The newly born young child still has imperfectly working all organs and systems: he is just beginning to get used to life outside the mother's body. At infancy, the child has two basic needs that must be met - in food and sleep. A newborn baby who is breastfed receives all the useful vitamins along with the mother's milk. No wonder they say that the nutrition of an infant is the mother's food. After all, what she will eat during the day, the same will get her baby through breast milk. However, often a mother can notice a baby's skin rashes, which are food allergies. The disturbance in feeding of a nursing mother, caused by an excess of allergic foods in her diet, is the dominant factor in the development of allergies to various types of foods.
Food allergy is a condition of excessive sensitivity to such food, capable of causing allergic reactions.
It is believed that an allergy of this type is hereditary. If at least one of the parents had a history of allergic reactions, it is more likely (in a third of cases) that their child is also allergic to certain types of foods.
In a child who is mixed or artificially fed, most often the food allergy is detected as a result of an improperly selected mixture containing soy protein, which many allergic children are allergic to. In this case, hypoallergenic mixtures can be used.
How is food allergy in babies?
If the baby has an allergy, then the parents first ask "what to do?" And whether or not the existing skin rash is a symptom of food allergy. In different children, food allergies can manifest themselves in different ways. However, there are standard signs of the presence of allergies in infants:
- redness on the skin;
- itching;
- peeling;
- angioedema;
- frequent regurgitation;
- vomiting;
- colic;
- constipation;
- a stool with an admixture of green color;
- flatulence.
Less often noted the presence of an allergic rhinitis and bronchospasm (represents the greatest danger for a newborn baby).
Products that cause allergies in infants
The most common allergy to milk in the baby, especially on cow.
The most allergenic products are: eggs, fish, meat broth, strawberries, strawberries, tomatoes, citrus fruits, cocoa, pomegranate, mushrooms, nuts, chocolate.
In some cases, there may be food allergies to buckwheat in babies, dairy products, rice, bananas, cherries, beets, dog-rose, peaches.
Low allergenicity are: turkey, lamb, rabbit, cauliflower, zucchini, cucumber, millet, currant, green pears and apples.
Food allergy in infants: treatment
If the child is suspected of a food allergy, a pediatrician, an allergist and a nutritionist should be consulted, which will tell the parents how to treat an allergy in the baby.
First of all, you must follow the diet to your mother if the baby is breastfed.
In case of especially severe manifestations of allergic reactions, the doctor may prescribe the use of antihistamines (dimedrol, diazolin, diprazine, suprastin, claritin) and recommend adding more sour-milk products containing useful bifido- and lactobacillus to the mother's diet. This will correct the intestinal microflora of the infant and populate it with beneficial bacteria.
The doctor can recommend to get a food diary for her mother, in which she will display the following:
- Type of food;
- type of drink;
- composition of the dish;
- method of cooking (boiled, steamed, baked);
- volume of food;
- time of feeding.
Such a diary should be kept at least seven days in order to track food products that can cause allergies.
Self-medication of food allergy should not be dealt with, since this can only cause an exacerbation of the disease.
Many parents are worried about the question whether the food allergy will stop someday? With the growth and development of the baby, the work of the gastrointestinal tract and liver is improved, as a result of which the baby food allergy will simply "outgrow" with age.