Tuesday, January 19, 2010

Helping Your Family Cope With Food Allergies Children

By Mika Benne

Has your child been diagnosed with food allergies? Or do you suspect Food Allergies Children? There are a few ways to determine if your child does have allergies. You can go to the doctor and have an allergy test performed, but those aren't 100% reliable when it comes to food allergies.

The problem is when doctors rely too heavily upon allergy test results and rule out food allergies if the test comes back negative. There are some kinds of food sensitivities and food allergies that can't be determined by laboratory testing alone. These Type III food allergies are uncovered through the process of diet modification.

In fact, diet modification is one of the best ways you can treat food allergies children. Simply avoid those foods you suspect are allergens by buying certain types of food or particular brands. However, some allergies like those to dairy or wheat might require a total dietary change.

You might even have to give up some of your family's favorite meals because of the allergy. However, there are many websites out there that have recipes that take food allergies into account.

Be prepared for your child to have difficulty adjusting to a change of diet. Kids and adults alike take comfort in certain foods and miss not being able to eat them. Making drastic changes overnight might cause a few temper tantrums but remember you are doing it for the health of your child.

If your child is old enough to understand, you can try explaining the basics of food allergies to your child. This works well with children who realize that they shouldn't feel so tired or ill all the time, usually by age 8 or 9.

If your child is younger, you may need to make changes to his diet gradually. Of course that is only an option if his allergies are not life threatening or serious. For example, if your child is allergic to dairy foods, replace a yogurt snack with fruit and omit the cheese from his sandwich. That will reduce the amount of dairy in his diet and he might not even notice the change.

You don't want to change just your child's diet because that can make your child resent the rest of the family who can eat junk food. Using our dairy allergy example again, you can substitute rice or almond milk in recipes and make 2 small batches of certain foods, one with cheese the other without cheese.

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