank God I didn't feed it to him.
Prior to the recent AAP recommendation (and possibly still after it) many daycares had nut-free policies as a selling point.
> This idea of introducing the food in an ED waiting room is probably something spread on mommy forums such as BabyCenter.
Introducing an allergen with ready access to medical care may be an overreaction, but is hardly problematic.
It's the delay in introduction which is problematic, and which research suggest drove the big upswing in incidence of peanut and some other allergies.
It's important to remember how vital early introduction to both beneficial and harmful environmental agents are to human development. Its easy to have the mindset that I will wait until my child is 3+ years old before I introduce anything potentially harmful with the idea being that they will be bigger and stronger. The immune system is actually quite strong and adaptable early in development which is precisely why vaccines work better at an early age
That being said the parent (esp mother) also plays a large roll in the first introduction of helpful bacteria that break down various foods. The bacteria that are transferred during a vaginal birth give the baby a leg up in establishing its early gut flora. Additionally there is a direct transfer of antibodies through the placenta and breast milk which help protect the baby. I would imagine a mother eating peanuts during both those times would help pass some of these antibodies to her offspring.
This idea of introducing the food in an ED waiting room is probably something spread on mommy forums such as BabyCenter. One mom shares it, then there is social pressure to do the same thing. A parent probably thinks "Does it make me a bad mom if I don't do it." Very unfortunate.