Dr. Nabeel Saif Hussein Shaif
GP-Paediatrics
Healthspring World Clinic
What is a food allergy?
An estimated 6 percent of children suffer from food allergies. If your baby has a food allergy, his body’s immune system reacts to a particular food as an intruder. When he eats an offending food, his body releases antibodies that cause allergic reactions.
If your baby has an allergic reaction to something he eats, it may be rapid (within half an hour to an hour) or it may develop hours or even days later. Symptoms may be seen on the skin — including hives, red patches, chronic eczema, or swelling — or they may be gastrointestinal, such as vomiting, abdominal pains, or diarrhoea.
Symptoms that occur quickly can be more severe. When a child has a severe allergic reaction, he may have wheezing, swelling of the tongue and mouth, and trouble breathing. This reaction, called anaphylaxis, is life threatening.
The most common food allergens for young children are eggs, milk, peanuts, wheat, soy, tree nuts, fish (like tuna, salmon, and cod), and shellfish (like lobster, shrimp, and crab).
If you or your partner has a family history of food allergies, then it may be twice as likely that your baby will have allergies. The good news: Most kids outgrow food allergies by age 5, although certain allergies — to peanuts or tree nuts, for example — are much more likely to persist.
What can be done?
When starting your baby on solids, introduce a new food every three to five days at most. If he’s going to react to the food, chances are the symptoms will show up within this time. And if you buy baby food, start with single-ingredient varieties rather than combinations, to make it easier to identify any offending foods.
If your baby has been diagnosed with a food allergy, you’ll want to learn all you can about it — including which foods to avoid, how to read labels, and how to recognize the early signs of an allergic reaction.
Work with your baby’s doctor to establish an action plan in case your baby does have a reaction. Be sure to keep epinephrine (a medication that will stop an anaphylactic reaction) on hand and know how to use it.
Also make sure that everyone who is ever responsible for taking care of your baby — sitters, relatives, daycare workers — knows about his allergy and what they may not give him to eat. Also make sure they know exactly what to do if he has an allergic reaction.
