Allergies in children due to food.

Food allergies are very common in children, this occurs as a result of a reaction of the child's immune or defensive system, which reacts to certain substances present in certain foods, generating a series of symptoms that can vary from mild to very serious.

Allergies can manifest in different parts of the body, such as skin, hands, feet, mouth, eyes and nose. When they start complementary feeding, we must pay attention to how the baby receives the foods that are progressively incorporated into their diet. Not only to know what foods the child tolerates better, but also to determine if children experience some type of allergic reaction. They also tend to have a hereditary component, but could be associated with environmental factors and the early introduction of food in children. The foods that most frequently cause allergy are dairy products and eggs. The surprising thing is that most allergies are caused by only five foods: peanuts, eggs, dairy products, soy and wheat, chocolate, strawberries, seafood.

Symptoms of food allergies:

The most frequent signs and symptoms that can occur due to an allergy caused by a food are:

• Swelling, especially near the mouth (lips, tongue, face, sometimes eyelids).

• Difficulty to swallow.

• Abdominal pain, cramps, diarrhea, nausea and vomiting.

• Itchy skin: occurrence of local or generalized urticaria.

• Erythema or hives on the skin.

• Atopic dermatitis: inflammatory skin disease very common in young children.

• Bronchial asthma.

• Rhinitis (nasal congestion).

• Bronchospasm crisis.

In more severe cases, loss of consciousness can occur, for this reason the importance of being alert when a new food is introduced in the baby's diet and observing if it presents any of the symptoms mentioned above.

These symptoms may appear as:

Immediate: it is when they appear a few minutes after eating the food, usually within the first 30 minutes. The effect-cause relationship is very evident and the most common symptoms are vomiting, hives, asthma and anaphylaxis.

Delayed: Symptoms appear after two hours of ingested food. The most frequent are digestive symptoms, such as diarrhea associated with protein-sensitive enteropathy.

Delayed: appears days after food is ingested, such as atopic dermatitis.

How can we avoid them?

The baby's immune system is immature, some foods should be avoided before 6 months of age, as they can cause allergies such as cow's milk, eggs, nuts, shellfish, soybeans, strawberries, blackberries, peaches, kiwi, butter Peanut and gluten, the latter is a protein present in rye, wheat and barley that can cause food intolerance.

Recommendations:

Do not include the aforementioned foods before 6 months of age.

Introduce them one by one, having to wait 3 to 5 days before trying a new food, so that if an allergic reaction occurs, it will be known which food caused the reaction;

Continue breastfeeding while introducing solid foods into your diet.

Once the food is introduced, continue to include it regularly in the baby's diet.

Prevention:

There is no effective way to prevent a food allergy; The main recommendation to avoid symptoms is to avoid consuming the food allergen. In case any food causes an allergic reaction to the baby, stop feeding him and seek medical help immediately.