Infants were introduced to complementary feeding earlier in 2018 compared with 2003.

Abstract

Until 2001, the Swedish advice was to postpone the introduction of eggs, fish and peanuts until the age of 1 year. One reason was to reduce the risk of food allergy. The earlier introduction of complementary feeding is now advised. Our aim was to study adherence to current recommendations and whether the time of introduction changed between 2003 and 2018. Data were obtained from two prospective, longitudinal, population-based cohort studies of children born in 2003 (n = 4987) and in 2018 (n = 3936). Parents answered comparable questionnaires when the children were 6 and 12 months old. At 6 months, in the 2018 cohort, eggs were introduced to 67.2% of the infants, fish to 78.9%, gluten to 89.1%, cow's milk to 76.6% and peanuts to 46.2%. In adjusted Cox regression analyses, introduction of complementary feeding with gluten, fish and eggs was made significantly earlier in the 2018 cohort compared with the 2003 cohort, adjusted for heredity, own allergic disease and parental educational level (p < 0.01). Complementary feeding with eggs, fish and gluten was introduced earlier in infants born in 2018 compared with 2003, possibly reducing the risk of developing allergic disease. Current recommendations from child welfare centres are being followed.