Food Allergies

Health/ Nutrition

Only about 5 to 8 percent of children have a true food allergy. Food allergies can be seen in the first years of life and some are outgrown by adulthood.

Most commonly children are allergic to:

• cow's milk
• egg whites
• soy
• peanuts
• tree nuts (walnuts, cashews and almonds)
• wheat
• shellfish (shrimp)

A child who has a food allergy is often allergic to other inhaled substances such as dust, cat dander and pollen or is more likely to develop such allergies later in life. Anyone can develop an allergy, but children of allergic parents are more likely to have allergies.

Symptoms of a food allergy may include a runny nose, swelling of lips or tongue, itchy eyes, rash, hives, cough, wheezing, asthma, diarrhea or stomach pain. Reactions usually begin a few hours after eating the food. Some severe allergies to foods like peanuts or fish can cause a person to stop breathing. A child will not outgrow this type of allergy.

Stomach aches or diarrhea from drinking milk or eating milk products is a lactose intolerance, which is caused by a shortage of an enzyme to breakdown the sugar in milk. It's not a true food allergy. Head Start can help with good suggestions for substitutes.

Sometimes a reaction to food isn't an allergy, but food poisoning.

If you think your child has a food allergy, stop offering the suspected food and see your doctor.

To reduce or delay food allergies in infants:

1. Exclusively breast-feed babies for at least 6 months.
2. Avoid feeding infants solid foods until they are 6 months old.
3. Introduce solids one at a time, in case a reaction occurs.
4. Cow's milk, wheat, corn, citrus, nuts and soy should not be given to a child until one year.
5. Wait until two years before introducing eggs and fish, and offer peanuts only after age three.