What to do if your baby has food allergies

When encountering an infant with a food allergy, stop the suspected allergenic food as soon as possible and wipe away any remaining food residue around the mouth and skin. If there is only redness around the mouth, a small amount of rash, slight itching, and no other discomfort, just observe it at home first.； If you have large-area urticaria, frequent vomiting, shortness of breath, or swelling of the face and lips, don’t hesitate to go to the emergency room immediately. This is the highest priority treatment principle.

Not long ago, my neighbor's 7-month-old baby was given strawberries for the first time. Within a quarter of an hour after taking two bites, half of his face was swollen and he kept coughing. The parents were so frightened that they drove directly to the emergency room and got an anti-allergy shot before it went away. Later, the doctor said that luckily they were delivered in time, and it would be dangerous if it caused edema in the throat. If it's like my best friend's 6-month-old baby, who only ate two mouthfuls of steamed egg yolk and became red around the mouth but didn't feel any other discomfort, then stop eating the egg yolk. In the next two or three days, the baby will only be given food supplements that were previously confirmed to be non-allergenic, such as high-iron rice noodles and pumpkin puree that he has been eating for half a month. If no new ingredients are added for the time being, the symptoms will usually disappear in 1-2 days, and there is no need to go to the hospital at all.

Now, there are actually different opinions in the industry about whether to completely avoid food after allergies. The old concept in the past was that as long as you have an allergy, you have to completely stop allergenic foods for 3-6 months or even longer before trying again. Now more and more pediatric allergists will recommend that if it is only a mild, non-immediate and severe allergy, such as a starting point of rash or mild diarrhea, under the guidance of a doctor, you can try a small dose every 1-2 weeks to slowly induce immune tolerance. On the contrary, it is less likely to be a long-term allergy than a complete avoidance of the food. However, this level must be checked by a doctor. Don’t try it blindly at home. Especially for children with a history of severe allergies, they must not touch allergens casually.

When many parents encounter allergies to their children, they want to stop all complementary foods that they have never eaten before. They even dare not give them the mashed pork and spinach that they had eaten well before. In fact, it is completely unnecessary. As long as the allergy is eliminated, other foods that have been verified to be non-allergenic can be eaten normally. Otherwise, it will be easy to lose nutrition. By the way, there are still many people who ask for a full set of allergen tests when they say they are allergic. In fact, there is really no need. If it is just a single mild allergy, just stop eating. There is no need to spend that money. The skin prick and serum specific IgE results can only be used as a reference. In the end, it still depends on the actual reaction of the child. I have met a parent before, and it was found that the child is allergic to wheat, but the child ate noodles for half a year. Nothing happened. If you just stop wheat based on the test results, you will lose a large category of staple food.

In fact, adding complementary foods to babies to check for allergies is really a bit like exploring a path. Take one step at a time, go around when you encounter pitfalls, and slowly figure out the boundaries of your baby's tolerance. Don't add several new ingredients at once. If you step on a big pit, you won't know where you fell. Also, don’t just give adult anti-allergic drugs to babies under 1 year old. Failure to control the dosage can easily lead to problems. If the itching really makes the baby fussy, you need to find a pediatrician to prescribe a dosage suitable for babies. Don’t feed it yourself.