The WHO and the American Academy of Pediatrics recommend starting solid foods at around 6 months. The exact timing varies between babies, so look for these developmental signs as well:
- can sit steadily with some support
- can hold their head and neck up on their own
- shows interest when adults are eating
- the tongue-thrust reflex has begun to fade
After starting solids, we recommend practicing for about two weeks with simple, low-allergen foods (rice porridge, potato porridge) before introducing the Start Kit.
The L.E.A.P. Study (NEJM, 2015) reported that babies introduced to peanut between 4 and 11 months had an 81% lower rate of peanut allergy by age 5. The E.A.T. Study (2016) and the USDA 2020 Dietary Guidelines also recommend not delaying introduction of allergenic foods. The SpoonTime Start Kit's step-by-step design is built on this evidence.
Each sachet is designed as one serving (about 2 g of protein exposure), so finishing it gives the most accurate result. That said, babies in early weaning often eat very small amounts. Once your baby is eating about 50 g of solids per meal, you can add the full sachet. Before that, start with about half a sachet and increase gradually. On days when the full sachet isn't finished, count it as partial exposure and continue with a new sachet the next day.
The two products differ as follows:
- Prep Kit (4 ingredients): contains milk, egg, peanut, wheat, plus rice flour — boiled in water and served as porridge.
- Start Kit (10 ingredients): contains peanut, shrimp, buckwheat, wheat, soy, white fish, walnut, egg, sesame, and more, as single-ingredient powders — sprinkled directly onto already-prepared baby food.
We recommend starting with the Prep Kit: early introduction of milk and egg has a stronger allergy-prevention effect, and the included rice flour means it doubles as a base porridge. Continue with the Start Kit afterward, and most major allergens will be covered.
The 10-ingredient kit focuses on whole allergens that are harder to source at home. Milk and egg are widely available everywhere, so we kept them out of the original kit and included them in the new Prep Kit instead. If you're using the 10-ingredient kit, you can prepare them at home:
- Milk: use about 50 ml of regular milk in place of water when cooking porridge, like a risotto (drinking milk should wait until after age 1).
- Egg: a fully boiled egg, both white and yolk, about one-third of an egg per serving.
Yes — the wheat is roasted once, which gives it the brown color and toasty aroma. The composition is the same as regular wheat flour, and once you've completed this test, your baby can eat bread, noodles, pasta, and other wheat-based foods freely. Mix it into baby food directly, no extra cooking needed.
For the major allergens in the Start Kit, three consecutive days of intake is recommended. Most food-allergy reactions appear within 2–3 hours of eating, but delayed reactions can occur in rare cases, so the three-day window allows for safer confirmation. For general vegetables (potato, carrot, etc.), allergy risk is low, so a single day's check is usually enough.
Ready-made baby food is usually made with low-allergen ingredients, so just sprinkle a sachet right on top. For topping-style meals, mix a sachet into the base porridge first, then add your usual toppings (beef, vegetables, etc.). For the most accurate read on a new ingredient, it helps to add it on top of foods your baby has already eaten safely before.
In the past, the recommendation was to delay nuts and seafood. But recent research has shown that delayed introduction not only fails to prevent allergies — it can actually raise the risk of developing them. That's why the guidelines have changed. The Start Kit's particle size is adjusted so 6-month-old babies can eat it safely, and the seafood ingredients are low-sodium.
Each sachet is designed as a single serving for one baby, so splitting it between two babies may not deliver enough allergen protein for the test to work as intended. We recommend one kit per baby. (A 5% discount is applied automatically when you buy two.)
Unopened, it can be stored at room temperature. Once opened, seal it and store it in the refrigerator or freezer.
The kit is made in an HACCP-certified facility, with each ingredient processed and packaged in sequence and thorough cleaning between runs, so cross-contamination is highly unlikely. Peanut and soy are sourced from domestic non-GMO ingredients, and seafood is processed to be low-sodium.
It depends on the severity.
Mild reaction (slight redness around the mouth, mild rash): stop serving the food, take a photo, and note the time and how it progressed. If symptoms subside the same day, you can retry a smaller amount in 2–3 weeks to see whether it's an allergy; if the same reaction appears again, consider it likely an allergy and consult a specialist.
Suspected severe reaction (anaphylaxis) — call 119 (or your local emergency number outside Korea) and go to the ER immediately if any of these appear:
- difficulty breathing or wheezing
- swelling of the lips, tongue, or face
- repeated vomiting
- reduced consciousness or being limp/unresponsive
Babies with eczema have a higher likelihood of food allergies — but delaying food introduction doesn't help prevent them. Introducing foods step by step and identifying the cause through observation is the better approach. Eczema can be hard to tell apart from an allergic skin reaction, so if any of these also appear, take a photo and visit your pediatrician — it may be a food allergy:
- repeated vomiting after feeding
- strong stool odor, or bloody or mucousy stools
- severe infant colic
We recommend consulting a pediatrician before starting the Start Kit when eczema is severe.
You can purchase directly from the official SpoonTime Smart Store on Naver.
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