Food Allergy Safety Pointers For Kids
Article by Wendy Watkins
Most children with food allergies suffer mild but uncomfortable symptoms, such as loose stools, excess gas, diarrhea, constipation, nausea or vomiting. In some cases, blood or mucus will appear in the stools (particularly in the event of a milk allergy). It’s not uncommon for kid food allergies to cause hives, ear infections, stuffy/runny noses, watery/red eyes, wheezing, asthma flare-ups, eczema, localized rashes or mild tingling/itching in the mouth. In severe cases, anaphylaxis may occur within minutes or hours. The child may find it difficult to swallow, breathe or speak. Usually, they will begin to panic as they begin to feel their throats swell, and they will turn red, feel weak and may slip into unconsciousness. In this article, you will learn about some of the ways that parents of these afflicted kids are coping.
The most important part of raising a youngster with a food allergy is to provide for their safety. In the home, you are going to need to make modifications in lots of of your recipes to make certain that your youngster won’t be exposed to his or her allergens. It’s normal to feel frustrated and restricted in the beginning, however, after a little bit of searching, you’ll discover replacements for pretty much all of your family’s favorite foods.
You will discover many cookbooks, for instance The Allergy Self-Help Cookbook, which offers more than 325 recipes free of all common allergens, such as wheat, milk, eggs, yeast, corn and sugar. Then there are cookbooks that are more targeted to certain allergies, for instance eggs, gluten or milk.
Sometimes children with food allergies begin to feel depressed or ostracized when other kids tease them for being unable to eat certain foods. It’s important that you sit down with your child and talk about these feelings. A good way to get into a discussion is to read one of the books written about food allergies. Nicole Smith is the author of several helpful children’s food allergy books, such as Allie the Allergic Elephant: A Children’s Story of Peanut Allergies; Cody the Allergic Cow: A Children’s Story of Milk Allergies; and Chad the Allergic Chipmunk: A Children’s Story of Nut Allergies. For other wonderful books to go over with your child, please visit http://www.kidswithfoodallergies.org/books-child.html. By reading these books, children will learn how to avoid dangerous situations and stay safe just like their favorite characters in these memorable stories.
If you have children with food allergies, then you must be prepared at all times to prevent a food allergy reaction. This can be tricky when you’re out and about, but there are some helpful online tools and mobile phone apps to help you. For instance the “Allergy Companion No Peanut” for the iPhone and iPod Touch will list menu items to avoid at over 50 major restaurants in the U.S. (www.allergycompanion.com). Similarly, you can check fast food restaurants at http://www.allergyfreepassport.com. Another iPhone/iPod app is the “Pocket First Aid & CPR from Jive Media,” which provides you with American Heart Association content and lets you store medical contact information (www.jive.me/pocketaid). A similar (paid) program is Polka Close Call/My Emergency Information, which allows you to store detailed medical information and communicate with responders even if you can’t talk (www.blog.polka.com/?p=170). You can search a number of foods and get updated alerts from Food Content Alerts at http://www.foodcontentalerts.com.
About the Author
There are a number of ways to diagnose and treat children’s allergies. One promising method is known as the allergy food challenge. Find out more at Food Allergies in Children.
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