How to Protect your Kids from Different Allergies

How to Protect your Kids from Different Allergies

Put simply, kids and allergies don’t mix. Unfortunately, there are instances when our kids come into contact with all different types of allergens – and then bang! Allergic reactions can occur. These reactions can be as little as a skin rash or as severe as a hospital admission. Death is also a possibility if the proper treatment isn’t administered. So, as you can see, parents and those caring for kids will want to avoid allergic reactions at all costs. Everyone knows that prevention is better than cure, so this article will explore a few important ways how to prevent allergic reactions in your children, so they remain alive and well.

Introduce Allergen Foods Early

Many kids develop allergies at an early age mainly as a result of being underexposed to many allergens in their diets. Common allergies that can develop in small children usually include:

  • milk
  • eggs
  • peanuts
  • soy
  • wheat
  • tree nuts (such as walnuts and cashews)
  • fish
  • shellfish (such as prawns)

In contrast to popular belief, many kids actually need exposure to these types of foods early on in their life (around the ages of 4 to 6 months old). If they are exposed to these common food allergens at this age, there is a higher chance that they won’t develop allergies to these foods later on in childhood. However, care must be taken when introducing these foods to your young ones. For example, only introduce a small amount of a single new food at one time and then wait several days between offering new foods. This is so you can safely and accurately monitor your child’s reaction.

In conjunction with introducing common allergen foods to abate the onset of food allergies, you can also purchase food allergy name labels in Australia that help others to identify and understand your kids’ allergies. Many online stores have these to buy at very affordable prices.

Allow your kids to play in the dirt

Of course, don’t take this advice too loosely. This isn’t your license to go tell the kids to roll around in mud puddles on a cold winter’s night! Neither should you put your kids in immediate danger once they actually are allergic to certain things. However, there is a plus. If your kids want to boost their immune systems, you can try this. By occasionally letting them play in areas that have not been disinfected in the home and areas that often carry germs (like public parks and playgrounds), will expose them to all sorts.

Whilst this may seem wrong at first, if your kids are quite young and haven’t already been exposed to most common colds, flu and other common kids’ illnesses, it’s the perfect time to ‘see what happens’. Allergies may even show up (ie, grass allergies) when your children are playing in the park. This way you can be sure to pinpoint triggers to certain allergies and protect your kids better for the future.

Include yourself in the school’s allergy policies

Don’t just sit on the outside and expect your school to come up with the perfect allergy policy plan for your child or children. If your child has allergies, and severe ones at that, it’s important for you as a parent to help implement the utmost safety for your child at school. For example, at childcare, you could volunteer to provide snacks throughout the day that aren’t heavy on common allergens. This might be fresh fruit and vegetables and nothing containing nuts. Or maybe for the schoolyard and classroom you could ensure that snack and food sharing is a banned practice. Another great idea would be to suggest using kids school labels as part of the lunchtime and recess meal policy. Implementing mandatory stickers on everyone’s meal packs and drink bottles would forewarn others of your child's allergies.

Use kids’ name labels to warn others of their allergies

There is no sure-safe way to prevent kids’ from eating things they aren’t supposed to at a young age. Kids’ naturally have a curious mind and will want to try anything new and exciting or something they have never seen before. And of course, put it in their mouths! However, to put a stop to this, parents can use personalised name stickers or specialised kids school labels whenever they can’t cast a watchful eye over their little ones. Whether your child is in the schoolyard, classroom or just away from Mum and Dad on a play date etc, these labels are really effective in letting others know of their allergies. Kids name labels and kids school labels can be either stuck on a lunch box or ironed onto a lunch pack or bag. Once others outside the home see these allergy indicator’s they will think twice about letting your son or daughter consume the wrong things.

Do your research on nutritional labels

When you are the parent of a child with allergies (such as food allergies) you will want to take extra care when going food shopping. Required by law in Australia, all foods purchasable by the public need to have nutritional information labelling. Especially if they contain any of the major food allergies (such as peanut, soy, wheat and shellfish). In Australia, a good rule of thumb is to get into the habit of reading the first three ingredients. These first three written ingredients will make up the largest part of what you’re eating.

Also scan nutritional information for terms like "manufactured in a facility that also handles...", or "made on shared equipment with...". This will also be important to know as traces of allergens might still be present in these products.