Kids' Food Allergies for Dummies by Mimi Tang

Author:Mimi Tang
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Wiley
Published: 2012-02-02T00:00:00+00:00

Children with food allergy who don’t have asthma when they’re first diagnosed with food allergy can develop asthma later. Even if your child doesn’t have asthma now, watch out for any signs of asthma, such as getting a wheeze with colds or exercise, or a persistent cough in the mornings or at night. If any of these symptoms develop, take your child to your doctor.

Some medicines can also make treating anaphylaxis more complicated. Medicines such as beta blockers and ACE inhibitors can make reversing the changes in the body that develop during anaphylaxis more difficult, and should be avoided if possible. For example, beta blockers are used to lower blood pressure and work by blocking the beta receptors that adrenaline acts on to open up the airways. These beta blocker medicines are rarely used in children, but if your child has a heart condition that requires medicines as part of the treatment, you must let your doctor know that your child also has a food allergy, and you can ask if an alternative medicine is available that could be used in place of a beta blocker.

Enlisting the Help of a Dietitian

Once your doctor has diagnosed your child with a food allergy, a dietitian becomes a very important person in your lives. A dietitian who specialises in the dietary management of food allergy can help you to manage your child’s food allergies with confidence and independence, and can be an indispensible source of information and support to you in managing your child’s food allergies.

A dietitian can help you and your child

Learn how to read ingredient labels with more self-assurance and knowledge.

Make sure that your child’s diet is nutritionally adequate when different foods have been taken out.

Offer you simple recipes that exclude food allergens.

Provide practical advice on replacing food allergens with alternative ingredients.

Ensuring your child’s diet is adequate is probably the most important thing a dietitian can offer, because the nutritional content of your child’s diet can be dramatically affected by having to eliminate even just one food allergen. For example, cow’s milk and cow’s milk products such as yoghurt and cheese are the major sources of calcium in the Western diet, so if your child is allergic to cow’s milk and is avoiding all foods that contain cow’s milk (and products made from cow’s milk), your child is highly likely to be lacking calcium in her diet and to need an alternative source of calcium to meet the daily requirement. Your dietitian can confirm whether your child’s diet is lacking in nutrients such as calcium and suggest ways to increase the amount in your child’s diet, which may include taking supplements.

The issue of nutritional adequacy is even more relevant if your child is allergic to more than one food allergen and so is avoiding a number of different foods. This is not an uncommon situation, since up to a third of children who have one food allergy have a second food allergy. For example, babies are commonly

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