Navigating Food Allergies: Safe Baby Meal Deliveries in London

How common are food allergies in the UK?

It may seem like allergies are becoming more and more common in the UK at the moment, but what are the true numbers? According to the Food Standards Agency, there are an estimated two million people in the UK living with a diagnosed food allergy or intolerance.

Parents are often concerned about their baby having a food allergy if an older sibling has a food allergy but recent studies have found that this alone does not significantly increase the risk of food allergy in an infant sibling. If someone in the home has a food allergy, families need to plan how to introduce that food into the baby’s diet, whilst keeping the person with the food allergy safe.

As parents, one of the biggest anxieties involved with starting to wean your baby is introducing allergens in a safe way, and then keeping them in their diet regularly once they have accepted them into their diet.

So clearly, allergies are a common issue for parents to navigate when ordering meal deliveries for their baby, but what’s the best way for parents to tackle this issue?

In this article, we’re going to look at the top tips and advice for parents of children with allergies to ensure that they can get safe, tasty meals delivered for their babies.

First, what exactly is a baby meal delivery service?

Most baby meal delivery services in London are designed to try and ease the stress and workload for busy parents. As you probably know, baby food is not the same as adult food, so for many parents, having to deal with cooking different meals for themselves, a baby, (and potentially older children!) is basically an impossible task without turning into a full-time chef.

Dealing with allergies can make this process even more stressful for parents, hence why they turn to baby meal delivery services that can cater to specific allergy restrictions.

What to look for when navigating safe baby food deliveries in London

Most baby food delivery companies in London will have clearly displayed on their website which allergens are present in their meals and the varying risks of cross-contamination in their kitchens. It’s highly recommended to double-check these before ordering for your baby if they have any kind of allergy or intolerance.

The most common allergens are milk, eggs, peanuts, soy, wheat, tree nuts (such as walnuts and cashews), fish, shellfish (such as shrimp), and sesame.

Should you avoid allergens altogether when using baby meal delivery services?

Allergies are a common source of anxiety for many parents in London, so you might be tempted to just avoid allergens completely when ordering meals for your baby.

According to the NHS and many paediatric experts, this would actually be a mistake.

By delaying the introduction of some allergens like peanut and egg you can actually run the risk of increasing the chances of your baby developing some kind of intolerance to them later in life.

The advice for parents is that, once their baby has tolerated an allergen, you should keep offering it to them as part of their usual diet to minimise the risk of developing an allergy to them.

So when looking at baby meal delivery services in London, make sure to check that their menus feature a good variety of allergens that are suitable for your baby and be sure to check that, if you plan to use the meals regularly, their meals will be exposing them to those allergens regularly.

V&Me’s baby menu is designed to be used regularly by busy parents and features a wide range of common allergens (excluding peanuts and sesame) across its rotating seasonal menus.

What are the options if my baby has already developed allergies or intolerances?

If you’ve confirmed that your baby has an allergy or intolerance, don’t worry! There are still plenty of options for you and your baby.

Most delivery services, especially frozen meal ones, will require you to pick and choose according to your baby’s dietary requirements. Although this isn’t a bad option, we’ve found that it does limit your options considerably, which ultimately means that your baby won’t be able to get the same amount of variety as they would be able to otherwise.

At V&Me, we made the decision to offer allergen-free versions of everything on our 36-meal menu. This means that you can order the exact same menu, with the same amount of variety. The current allergy-free options are egg-free, dairy-free, and peanut & sesame free.

For dairy-free alternatives, we substitute using plant-based alternatives such as oat milk, oat cream, and flora butter. These are carefully chosen to ensure that their calcium levels are high enough to meet the requirements of growing babies.

The kitchen is a completely nut and sesame-free area, although we can’t guarantee that there has been no cross-contamination from our suppliers.

Do any baby meal delivery services provide a way to help parents introduce allergens?

If you’re looking for a completely stress-free way to introduce allergens to your baby, then the Ultimate Weaning Kit from V&Me might be for you!

The five-week weaning journey is the first of its kind in the UK. Every meal has been planned by leading paediatric experts to introduce your baby to solids in the best way possible.

Allergens are included in this 5-week journey and have been carefully included so that all you have to do is serve your baby the meals. We’ve taken care of the order in which you introduce the allergen and the amount of it required to be in each meal, and, what’s more, it even comes with a custom weaning tracker to help you keep on top of any reactions your baby might have to any of the ingredients.

If you live in London and you want to join the growing number of parents getting fresh baby meal deliveries to their doorstep, click the link below and get your first delivery now!

We are now delivering to almost all central London postcodes, including popular areas like Wandsworth, Clapham, Battersea, Kensington, Fulham, Greenwich, Queen’s Park, Islington, Lewisham and many more!