Babies food allergy symptoms and tips

Parents of children who are at risk of allergies are often unsettled and do not know how to properly feed their children. In fact, the problems with eating sometimes start as soon as the little ones are born. A food allergy can develop in the first months of life. It occurs most frequently in the second and third year of life, after which the frequency drops again. Babies food allergy symptoms are very common health problems. You can go deep into the article for answers to what are the reasons and what should we do?

Immature digestive tract

Children suffer from food allergies more often than adults: two to three percent of them, and four percent of young children, are affected. If a child is already suffering from neurodermatitis, the risk of allergic reactions to certain foods increases. In this group, the frequency is 30 percent. These numbers refer to Central Europe.

The fact that children are more susceptible to food allergies is due to their still immature digestive tract: the child’s intestine is not yet able to break down certain proteins in food, such as milk, so well. In addition, their mucous membranes are more permeable to larger protein molecules, to which the young body can then have an allergic reaction. Sensitization can arise, for example, if a baby receives cow’s milk or baby milk based on cow’s milk too early. Other common triggers are egg white, wheat, soy, nuts and fish.

Usually, however, only one or two foods are problematic for the child. In three quarters of cases, such an allergy disappears again until school age if the parents manage to consistently remove the trigger from the menu – unless the child has a peanut allergy. This aggressive allergen is difficult to avoid because it can cause severe symptoms in small quantities. The allergist should therefore check every one or two years whether the child can now tolerate the original trigger. But food allergy can also be a harbinger of another allergy, such as hay fever, asthma or neurodermatitis.

Food allergy symptoms babies

Doctors distinguish between two types of allergic reactions to food: the immediate allergic reaction  and the late allergic reaction . The immediate reaction occurs within minutes up to two hours, for example after drinking cow’s milk or egg white. A late reaction sets in after more than two hours and is expressed, for example, in a child suffering from neurodermatitis with an eczema attack.

A food allergy can cause various symptoms:

• The skin is most often affected. Itching, red spots, swelling, hives, hives, eczema or eczema occur.
• The gastrointestinal tract can react with itching and swelling of the lips, mouth and throat, including abdominal pain, bloating, diarrhea, nausea or vomiting.
• A food allergy manifests itself in the respiratory tract through hay fever, asthma or shortness of breath. It shows on the eyes through red conjunctiva. The symptoms vary in severity from child to child. They range from light scratching in the throat to severe allergy shock.

Food allergy diagnosis in babies

Good observation by parents can help the doctor find possible triggers. They often already suspect a certain food, especially if they experience symptoms immediately. If the child’s lip swells after drinking cow’s milk, the connection is quite clear.

It is more difficult and more complex to find a connection if the allergic reaction occurs hours later. In comparison to the immediate reaction, the symptoms are less clear and drastic. Doctors therefore recommend that parents keep a diary for two weeks. In which they write down all the food the child eats and all symptoms.

Hidden allergens

If parents use finished products, they should definitely pay attention to the ingredient list. Milk protein can also be referred to differently and can occur as “milk protein”, “whey protein” or “whey protein”. Milk sugar (lactose), on the other hand, is tolerated by most people with allergies to cow’s milk. Parents should only avoid lactose-containing products for their children if they have a severe allergy because they may contain minimal traces of milk protein.

Cow’s milk or chicken egg white is also contained in numerous, less obvious products, such as white bread, sponge cake, shortbread biscuits, waffles, baby glasses, sweets, chocolate and chocolate bars, meat and sausages, fish and other canned foods, cakes, mashed potatoes, Pizza and soup bags.

Certain medicines, such as some sore throat tablets or vaccines, may also contain egg protein. If a child is allergic to the protein, parents should notify the attending doctor and pharmacist.

Helpful nutritional advice

Otherwise, it is advisable to find out from the doctor or a dietitian about alternatives. If a child has to do without cow’s milk, they lack an important source of calcium. Without the appropriate replacement, there is a risk of an insufficient supply of the mineral.

Tips

Parents who are allergy sufferers themselves or come from families with a correspondingly high level of stress can prevent their child’s food allergy by observing a few tips:

Exclusive  food allergy symptoms in breastfed babies for at least four months and the addition of porridge, glass food or baby milk from the fourth month have a protective effect. Breast milk contains only slight traces of allergy-triggering proteins, and it promotes the formation of the intestinal mucosa in children, so that foreign, potentially allergenic proteins do not easily get into the child’s organism.

The later foreign proteins are fed to the child, the lower the risk of developing an allergy. Chicken eggs, fish, wheat and nuts should not be eaten before the age of one. Cow’s milk in porridge form can be given from the eighth month of life, but the child should only drink the milk from the first year of life if no allergic symptoms have occurred by then.

When parents introduce new foods to the solid diet, they should only try one over a few days, for a week only carrot porridge, then mashed potatoes. If there are no symptoms, you can test the next vegetable or fruit. If the child is allergic to any of the foods on offer. It is easier to determine which one is causing the symptoms.

Our previous article How to treat eczema in babies in the title cold urticaria cure treatment ve How to treat eczema information is provided..

Dorothy

Hello, I’m Dorothy. I love writing and researching articles. Reading books about baby health, care and pregnancy is my favorite. I will be sharing delicious and healthy information on food and baby food during pregnancy.