Thanks Jen for a very interesting piece. This is a subject close to my heart as, like you, we have a very allergic family. I've thought very carefully about the way in which I've introduced Minky to food. We did mush shovelling to start with (to be honest, my pureeing was rubbish so she was dealing with chunks of vegetables quite early on!). I discovered BLW when she was 7+ months. I enjoy the control it allows her over her food, but you do have to be inventive when you can't have wheat and you can't have dairy (and all the other minor food groups we're avoiding). Avoiding wheat has been easier, although I'd love to be able to give her a piece of bread to chew on. Avoiding dairy is a pain mainly because a lump of cheese is convenient, take anywhere, protein and we can't have it. The order in which to introduce food is interesting. I think there is a lot of conflicting advice, so I've made up my own schedule (!). I think order is more important than age, so Minky had rice and millet before she had oats and we'll be leaving wheat for a bit longer. The comment about the 18 month old with a dairy allergy rang very true to me. I don't know if Minky will have any allergies, or if I have any chance of preventing them, but I do feel that early exposure can cause allergy. I keep thinking that if I can wait for her gut to mature a bit then she has a better chance of being allergy free. Anyway, thanks for writing this. I feel encouraged that allergies and BLW are compatable. I'm certainly more confident in trying BLW from the get-go with baby number two (ahem).