Food allergies in the baby
We have all heard a mother say: "my son is allergic to milk since he was born". It's possible? Actually nothing has to do with age to suffer allergic reactions to food. In fact, between two and five out of every hundred children get bad when they try products as basic as milk, fruit, fish or eggs.
We call allergy to reaction of the body against certain substances that he does not recognize as his own. When the body comes into contact with a substance with these characteristics, a direct activation of the immune system occurs, which produces Special antibodies (specific IgE) that fight directly against the food in question.
The inheritance of food allergies
In these cases, the parents-children inheritance plays an important role. If we, the grandparents of our child or several members of the family suffer from some type of food allergy, it is likely that the child will suffer the same alteration, which does not mean that the allergy appears just after the birth.
The symptoms of food allergies
We must bear in mind that there are foods with more tendency to cause allergies than others: milk, eggs, fruits, nuts and legumes are usually some of them.
The symptoms that will indicate that the child suffers from a nutritional disorder will be:
1. Gastrointestinal disorders such as vomiting, diarrhea, gut pain and cramping.
2. Skin reactions with the appearance of urticaria, itching, redness and even eczema in those children with topical dermatitis.
The specialist, the best counselor for food allergies
If so, the next step will be to go to a specialist, who will diagnose the problem and take the necessary measures. Most times the solution goes through definitively withdraw from the diet of the child responsible food and submit to periodic reviews. Also the doctor will confirm the degree of reaction that causes food in our child.
There are children who can not even smell food because they quickly fall sick if they do. Others, however, only suffer from allergy if they ingest the product in a certain way, crude for example. And is that some allergens (substances that cause allergy), disappear when cooked.
Advice for parents about food allergies
- Allergy to food can become a factor that triggers another type of allergies tomorrow: the pollen of flowers, mites, certain animal skins, bird feathers ...
- If the allergy to a food is very strong, the child could reach present a shock (syndrome produced by acute circulatory failure). That is why it is so important that we prevent the child from getting to try it.
- When the child refuses a particular meal It may be the first sign of warning against an allergy. To be attentive to this type of reactions It is usually of great help in the prevention of allergies.
- When there are family background It may not be a bad idea to do some tests on our son before offering him the food that usually provokes the reaction in our family.
Marisol Nuevo Espín
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