Help and Hope for Food Allergies
It all starts innocently enough: introducing a new food to your infant or toddler. You laugh at the facial expressions as your child experiences a new flavor and texture.
And then it happens.
Their face swells; their breathing becomes labored. Panic ensues, and you rush to the hospital, where you receive the diagnosis of food allergies.
You’ve now entered a new realm of parenthood. From that day forward, every meal, every snack becomes a potential risk. You scour every inch of your kitchen and remove all potential health hazards. Trips to the grocery store become meticulous missions, scanning every label for traces of allergens. Eating out becomes a rare treat, fraught with anxiety and uncertainty. Birthday parties, once carefree celebrations, are now nerve-wracking events, requiring careful negotiation with hosts and vigilant monitoring of ingredients.
Despite these challenges, you refuse to let fear run your life. You educate yourself and your children and you learn to recognize hidden allergens and administer life-saving medication. You discover safe recipes, create allergy-friendly traditions, and build a support network of understanding friends and family.
If only it were that simple!
If you’ve ever experienced the realm of food allergies, you know that allergies are tricky little buggers. What might be a small rash during the first exposure could turn into a full-blown medical emergency on the next one.
This information is not offered as a scare tactic. Although, let’s be clear: allergies are nothing to mess around with. The more we know about allergy symptoms and treatments, the more we can rest in our knowledge and feel confident that we will know how to handle an emergency if it ever happens.
With that being said, let’s learn what to look for with the most common food allergy symptoms.
First, it’s helpful to understand what a food allergy is. Food allergies happen when your immune system reacts to a food protein because your system perceives it as threatening. Your body creates antibodies in an attempt to protect you from infection.
The nine most common food allergens are: cow’s milk, eggs, tree nuts, peanuts, shellfish, wheat, soy, fish, and sesame.
The latest research and recommendations show that early exposure to these foods can help the body develop antigens to fight off allergic reactions. (Peanuts have been the most widely studied to date.)
Allergic reactions to food can affect the skin, the digestive system and the immune system. It’s vital to know what symptoms to look for.
There are two types of allergic reactions to food:
Immunoglobulin E (IgE) mediated: This is the most common type of allergic reaction. It happens when IgE antibodies release chemicals like histamine to fight off the perceived invader. Histamine causes typical allergy symptoms and may lead to anaphylaxis, which could be life threatening.
Non-IgE mediated: A non-IgE-mediated allergic reaction often involves skin or digestive symptoms, presenting itself with symptoms such as heartburn and eczema. Non-IgE allergies are often hard to diagnose and get into the gray area of food intolerances (which is a whole other blog post, coming soon).
A mild food allergy reaction could include one of the following:
Itchy mouth
Itchy nose, runny nose, sneezing
Isolated itching with a few hives
Mild gastrointestinal discomfort
For mild symptoms, stop feeding the suspected allergen and contact your medical professional for further support and instruction.
Symptoms of severe allergic reactions require immediate attention!
Shortness of breath
Wheezing
Coughing that won’t stop (directly related to eating the suspected allergen)
Swelling of face, lips, or tongue
Widespread hives on body
Vomiting that won’t stop
Change in skin color (pale, bluish, ashen)
Sudden limpness, unexpected tiredness or lethargy
For these severe allergic symptoms, call 911 or your local emergency services immediately. DO NOT WAIT. Describe the symptoms, the food eaten, and request autoinjectable epinephrine.
So far this blog has been pretty bleak, right? The title promised hope. Here it is:
Recently, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved the use of Xolair to treat accidental exposure to food allergies in anyone over the age of one year. This is the first drug proven to reduce allergic reactions to known food allergy exposures. Caution must still be taken, but there is hope on the horizon!
If your child has food allergies, it’s important to teach them to be cautious, while not allowing fear to rule their lives. Sounds easy enough, right?
Because kids progress through developmental stages, they’ll understand their allergies in different ways at different stages of their development. This is totally normal, and we lean into their abilities to help them learn to advocate for themselves to keep their bodies safe. Here are my top tips for teaching kids about food allergies:
Teach children to advocate for themselves and tell others about their allergies when they need to know, like for a birthday treat in school or snacks at soccer practice.
Provide similar, safe treats for children during celebrations like birthday parties.
Involve children in looking at labels on foods to see whether or not they are safe to eat.
Teach children the warning symptoms of a food allergy flare and what to do about it, including calling for emergency help.
Teach children to pay attention to their body signals to help assure them that the food they are eating is safe for their body.
Involve children in meal planning and preparation, to learn the skills to avoid cross-contamination.
Encourage variety in foods prepared and consumed by the whole family, to avoid food jags.
Our hope is to empower kids and families to face food allergies with courage, knowledge and support. Although there is currently no cure for food allergies, recent research offers hope that there is help on the horizon. In the meantime, a positive mindset and proactive planning can help bring peace to your mealtimes, as you rest in the fact that you are prepared in case of an emergency.
If your child is struggling to trust eating because they’ve had allergic reactions, we can help. Whether your child is an infant and you are new to this food allergy world, or your child is going through a developmental stage and is creating strict new rules (that don’t make sense) for eating, we understand and can help you navigate through these challenges.
Book a free connection call and let us know how we can best support you.
Many parents of selective eaters face anxiety and uncertainty when trying to introduce new foods. Our FREE GUIDE offers practical solutions to help you overcome the barriers associated with introducing new foods to your selective eater. By following the steps in this comprehensive guide, you’ll be able to pull your chair up to the table with confidence rather than trepidation.
Your child’s eating habits did not form in one day, and they can’t be changed quickly either.
This guide will help you adopt a compassionate approach to your child’s eating challenges. You’ll learn to shift your mindset, enabling you to work together with your child to create more connected and safe eating experiences for the whole family.
Transformation is within reach, and we’re here to guide you every step of the way.
