28.03.2024

How does food allergy manifest in infants

Allergic manifestations are increasingly alarming people around the world. This is due to the deterioration of the environmental background in the world and a huge flow of low-quality food. Recently, food allergies have often become apparent in newborns.

Many mothers, breastfeeding, think that this automatically protects their baby from allergic reactions, but this is not so.

Allergens can pass into the baby’s body through breast milk, causing an inadequate response. A child cannot be completely protected from allergies. At the first serious manifestations of a child’s allergy, you should immediately show it to the pediatrician so as not to worsen your health.

Symptoms of an Allergic Reaction

To identify the very first signs of any allergy, parents need to carefully monitor the condition of their child.

Signs and symptoms of allergies can occur as follows:

  • rash and redness on the skin;
  • peeling of the skin on the cheeks and body;
  • excessive sweating;
  • profuse vomiting;
  • the formation of crusts on the hair;
  • frequent profuse colic;
  • long loose stools;
  • allergic rhinitis;
  • hives.

Food allergy in infants has become a fairly common disease in our time, which can hardly be called harmless or easily tolerated. A constant allergic reaction can negatively affect the general condition of the body and the skin condition of the child. After them, serious consequences and pathologies are fraught. Parents need to be extremely careful, as babies are allergic in the form of a wide variety of symptoms, including bronchial asthma and severe dermatitis.

Causes

Most often, the causes of allergic reactions lie in the mother, or rather in her diet. An important role is played by heredity. If the immediate family of the child has a predisposition to chronic skin diseases, then there is a high probability of passing it to the baby in the form of a food allergy.

A young mother needs to adhere to a diet while breastfeeding her baby. At least, do it for the first 2-3 months, when the baby’s body is formed. It is forbidden to eat citrus fruits, nuts, chocolate and all products that have a natural red color during this period. They contribute to the manifestations of possible allergic reactions in infants. In the first months of life, the baby’s food system is formed, so you need to load its diet with foreign products and substances very carefully. The child during this period has virtually no antibodies and protective enzymes, so foreign components can easily develop food allergies.

It can develop due to negative influences and factors during pregnancy. Certain processes could, even during this period, put allergic reactions into the fetus.

The most common factors are:

  • possible hypoxia during pregnancy or childbirth;
  • SARS, infectious or viral diseases that a woman could have suffered during pregnancy;
  • the constant smoking process of the expectant mother;
  • improper or harmful nutrition of a pregnant woman;
  • constant stress, feelings or negative emotions that a woman suffered during pregnancy.

All allergens in large quantities, which easily got into the blood of the expectant mother, naturally penetrated into the fetus of the baby and gave rise to the development of any complications in the future.

Diagnostic Methods

You can diagnose allergies using the following methods:

  • a thorough examination of the child and the identification of various redness, peeling and age spots;
  • history taking from close relatives;
  • blood test and analysis;
  • special indications of ultrasound.

The presence of allergic reactions can also be detected by the use of antihistamines, when used in a child, all noticeable visible external symptoms of allergic manifestations disappear.

At the slightest sign of an allergy in a child, you need to immediately show it to a specialist who will help solve your problem at the genetic level, studying your family and possible hereditary factors. Before starting quality treatment, a pediatrician or allergist should help parents exclude all possible allergens in the diet of the child and mother.

If allergic manifestations occur when the baby is breast-fed, then it is more likely that the main allergen is cow’s milk or other dairy components. To exclude allergies, you need to switch to a more gentle mixture for the body. It is not necessary to choose a mixture for feeding yourself, this can lead to a more difficult and neglected case. It is best if this is done by the attending physician who knows the situation thoroughly.

If for some reason the allergic reaction begins to progress and develops into suffocation or other life-threatening symptoms, the child should immediately be given antihistamines, such as suprastin or clarithin for children. In severe cases, you do not need to wait for a positive result from independent actions, it is best to call an ambulance for reinsurance. Only experienced doctors will be able to give your child the right injection and quench severe allergic symptoms. With prolonged inaction, anaphylactic shock from suffocation can occur.

To exclude signs of allergy in a baby, all products containing sugar, honey, chocolate, citrus, fried and fatty foods, vegetables and fruits of bright colors, preservation and carbonated drinks must be excluded from the diet of the mother. Under special control, you need to put products with a high content of preservatives – ketchups, mayonnaise, sausages and low-quality baked goods.
A young mother needs to carefully introduce dairy products into the diet. If the child normally reacts to such components, then you can safely add various milk assortments to food.

If doctors identify the main problem and prescribe treatment for allergies in infants, then a nursing mother can expand the scope of her diet and start eating more varied foods. However, this must be done with great care, so as not to harm the baby once again. If the allergen is installed correctly, then all the signs and symptoms that previously bothered the baby disappear. Preparations prescribed by the pediatrician will relieve itching, inflammation, remove the allergic reaction and make the child’s general condition more alert.

Prevention

In order not to think ahead of time than to treat an allergy in a baby, you need not to rush to feed a child at an early age. If in pediatrics there are certain established time frames when to start complementary foods, then today’s mothers try to do this as early as possible, thus wanting to develop a child. Children who are actively reacting with allergic reactions to newly introduced products should be fed only breast milk as long as possible. It is best to start complementary foods after the recommendation of doctors who have a baby.

Doctors do not recommend giving certain products to children under two years old in order not to provoke allergic reactions. This list includes chocolate, honey, nuts and citrus fruits, which are so loved by young children. Without them, the child’s body can easily do, because they do not always bring benefits.

Often children who have various allergic reactions to certain foods cannot always prove this to their parents with clear signs. In infants, an allergy to the face may not appear, but upset stomach or constipation may be permanent. To avoid this, you need to carefully monitor the baby’s stool and respond in time to such situations. Often allergens that do not have time to leave the body naturally, are absorbed into the bloodstream and appear as a rash or redness on the body.

Provoke new symptoms, for example, such as an allergic rash in a baby, can absolutely suddenly any product that my mother tries to enter into the baby’s diet. The introduction of new products should be gradual. You can do this literally with a few spoons in the form of complementary foods. Often a child himself with his reaction and emotions will let you know that this is unacceptable and tasteless to him. If after the introduction of a new product no reactions occur, the dose can be gradually increased.

To avoid any allergic reactions, it is best to protect your child from all unnatural and unnecessary preservatives by preparing only home-made juices, purees and cereals for him. Naturally, everything can be written on the product packaging, including all GOST and quality standards. Advertising can also add fuel to the fire, skillfully selling various low-quality products to inexperienced parents, but you should not trust and blindly believe these inscriptions; anything can be inside.

Ready-made juices from store shelves always have a huge percentage of sugar, which the manufacturer always tries to keep silent about. Often, the fruit of which is mashed does not have such a sweetness or a cloying taste, so think a few times before buying something like this for your baby. Only natural products and safe nutrition will help you forget what allergies look like in infants. Prevention of allergic reactions is the key to the health of the baby and his excellent condition in the future.

Very often a more serious problem lies behind the traces of a common food allergy. For example, a rash on the face of a child is a manifestation of dermatitis on the effects of chlorinated water or other harmful impurities. Do not try to calculate the cause yourself, it is best to contact the specialists in the hospital who will easily help identify the root cause of this problem and help the baby as quickly as possible.

Dermatitis can also occur due to poor-quality cosmetics – shampoos, soaps, as well as bath sponges or sponges. If they contain a high percentage of harmful substances – this can all be displayed on the body of the child. You never need to rub the skin of a child after taking a bath, it is best to wrap it with a large towel and wait until the body dries. Up to a year, babies’ clothes are best washed with special anti-allergenic powders and detergents, and after washing, be sure to steam it with an iron on both sides. Clothes and bedding for the baby should be made of light natural fabrics so that the skin breathes freely.

Any allergy in infants has unpleasant and painful symptoms. Try to maximally monitor the hygiene of your baby and his diet, controlling not only the baby’s products, but also the diet that you eat while breastfeeding. Be healthy!

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