When your baby is 4-6 months old, he or she should receive supplementary food in addition to breast milk. Parents may be concerned about food allergies in young children and are not sure what foods their baby is allergic to. This can put them at risk of severe symptoms that can even lead to death. Food allergy occurs when the body treats food as foreign or harmful. It sends a signal to the immune system to make antibodies to fight back.
When food comes into contact with the body, it triggers the release of certain chemicals, one of which is histamine, which the body uses to fight itself. This causes an allergic reaction that affects the respiratory, gastrointestinal, skin, or cardiovascular systems. Food allergies in children can be divided into several types, such as:
Categorized according to symptoms shown by body organs
- Skin, such as hives, dermatitis
- Gastrointestinal tract, such as vomiting, stomachache, diarrhea, UFABET, constipation, bloody mucus in the stool, etc.
- Respiratory tract such as runny nose, snoring, noisy breathing like there is phlegm, narrowed bronchial tubes, etc.
Divided by time of onset of symptoms
- Delayed symptoms are food allergy symptoms that appear more than 12-24 hours after eating. Most of the symptoms are gastrointestinal symptoms, such as vomiting or diarrhea with mucus or blood in the stool.
- Shows symptoms of acute allergic reaction immediately after eating within 2-6 hours. If the symptoms are quite severe, such as hives all over the body, red face, swelling around the mouth and eyes, bronchial constriction, it may be severe to the point of low blood pressure, unconsciousness, and death. But in less severe cases, symptoms may occur in only one system, such as a sand rash all over the body, a runny nose or a stuffy nose, etc.
Food allergies in infants or children usually improve gradually within 2-3 hours, depending on each child’s immune system. And in most cases, there is no specific treatment, but rather treatment is symptomatic or antihistamines are given.
Therefore, if your baby’s food allergy does not improve at all, or if the allergic symptoms last for more than 3 hours or 1 day, or if the symptoms are severe, such as wheezing, difficulty breathing, swollen eyes, or swollen mouth, you should see a doctor immediately.