Managing Food Allergies in Children

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Managing Food Allergies in Children

Question:

Our 1-year-old child is allergic to dairy, eggs and nuts. Luckily he has never had a reaction. We have heard that exposing him to the cause of the allergy may be better than completely avoiding them. Do you agree with this?

Answer:

When someone has an allergy to something, the safest treatment is to avoid that thing completely.

Lots of children have food allergies. The severity of the reaction may depend on the level of exposure. This can vary dramatically from one child to the next. Some reactions can be very serious and even life threatening, like peanuts.

There have been recent studies looking at children with severe peanut allergies who ate very tiny amounts of peanuts over a period of time. Some of these children were able to overcome their peanut allergies. However, this therapy has not been proven safe, so do not try it at home.

Parents of children with allergies must take special precautions to prevent their children from being exposed. This is not always easy to do.

Talk with your child's doctor to figure out what these allergies mean for your child and how best to manage them.

Henry (Hank) Bernstein, D.O. is a Senior Lecturer in Pediatrics at Harvard Medical School and Professor of Pediatrics at Dartmouth Medical School. Formerly the Associate Chief of General Pediatrics and Director of Primary Care at Children's Hospital Boston, he currently is the Chief of General Academic Pediatrics at Children's Hospital at Dartmouth. He has extensive and varied experience as a primary care pediatrician, and is a spokesperson for the news media on a variety of pediatric health care topics, including vaccination, common childhood illnesses, and practical information for caregivers.

Last updated:	July 20, 2009