Have you ever experienced a child’s milk allergy?

Less than half an hour after the child drank milk, he developed erythema and swelling around his mouth, which soon spread all over his body. The large edematous erythema on his body made the child writhe around uncomfortably and become irritable. The crying continued. This is a classic milk allergy.

Due to various factors such as genetics and environment, some children are destined to have allergies at birth. Coupled with acquired adverse factors, some children will develop food allergies.

Some children are not only allergic to milk, but may also be allergic to fish, shrimp, eggs... Drinking milk causes diarrhea, eating shrimps causes rashes, it’s really worrying for pregnant mothers!

"Look at this, you can't eat any nutritious food! How can you grow taller!"

Du Ma will talk to you today Let’s talk about the tricky thing of food allergies in children.

Food allergy, also known as food allergy, actually means that some people develop symptoms after eating certain foods. It causes a strong reaction in a certain tissue, organ or even the whole body, leading to various dysfunctions or tissue damage.

Allergies will generally have the following symptoms

Once a child is allergic to food, he or she may have red bumps all over the body and be irritable. Restlessness, constant crying, affecting sleep; in severe cases, severe asthma or even difficulty breathing, or anaphylactic shock, may occur, which is life-threatening.

Milk allergy, as mentioned by Du Ma at the beginning of the article, is more urgent. You must stop eating the suspicious food immediately and take anti-allergic drugs to relieve the symptoms of allergy. If the erythema spreads all over the body and difficulty breathing occurs, you must seek medical attention immediately for timely rescue.

There are many foods that can cause allergies, and it can even be said that every food has the possibility of allergies.

However, more than 90% of food allergies are caused by the following 8 food categories:

Milk, soybeans, eggs, wheat, Peanuts, fish, nuts, crustacean seafood (shrimp, crab, shellfish, etc.), of which milk, soybeans, eggs, and wheat account for 85%.

Food allergies are more common in infants and young children.

Moms can also discover food allergens through daily careful observation. If it is found that perioral erythema occurs in a child after adding a certain food, and the symptoms are relieved after stopping eating the food; then the symptoms reappear after eating again, the food allergy can basically be diagnosed.

If you are breastfeeding or feeding a variety of foods and cannot find out by yourself, you can go to the hospital to check the allergens to help diagnose the allergens. When the baby seeks medical treatment, parents need to be able to accurately provide their family allergy history (allergy in immediate family members), the child's allergy history, as well as the types, ingredients and eating conditions of the baby's food in the past 1-2 weeks, and reactions after eating, etc.

First, strictly avoid allergenic foods.

Taking milk protein allergy as an example, you should strictly avoid dairy products, including milk, milk powder, yogurt, cakes, ice cream, toffee, milk tablets, etc., and then choose milk substitutes .

Milk substitute selection conditions:

The milk substitutes currently available on the market are: hypoallergenic formula (depth Hydrolyzed and amino acid formula), soy formula. According to current domestic and foreign guidelines, soy formula is not recommended for children under 6 months of age, and deeply hydrolyzed formula or amino acid formula is preferred.

Generally speaking, the feeding time of special milk powder needs to last for more than 6 months or until the baby is 9-12 months old. This type of special formula milk powder has balanced nutrients and can meet the nutritional needs of babies under 1 year old.

If the child is breastfed, the mother can be advised to strictly avoid suspected allergenic foods, such as milk, cheese, cream, ice cream, etc. for 2 to 4 weeks, and the allergic symptoms will be relieved.

Pay attention to the following when avoiding foods:

If the child’s allergic symptoms improve, it is highly considered that the food is an allergen. It is recommended to continue to avoid this type of food and related products for 3-6 months or even more than 1 year, and the child's condition needs to be dynamically observed. The lack of improvement in symptoms indicates that the possibility of allergy to this type of food allergy is very small.

Children with food allergies are not unable to take food for life. As the baby grows older, the intestinal barrier function gradually develops and improves, and the immune function becomes increasingly mature. About 55% of babies with milk protein allergy can tolerate cow's milk within 1 year of age; more than 75% can tolerate cow's milk within 3 years of age; and more than 90% can tolerate cow's milk within 6 years of age.

But this does not mean that children with food allergies do not need treatment. Food allergies in infants and young children can cause skin, digestive and respiratory discomforts, and a few children may even affect normal growth and psychological development. Therefore, parents still need to seek medical attention in time and carry out early active intervention.

By the way, children who are only allergic to nuts, fish, and shelled seafood are special. Only 20% will improve by school age, and 80% will last for life. So it is true that some children cannot eat it when they are young, and they still cannot eat it when they grow up. Stop forcing your children!

The first thing that can be determined is that if the child's diet is restricted and not supplemented, it will definitely affect the nutritional intake.

Research data shows that about one in four children with food allergies is deficient in nutrients.

Some studies have also found that children with allergies will grow weaker than ordinary children. Children with multiple food allergies will have slightly slower growth and development than children with a single food allergy, and they are more likely to have low immunity and get sick easily.

Therefore, for children with clear food allergies, in terms of nutritional management, we must:

1. To prevent the occurrence of allergic reactions.

2. Under a restricted diet, nutrition must be maximized. In other words, you must eat enough food that is edible and non-allergenic to ensure that you are not lacking in nutrients.

3. Long-term follow-up and monitoring must be maintained. And monitor the baby's height, weight, and all aspects of their development.

Let’s expand on the second point.

For example, milk allergy is one of the most common food allergies in childhood. Milk avoidance is more likely to cause insufficient nutrient intake and poor growth than other food avoidance.

For infants > 6 months of age, if soy is tolerated, fortified soy formula can be used as an alternative to cow's milk because it is a better source of protein and fat. But other plant-based drinks such as rice, almond and potato "milk" are very low in protein and fat and are not suitable as milk substitutes.

For young children, avoiding milk diet also avoids common sources of fat, such as full-fat yogurt, butter and cheese, etc., resulting in low energy, fat and essential fatty acids. Therefore, it is recommended to add sufficient vegetable oils (such as soybean oil, corn oil, etc.) to the diet to meet fat, essential fatty acid and energy needs.

In the same way, when avoiding other common allergenic foods, you can also use this "like exchange" principle. First, it is necessary to analyze what nutrients are contained in the food that the baby is allergic to, and then select other foods that can perfectly replace it with other nutrient compositions to obtain the required nutrients from the substitute foods.

Nutritional deficiencies are usually less likely to occur as long as the diet is balanced and varied.

If parents are really worried, here are four reference points to judge whether their children are well-nourished:

Judgment points:

1. His nutritional status is good, and his growth, weight, and height are all within the standard range.

2. All aspects of his development, such as hair and skin, are well developed. Intelligence level is also included in the well-developed range.

3. Don’t get sick often, or get sick less often. It shows that his resistance is relatively good.

4. You can do some tests to confirm.