Food Allergies and Your Baby  

Baby may try all foods, but baby may not like them all. More to the point, all foods my not like your baby. If you suspect that your baby has a food allergy, learning the signs and symptoms will help you when it comes to diagnosing and avoiding those foods.  

A food allergy occurs when something we eat causes a reaction in the body. Our bodies see this particular food as “foreign” and proceed to duke it out by creating antibodies to attack the food. While the antibodies wage war, we’ll see signs. These outward signs may show up right away or be delayed a few hours. 

For baby, the symptoms could be vomiting or diarrhea. Along with that, baby may break out in hives, eczema, or swelling. In severe cases, such as anaphylactic shock, baby could have trouble breathing. 

If you notice any of these symptoms contact your pediatrician immediately. They can tell you if the reaction is an allergy or not. Other conditions may cause one or several of these reactions as well. If the doctor suspects an allergy, they will advise you on what to do next. 

Breathing problems should be dealt with in the emergency room of the nearest hospital. With anaphylaxis, time is precious. Any delay could result in a fatal outcome for your baby. 

Most food allergies are mild. The baby may experience diarrhea or hives, but the reaction doesn’t get extremely serious. Discontinue the offending food and see what happens. If baby’s appearance returns to normal, there should be no further problems as long as you don’t re-introduce the food the food to them again.  

Certain foods are more likely to cause food allergies in your baby. Feeding baby foods such as eggs, dairy products, fish, shellfish, wheat, nuts, or soy at an early age can bring on food allergies that would otherwise have been avoided. The tendency to have food allergies can be transferred from mom to baby, but the actual allergy could come from any food for any reason, not necessarily genetic. 

When it is discovered that a baby has developed a food allergy, mom needs to be careful, too. If mom eats something that baby is allergic too, drinking breast milk could cause the allergy to flair up in baby. This is the same type of thing as baby getting indigestion or refusing to feed if mom has had some spicy food to eat. 

Check all foods that baby eats. If the allergy is peanuts, be careful of other foods that contain peanuts or peanut butter. Any of these things could bring on an allergic reaction in your baby.  

Also, be sure to read labels of all the foods you are thinking of giving to baby because many times you’ll find the ingredients your child is allergic to might not be something you would suspect in certain foods.

Knowing the signs of food allergies can keep your baby safe in an emergency. The risk of a food allergy in baby increases when one or both parents have food allergies themselves.

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