[SKL]

I have heard conflicting arguments on this, just in the past year.

On the one hand, if you don't expose your child to something little by little as his immune system is developing, he doesn't have a chance to build up defenses against it and this could lead to allergies.

On the other hand, with some substances, there is a belief (I don't recall ever reading they have proven it) that early exposure is so aggravating to some that it actually creates an allergy.

Now, most likely there is no "one rule" for every possible allergen. It is currently believed that early exposure to dust is great for babies (yeah!) while I haven't heard an "ok" on eggs before age 1 yet (though they were feeding my daughters eggs in Guatemala).

Personally, I just started very gradually with peanut butter around their first birthday. They LOVE IT and they have never had any kind of reaction. Within a month or two I threw caution to the wind as far as nuts go (though I do cut up hard nuts because they are a choking hazard).

On the other hand, I am in no hurry to introduce seafood - I haven't done any research on it, and I don't care to serve it at home, so I avoid it rather than risk an incident in a restaurant.