Food Allergies General Information
From Mommyplace.com WiKI Page
My son was diagnosed with a peanut allergy when he was 18 months old.
The top food allergens are: peanut, nut, soy, wheat, fish, egg, shellfish, and milk. Reactions to food allergies can range from hay fever like symptoms to anaphylaxis which can be fatal.
Children with food allergies might need to carry an epinephrine pen at all time as well as Benadryl. Check with your doctor immediately. Children with food allergies also should wear a medical alert bracelet that identifies the food allergy.
Children with food allergies generally must strictly avoid all foods with the allergen present and also avoid foods that were made in the same factory as other foods with the allergen. For example, a child with a peanut allergy must avoid Peanut M&Ms as well as Plain M&Ms because the plain ones are made with the same equipment that make the peanut ones.
Avoiding food with the allergens that plague your child is much easier than it was 2 years ago. In January 2006, the FDA made it mandatory for all food manufactures to clearly communicate if a product has one of the 8 most common food allergens. Manufacturers also must claim if a product is made in a facility with other products that contain the food allergens (e.g, the M&M example). So, read packages carefully! All of this information is under the list of ingredients.
The best web resource for parents who have children with food allergies is foodallergy.com [1]. This site has a tremendous amount of information and you can also register to get emails from them when a manufacturer fails to claim the inclusion of a food allergen. This does happen so sign up for the alerts.
The interesting thing about food allergies is that it can take multiple exposures to a food to develop an allergy to it. For example, my son had peanut butter 5-10 times before he had a reaction to it. Food allergies are kind of the opposite of viruses. With a virus, if you are exposed to it, you develop an immune system to it. Food allergies are the opposite…the less you are exposed to it, the better chance you have of not becoming allergic to it. I’m not a Dr and I’m over simplifying this but it’s the general idea. So, the best thing you can do for your infant/toddler is to avoid the top allergen foods for a period of time. If you have an Infant you should talk to your Pediatrician about when to allow your child to have the top allergen foods. However, advice varies across Pediatricians. Some are more conservative than others. Based on all of my research, here are my tips:
1)Do not allow your child to have any peanut products (yes, that mean Peanut Butter) until Age 3. Your Pediatrician might OK it at age 1 or 2 but the more conservative Pediatricians are now saying Age 3.
2)Do not allow your child to have any of the other top allergen products until they are Age 3. My thought is better to be safe than sorry.
3)Monitor your child closely when he/she eats the top allergens. My son had a very mild hay fever reaction to peanut butter (and he had eaten it 5-10 times before) that could have been easily overlooked. We took it away immediately, called the Pediatrician who sent us to an Allergist and sure enough, our son is allergic.
4) Recognize that allergic reactions come in all shapes and sizes. It can be a simple runny nose or water eyes reaction to hives to vomiting to difficulty or the inability to breath. Keep Children's Benadryl in your house starting the day your child is born and watch the expiration date. If your child ever has a strange reaction to food, give them Benadryl immediately and call your Pediatrician.
5) If you have your child tested, insist on both the skin test and the blood test. Our first Allergist only did the skin test on my son and would not do the blood test despite my pleas. After several recommedations from friends, I took my son to a different Allergist (at National Jewish Med Center) and that Dr did both tests and gave me the reasons that both tests were necessary. Apparently the blood test offers a better benchmark which is used to monitor the development of the allergy. This blood tests allow you and the Dr to monitor whether the allergy is getting worse or better.
Call your Pediaician and get your child tested immediately if you think your child might have a food allergy.
The November 5 2007 issue of Newsweek has a very informative article on Food Allergies.
