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We started giving our son peanut butter at 1 year old with the blessing of his pediatrician. Some people are expressing concern that we did so. One family member says we should have waited until he was 3. If there's no peanut allergy in the family, why wait?

I think some people are worried young children could get choked on it, being so sticky and all. I say as long as it is in small bits and not large chunks (large enough to get stuck in their throat), then I don't see why there would be a problem. Maybe there is something about it I don't know....

April-mommy to Ronald-11 months old

I think Ronaldsmom is right - there are two issues with early introduction of peanut butter: the potential for allergic reaction and the potential choking hazard.
http://www.parenting.com/parenting/baby/article/0,19840,1592349,00.html

http://www.babycenter.com/0_foods-that-can-be-unsafe-fo...r-toddler_1491465.bc

Here are 4 peanut butter alternatives if you are worried about peanut allergies. I found this tidbit in Parents Magazine.

Sunflower butter - it has more than a third of your child's magnesium and vitamin E requirements

SoyNut butter - made from soybeans, it is rich in antioxidants

Hemp-seed butter (it's green! LOL) - supplies about a third of your child's daily iron requirement, plus omega-3 and omega-6 fatty acids.

Almond butter - contains more than half of the vitamin E your child should get every day

There's one more - cashew butter. Because of peanut allergy in my family, we delayed introduction of peanuts for both kids and instead started with cashew butter. We all loved it so much that it's all we buy - no peanut butter in our house. You can get cashew butter at Manna and Target.

That sounds great LawMommy. Is it expensive?

It is kind of expensive, compared to peanut butter, but it sure is yummy!

Have you ever tried Nutella? It is a chocolate/hazelnut spread... a lot of kids in Europe eat nutella sandwiches like we eat peanut butter ones in the states. I wouldn't--by any means--call it healthy, though. But, my daughter likes nutella and pb sandwiches.

I'll have to look for some cashew butter!

I've tried Nutella and I LOVED it!

I'd heard you shouldn't give a spoonful of peanut butter to a child under 4 because small children and babies tend to swallow without chewing and could choke on it because it's so sticky. But I think it's fine to use as a spread on bread, etc after a year as long as there is no history of allergies in you family.

Yes, I've tried Nutella, and it's definitely a sweet treat as opposed to a plain nut butter. My husband loves it!
SarahMay, what you say makes sense about deciding if/when to give a little one peanut butter.

I love Nutella! The first time I had it was in Italy. Then I came home and hunted for it in the stores. Yum yum!

Hey, I have a pb question ... I bought Jack organic pb and I opened it and kept it in the pantry. Well, I read the label yesterday (to see if the oily consistency was right -- it is) and it said to refrigerate after opening. Ooops. I've never refrigerated pb before. So I stuck it in the fridge. But do you think it's OK since I had it out for a few weeks?

After a few weeks it's probably fine. I think the risk is that it could go rancid, in which case it would smell bad. I used to keep the cashew butter in the fridge, but we go through it so quickly (usually a jar in about 10 days) that I decided several months to leave it out, and it has been fine so far. It's a hassle to refridgerate it all the time - then you have to leave it out for a bit before spreading because it gets so hard.