Foods to which babies are most likely to be allergic

Milk, eggs, peanuts, tree nuts, wheat, soybeans, fish, crustaceans. There is no need to memorize them by rote. When we add complementary foods to our babies, the probability of the first three types of mistakes can account for more than 70%.

Not long ago, my best friend's 6-month-old baby just received complementary food. She heard from the old man that she should first add egg yolk to supplement iron, and she took a small spoonful of it to feed. The next day, a red rash appeared around the baby's mouth, and she had diarrhea twice. At first, she thought it was due to heat rash from wearing too much clothes, or the food bowl was not washed clean. After going to child care for a checkup, she found out that it was an egg allergy. Speaking of this, I have to mention the controversy over the introduction of food that has been raging until now: ten years ago, everyone still believed that highly allergenic foods should be added after 1 or even 3 years old, for fear that babies would not tolerate allergies. However, the latest complementary feeding guidelines from the World Allergy Organization and the Chinese Maternal and Child Health Association clearly state that after the introduction of complementary foods at the age of 6 months, highly allergenic foods can be gradually introduced. Deliberate delay will increase the risk of allergies. Both statements actually have basis. The old experience was based on the general lack of scientific monitoring of highly sensitive babies in the past. Once allergic, they are prone to danger. The new guidelines are based on clinical data from the past ten years. Early introduction can allow the immune system to adapt to these proteins earlier and reduce the probability of long-term allergies. You can choose based on your own baby's situation, and you don't have to take sides.

Talking about the specific food allergens, milk allergy actually refers to allergy to cow's milk protein. Many babies who are exclusively breastfed are allergic for the first time, either when their mothers drank a lot of milk and then fed breast milk, or when they added ordinary formula milk for the first time. Inexplicably, they developed patches of dry eczema that kept the baby awake from scratching. This situation can be alleviated by switching to deeply hydrolyzed or amino acid formula milk. Most babies can naturally tolerate it when they are about 2 years old, and they do not have to avoid milk for the rest of their lives.

More common than milk allergy is egg allergy. Many people think that only egg white is allergenic. In fact, there is also a small amount of allergenic protein in egg yolk, but the probability is lower. When I was a volunteer in a pediatric clinic, I met an 8-month-old baby who only ate 1/8 of an egg yolk. His face was so swollen that his eyes were narrowed to slits, and he was still gasping for breath. His parents were so scared that they went to the emergency room overnight. Oh, by the way, there is another trivia that many people don’t know. Some allergic reactions do not occur immediately after eating. The rash may not appear until three or four hours later, or even the next day. Therefore, many parents never think that the bite of eggs they ate the day before was to blame.

In addition to these two most common everyday foods, peanuts are actually the most common cause of severe allergic reactions. Many parents think it’s okay to give their children a lick of peanut butter. However, some highly sensitive children may develop dangerous reactions such as laryngeal edema even if they are exposed to trace amounts of peanut protein. However, there is no need to talk about peanut discoloration. The latest research shows that for high-risk babies with a family history of allergies, introducing peanut products as soon as possible after the age of 6 months and under the supervision of medical personnel can reduce the probability of long-term peanut allergy by about 70%, which is better than avoiding them all the time.

Of the remaining categories, wheat and soybeans are the most overlooked. After many parents feed their babies baby noodles or teething biscuits for the first time and find that their babies have a rash, their first reaction is "Are the additives bad?" ”, in fact, it is most likely that they are allergic to the gliadin protein in wheat. Some children vomit after taking a sip of soy milk. It is not that soybeans are not fresh, but that they are allergic to soybean protein. As for fish and crustacean seafood, allergies are likely to continue into adulthood, so be careful when adding them. The most exaggerated case I have ever encountered was when a parent gave his child a mouthful of shrimp porridge. The child immediately vomited and had diarrhea. At first, he thought it was food poisoning. After checking the allergens, he found out that he was allergic to shrimp.

Of course, many parents ask, should they do an allergen screening before adding complementary foods? This is also a point of disagreement in the industry: some pediatricians will recommend that children at high risk of allergies (parents with allergic rhinitis, asthma, or a history of severe allergies in one child) should be screened first before being added to avoid severe allergic reactions. ； However, the mainstream view is that it is not recommended to do it routinely, because the false positive rate of allergen screening for infants and young children is very high. It may be found that they are allergic to something, but it will not cause any problems after actually eating it. Instead, it will cause parents to avoid food in vain and delay the child's nutritional intake.

In fact, you really don’t need to be too anxious about food allergies. In the five years I have been doing parenting science, I have seen too many children who were allergic to milk and eggs when they were young. They were completely fine when they were three or four years old. Only allergies to peanuts, tree nuts, and seafood may last longer. When adding complementary foods, only add one new food at a time. If there is no abnormality after eating for 3 days, try again. If a slight rash occurs, stop for half a month and try again. If you have wheezing, swollen face, or difficulty breathing, go directly to the hospital. It is better than anything else.