Food Allergies in Babies
Posted in Nutrition For Toddler on 24. Jun, 2010
Allergies occur in humans at frequent intervals and it has severe reactions on the body. The digestive system of a baby is very weak as compared to well-built adult. You may stress the immature system of the baby, if you start feeding him/her at very early stages of life. You need to prepare yourself for dealing with different types of allergies in your baby before introducing him/her to solid foods.
In recent years, there has been a rise in the awareness of various harmful effects of allergies in babies. Many researchers state that numerous babies across the world suffer from food allergies.
It is essential to know what allergy actually is, as this may enable us to prepare ourselves to fight against it effectively. Allergy means altered reaction and you may find an individual suffering from allergy experiencing headaches, vomiting, rashes and asthma. When we introduce solid foods to a baby, he/she can get an allergic reaction to any food item and this may result in diarrhea, crankiness and even slight ear infection and asthma.
There are certain cases, where you may require consulting a doctor, because certain symptoms are persistent and can have serious affects on the baby and toddler. If you withdraw the food, which your baby is allergenic to, the prolonged illness may cure within a matter of few days. There are instances, where it takes more than three weeks for the baby child to recuperate from the infection completely.
You need to have complete knowledge of the symptoms of allergies in babies. The immune system of a baby is responsible for highlighting different symptoms of allergy. The following are few symptoms of allergies in babies:
• Itchy mouth
• Rashes, eczema and hives
• Continuous crying
• Sneezing, coughing and running nose
• Sleeping disorder
In fact, many symptoms of allergies in babies require instant medical attention. You need to also know food that is highly responsible for allergies in child. Some foods that cause allergy in babies are cane, beet sugar, wheat, rye, oats, barley, maize, chocolate, fish and shellfish.
You need to also know that what you can to do to curtail the chances of your baby contracting the allergies. Here are two things that you can do for safeguarding your baby from allergies:
• You need to wait for at least six months before introducing solid foods to your baby, because babies are not capable of digesting solid foods at the initial stages. In addition, the mother needs to breastfeed the baby for at least six months.
• Follow the technique of 4 days wait when you desire to introduce a food of different variety to your baby. When you begin with introducing any new food item, make sure it does not cause any reaction to the baby. There are certain reactions that take a few days to show up. Therefore, you need to be patient before introducing any new food to the baby.
You need to have in-depth knowledge of the food item before introducing it to your baby. Ensure that you give ample time to your baby’s digestive system to develop for digesting solid foods.



