When is BUTTER appropriate?

[LukasMom]

Is BUTTER inappropriate for a 1 year old?

I haven't seen much info on this.  I assumed it was like other dairy products, containing good fats for a baby and so forth.  So I've been giving her butter.  Not a whole lot, but some.  Like I will cook her eggs in it.

Two days ago my mom gave my lo some toast with a lot of butter on it.  Now either it was the toast (it turned out to be potato bread) or it was the butter, but her face got red and she got a few hives.  She has eczema, so this is not unheard of, but it's the first time a food caused this reaction.  I was panicking because I didn't have the baby benedryl with me. 

The reaction eventually went down after we bathed her and put some hydrocortizone cream on the red spots, but it left me wondering if she's allergic to butter.  She has definately had it lots of times before and no reaction. 

With eczema, sometimes I have noticed a scratchy food (toast) will cause a reaction.  But I didn't see her eat it, and my mother keeps insisting it had to be the butter.  Since I wasn't there, I don't know exactly what this butter was like. I mean, was it hot butter? I don't know. 

I've been cooking her food in olive oil just in case.  Does anybody know at what age butter is appropriate?

[Nikki~Nathan&Danielle]

I think I added a bit of butter for Nathan once he started with dairy - so probably about that age.  Isn't butter just cream anyway or maybe the process changes it??  I'd probably try it again with something tried and tested and ok to eliminate it as the problem.  It could've been the bread that it was on if it was something different to regular bread - maybe a particular type of grain?

[LukasMom]

I don't know, I looked at the bread package and it had a lot of things in it, but they are all things I think she has had. Even potatoes, she has had.  It did have some soy in it but I'm pretty sure she's had that in other breads. 

The whole thing makes me think it was the WAY my mother served it that did it.  Like maybe it was a HUGE amount of butter, or really crusty toast, or hot butter.  She says no, but these things are relative.  (So is my mother!  :lol: ) 

Anyway it is a mystery to me.  Maybe I'll try a little butter again and see what happens.  If nothing happens, I'll just assume it was the way she prepared it....or maybe my lo was having a bad day.   :?  Eczema is weird like that and sometimes if she's just too tired she'll react to things or get random hives.

[Seona1973]

Goodness, my dd has had butter since she started having toast - around 7 months, so no I dont think its inappropriate to give it to a 1 year old. Mind you, in the UK we can give most things after the 6 month mark except maybe honey and shellfish. Full fat cows milk and dairy products can also be introduced at 6 months as long as the cows milk is used on cereal, in cooking and not replacing the main drink which should be formula/breastmilk up to 1 year.

[LukasMom]

It's not the butter!
I have been giving her small amounts of butter in her eggs and she has no problem with it.  I think I have figured out what the real problem is.  She has extremely sensitive skin and if any food at all gets left on her face for very long, she can get a hive or redness.  For example yesterday she got a hive from a little cinnamon and graham cracker on her face.  She's been eating those for ages so I know she doesn't have an allergy.  Eczema is so weird.  If anything scratches her skin ever so slightly or gets on her, she gets redness, hives....it's like her skin is made of tissue paper, it is SO sensitive. 
I'd glad to know it's not the butter, anyway.  I can tell my mother to make sure to wipe her face clean, and not feed her scratchy things like toast, and she'll do fine.