How much Benadryl should I give a 9 month old child weighing 17 lbs 14 oz to prevent a food allergy?

Good evening ma'am,

It is not recommended to give this type of medication as a preventative. In fact, by doing so, you risk causing side effects (some children sleep +++, while others become restless), and most importantly you risk hiding a potential reaction and simply "postponing" the occurrence of a more serious reaction.

I suggest instead that you simply give the child a very small amount of food initially, which will limit the reaction if it were to occur, and keep the dose of Benadryl™ on standby and only give it if the reaction is very severe (large rash, for example).

In the latter case, it is possible to give a 7 mg dose to the child. Depending on the concentration of the solution you have at home, this will give a very specific dose (probably larger than 2.5 mL)

Good luck at the end of the day,

Alexandre Chagnon, pharmacist