by Tenebris

Created on: August 29, 2007

If your baby suddenly begins to wheeze, have difficulty breathing, or break out in a rash, you might suspect an allergy, maybe even a food allergy. But what would you think if your baby becomes irritable, or fidgety, or even starts to find normal daylight too bright? How would you even know? And how could you possibly suspect a food allergy if the baby is still breastfeeding?

Allergies generally are becoming increasingly common among children in western populations, to the point that any suddenly presenting symptom which cannot be attributed to a common childhood disease is immediately cause to suspect an underlying allergy. Non-food allergies most commonly create either respiratory or rash-type reactions: and can be quickly identified with a skin allergen test.

Food allergies can be much more difficult to diagnose, especially in a baby which may even be reacting to peanut or other proteins present in the mother's breast milk. Since breastfeeding babies can be sensitised in this manner to foods they have never directly encountered, breastfeeding mothers should be extremely careful in their own diet. Especially, under no conditions should nuts, peanuts, or legumes of any kind be introduced either to a breastfeeding mother or to a child under the age of five.

At their simplest and also their most severe, the baby quickly reacts to a specific type of food by wheezing, coughing (which can come close to choking), or breaking out into a rash. A baby exhibiting an extreme respiratory reaction (anaphylaxis) or extreme swelling of the throat (laryngospasm) should be rushed to the nearest emergency room immediately, since these can kill. Later on, once they are old enough to understand, children with severe food allergies will probably be issued an Epi-Pen or similar auto-injector, a one-time use syringe pre-loaded with a stop-gap dose of epinephrine which is intended to neutralise the reaction for long enough for emergency help to arrive.

Much more common is for a specific food or group of foods to trigger respiratory or skin discomfort, or sometimes even changes in sensitivity or behaviour: sometimes minutes after being exposed to the food, and sometimes as much as hours later. Most babies, feeling discomfort, will begin to fuss. Where breathing is becoming difficult, the baby may begin to flail urgently, and the breathing may turn into a hacking kind of cough. Older babies may be able to scratch themselves along the arms or body, indicating imminent eczema. The nose may

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