by April Song

Created on: April 13, 2011   Last Updated: April 14, 2011

A food allergy is an adverse immune response to a food protein. An allergy occurs when the immune system mistakes a protein as a harmful thing. Since small kids can outgrow certain kinds of food allergies little by little, so more kids under the year of three have food allergies than other groups of human beings. Therefore, as a parent, it is very important to know that what foods your kids are allergic to and how to prevent food allergies happening to your kids.

First, you should know what foods your kids are allergic to and the symptoms of food allergies. For children, foods that can induce allergies include: milk, eggs, peanuts, and tree nuts. Symptoms of an allergic reaction may involve the skin, the digestive system and respiratory system. If your kids have any of the following symptoms after eating a certain food, then you should be on alert: hives, eczema, redness or flushing, swelling on the skin; stomach pain, nausea, vomiting and diarrhea; sneezing, coughing, runny nose, wheezing. A severe food allergy may affect several parts of the body and cause breathing difficulties.

As a parent of babies, you should pay attention to even the smallest signs which may indicate food allergies. Since new babies can’t express their feelings, it is extremely important for new parents to be careful, especially when feeding a new food to your babies. Try to keep a record of all foods your babies have had if any symptoms show. Once you have made out what foods your baby is allergic to, then you should avoid to giving your kids such foods. One thing that should be pointed out is that since the foodstuffs your kids are allergic to may be an ingredient of some other foods, you should read carefully food labels carefully.   

Inform others about your kids food allergies. If your kid is going to visit a relative or go camping, specify the problem to the adults who will be supervising. Of course, most importantly, you should let your kid be on guard against those foods. If your kid has very serious allergic reactions, you should take him or her to see an allergy specialist for testing. Kids with severe food allergies should always carry epinephrine auto injection devices, and take medical alert bracelets to notify others of their allergies.

True food allergies are not as common as people think. And though some small kids are allergic to some foods, most of them will outgrow the food allergies as they grow up. So as a parent, what you should do is to be as careful as you can when you are feeding your babies. Things will get better as your kids grow.

References:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Food_allergy

http://www.keepkidshealthy.com/welcome/commonproblem s/food_allergies.html

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