Starting solids with FPIES
Every new food comes with a question when a child has FPIES. This page is about the practical side: how new foods are usually introduced, and what to write down each time.
This page will not tell you which foods to try, or how much to give. That is a plan to make with your child's doctor, and ideally a dietitian.
When FPIES tends to appear
FPIES usually first appears between 2 and 7 months of age, once formula or solid foods begin. When a solid food is the cause, it most often starts between 6 and 12 months.
A reaction does not always come the first time a food is eaten.
FPIES reactions usually begin one to four hours after the food is eaten, not within minutes.
More about what FPIES isHow new foods are usually introduced
- One new food at a timeThe international guidelines describe giving each new food on its own, as a single ingredient.
- Several days apartGuidelines leave several days between new foods, and they differ on how many. Your child's doctor will say what fits your child.
- Not put offThe 2017 international guidelines note that infant feeding guidelines do not recommend delaying solids past 6 months because of FPIES. Cutting foods out can leave gaps in a child's nutrition.
- With a dietitianThe guidelines highly recommend a dietitian's help when starting solids with FPIES.
The guidelines also group first foods by how often each has been reported in FPIES. Ask your child's doctor or dietitian to go through that table with you.
What to write down
For each new food: when you gave it, how much, and what followed, even if nothing did. The food trial log page goes through it step by step.
Keeping an FPIES food trial logIf someone else feeds your child, keep the chart where they can use it too.
A free printable log and chart
Every food on one page, a box for each exposure. Free, no sign-up.
Download the printable (PDF)Tummy Tales keeps the same record
- Works out the time between a meal and a reaction
- Reminds you, in your own words, at the time you choose
- Makes one plain report for the appointment
Bring the record with you
The international guidelines call a careful history "the most important diagnostic tool".
Specialists ask what happened, how long after the food it began, which foods were involved and how many times it has happened. A written record answers those questions without leaning on memory.