Safety For Children With Food Allergies
About 7% of people under 18 are children with food allergies. Most children outgrow their food allergies and intolerance by age 5, but 2% of adults have endured lifelong allergies to peanuts, wheat, milk or shellfish. Some allergies will cause a mild skin rash, runny nose, diarrhea or nausea. In more serious cases, your child may have difficulty swallowing, talking or breathing and may throw up or pass out. It is essential that you educate yourself, your child and your child’s caregivers on the seriousness of child food allergies.
The most important part of raising a child with a food allergy is to keep them safe. At home, you will need to make adjustments in many of your recipes to ensure that your child does not come into contact with his or her allergens. It’s natural to feel overwhelmed and stifled at first, but after a little bit of digging, you’ll find alternates for just about all of your families’ favorite foods. There are many broad cookbooks, such as The Allergy Self-Help Cookbook, which offers more than 325 recipes free of all common allergens, such as wheat, milk, eggs, corn, sugar and yeast. Then there are also more specifically targeted books, like Amazing Dairy Free Desserts (for a milk allergy), Bakin’ Without Eggs (for an egg allergy) or Gluten Free Gourmet Bakes Bread (for a gluten allergy). For a list of books containing food allergy recipes, visit www.kidswithfoodallergies.org/cookbooks.html.
Of course, for part of the day, children with food allergies are away from home. Therefore, it is important that you know how to deal with a food allergy in schools. When your child enters school, be sure you fill out paperwork regarding your child’s condition (including what should be done in case of an allergic reaction, who to contact and what your child may eat while at school). It is especially important that the nurse be informed of your child’s condition. It should also be emphasized to your child that he or she must never trade any lunch food with other kids. When your child is in pre-k and kindergarten, it’s safe to assume that treats are a part of everyday lessons (birthdays, counting, rewards), so communicating with the teacher at the beginning of the year is very important. Be aware that your child may be left out of some lessons by teachers who don’t know how to accommodate him or her, and that children who do not understand may bully or tease your child. It’s important that you sit down and talk to your child about these events. You can buy inexpensive e-books at www.allergicchild.com/foodallergyandschools.htm to help you send your child with food allergies off to school safely.
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 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 www.foodcontentalerts.com.
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