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One out of every 13 children has a food allergy, a recent study found. Is your child among them? It's vital to know how to avoid problems at home, but you must also ensure your child's safety at school, friends' houses and everywhere else.
The best way is by educating others about your child's food allergies, possible reactions, and emergency steps to take if a reaction should occur. These talking points will help:
It's also important to talk again and again with your child, who also has responsibilities. Your child must ask about food ingredients while at friends' homes, birthday parties, restaurants, and school, for instance. Tell your child to avoid any food with unknown ingredients.
Show a child who's old enough how to read labels and how to use an EpiPen in the event of a reaction. Making children part of their allergy management plans increases their awareness of the severity of their allergies.
Remember that for a child with nut allergies, his or her safety depends on being able to recognize the nuts that could trigger an allergic reaction. In a recent study, though, kids with nut allergies weren't any likelier than other kids to recognize nuts in or out of the shell. In fact, allergic children were even less able than others to identify peanuts, a common allergen. And many kids said that they could eat a nut to which they were allergic.
To teach your allergic children to identify nuts, use pictures. And make sure they always ask before eating foods that could contain small, unrecognizable nut pieces.
Finally, stress that with every food purchase, your child should never assume the ingredients are the same. Recipes change. People with food allergies should read labels and ask about ingredients every time they eat.
Sources: American College of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology; The Food and Allergy Anaphylaxis Network; Krames Staywell